Page 98 of Knot Her Beta

I go back out to the dining room to find Grady settled into his chair at the dining table, a glass of wine between his fingertips.

Jared holds the wine bottle up in question.

“Yes, please.” I lean over to flip back the towel that covers the basket on the table to reveal a golden loaf still steaming from the oven.

“Don’t touch the bread!” Emily calls before I can grab a slice.

With a sigh, I flip the towel back into place and settle into the chair next to Grady. “I’m going to start demanding my own loaf on Saturdays so I can enjoy it all week.”

“Aww, don’t let Holden catch you saying that.” Grady takes a sip of his wine. “You’ll hurt his feelings.”

“His bread is good, but it’s not as good as Emily’s.” I hook a finger into the basket and drag it closer.

Jared smacks my hand away and returns it to its proper place. “No one’s bread is as good as Emily’s.”

Emily walks in from the kitchen with a ceramic dish in her oven-mittened hands. Roasted chicken, golden and steaming, rests nestled among potatoes and carrots.

She sets it on the waiting trivet and pulls her mitts off. “Keep talking like that and Holden will rescind their offer to let us join the pack.”

“The others will outvote him,” Grady says. “Chloe will make them let you in just to ensure I join, too.”

“I like having leverage.” Jared relinquishes the bread to me now that the rest of dinner is on the table. “Let’s use it in our negotiations.”

We fill our plates, Jared claiming the drumsticks. I load up on potatoes, while Grady holds his plate out for the slice of breast meat that Emily holds out to him.

Dinner is filled with conversation, catching each other up on our week. Jared regales us with a story about spotting an orca while running the water taxi, and Grady talks about a new article he’s playing with but isn’t sure there’s enough evidence to push forward with it. Emily updates everyone on the progress of the Phase Two site, while I entertain everyone with the gossip from the PTA.

Sometimes, I feel as if the parents of the students should also be back in elementary school.

When most of our plates are cleared, Jared sets his fork down and tops off everyone’s wine glasses, giving Emily sparkling water instead. “So, we should talk about the paperwork.”

I grab my glass and take a gulp. I knew tonight was going to be about this topic, but I thought we’d at least clear the plates first.

“Nathaniel emailed the forms this morning,” Jared continues. “There’s a lot of it. Mostly legal stuff, but the family structure section needs our input.”

Emily pushes her plate aside. “Dominic said we have three options for filing. The simplest option is for us to register as a single-family unit under the Wright Pack umbrella. It’s only one set of paperwork, with one primary Alpha listed, and the rest put down as bondmates and dependents.”

“Dependents.” Grady’s mouth quirks. “I’m twenty-eight.”

“Legal term,” I say. “Not a value judgment.”

He reaches for his wineglass. “So Dominic wasn’t kidding when he said it was similar to adoption.”

“Nope.” Jared grins at him. “We’ll be brothers, in a legal sense.”

“Incestuous,” Grady mutters into his glass.

Jared waggles his eyebrows. “You got a crush on me I’m not aware of?”

“Not at all. But I assume…” He flushes and lowers his head, muttering, “There will be times when we’re both…” He clears his throat. “At the same time…”

I reach over to squeeze his arm. “We can figure it out as we go. There’s no one way to form a pack.”

“Option two,” Emily continues, clearing her throat, “is we file as a sub-pack. We’d still be under the Wright name, but with our own designation. Wilson-Masterson-Hollis-Finch. Or a different name of our choosing.” She licks her lips. “It’s more complicated, and involves a lot more paperwork, but it gives us our own identity within the larger structure.”

“Option three?” Jared asks.

Emily shrugs. “We don’t join at all, and we figure out another way to form a pack. But I think we’re past that.”