Page 97 of Knot Her Beta

My head snaps toward him. “Yes?”

“Yes,” he repeats.

My thumbs smooth over his knee. “To what, exactly?”

“The Wright Pack. The children. The future you described.” He gestures toward the desk. “Everything.”

I keep my hands moving, the joint warmer, looser, the inflammation already responding to the pressure. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“It’s not just post sex euphoria?”

He chuckles as his hand finds mine, and his fingers curl around my wrist, not stopping me from what I’m doing, but holding on nonetheless. “It’s not just post-sex euphoria. But do you want to join the Wright Pack? I’m with you even if you don’t. We have time. I can wait to join the pack you want to call home.”

My hands slow to a stop. “My pride gets in the way.”

The admission costs me. A familiar tightness banding around my ribs, born from all the years I’ve spent building things with my own two hands and never asking for help.

“I can’t give you what the Wrights can. Not right now. Not a pack structure or the legal protection, or even insurance and stability. I built a cottage and a garden and a life after Auren, and it’s solid, but it’s not enough.”

I work my thumb into the hinge of his knee until the joint yields beneath the steady pressure. “Taking help feels as if I’m admitting I failed to do it myself. That’s the truth.”

Grady’s hand tightens on my wrist to communicate his understanding.

“But I don’t want to wait, or keep you, Jared, and Leif waiting.” I look at the desk I built for him. “Joining the Wrights is better for everyone. I’ve come to terms with not having to do everything myself. Taking help doesn’t mean I’m weak. It means we can all be stronger together.”

I meet his eyes again. “So, yes. Jared and I will join the Wright Pack, if you will, too.”

Grady leans up to cup my cheek, his fingers warm on my skin. He kisses me, not with hunger this time, but with a promise.

When he pulls back, he repeats one last time, “Yes.”

I stare at him, naked and bathed in late afternoon light, and realize that, for the first time since Auren, the future is no longer my responsibility alone.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Leif

“You’re late,” Emily says before the screen door has even swung shut behind me.

She’s standing at the doorway to the kitchen, a wooden spoon in one hand, her silver hair still damp at the temples from what I’m guessing was a shower taken before we arrived.

“There was traffic on Harbor Street.” I kick my loafers off beside the doormat.

Grady follows, sitting on the bench Emily had placed by the door to remove his own shoes. Rosemary and roasted chicken perfume the cottage, with the warm, yeasty scent of fresh bread underneath, and steam fogs the windows.

April in Pinecrest means the air outside still carries a bite, but inside Emily’s cottage, the baseboard heaters have turned the living room into a cozy nest.

Jared appears from the hallway, a bottle of red wine in one hand and three glasses pinched between his fingers. His light brown hair is pushed back from his forehead, and he wears a gray T-shirt that I’ve seen him sleep in.

“Took you long enough.” He sets the glasses on the table. “I was about to start without you guys.”

“You say that every week.” I hang my jacket on the hook by the door and step into the kitchen to kiss Emily, and the brief contact sends the bond fluttering behind my ribs.

I pull back to find her cheeks flushed and lift the back of my hand to her forehead to check her temperature. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Just hot from the stove.” She turns her head to nuzzle my palm. “Dinner is almost ready. Go join the others.”