Page 10 of Believe it or Knot

“Coffee is life,” Liam groans, nuzzling into her neck with a content groan.

“Our omega is probably about seventy percent coffee,” I say, offhandedly, turning with two mugs in my hands, one with the black tea that I knew Liam would prefer and the green tea that Sorrel has already said she drinks in the morning. I move over to them, my heart doing that weird clenching thing at how sleep tousled they both look. How perfect her tan skin contrasts with his pale complexion.

Sorrel takes the cup from me with a grateful smile. “Thank you, Rafe.” Jesus. Is that the first time she’s said my name? It must be because I don’t remember feeling that sharp sting of electricity flowing from my heart to my cock and back again.

Liam frowns down at the cup with a pout on his full lips. “You sure you don’t have any coffee hidden away?”

Unable to resist, I bend and suck that pouty lower lip into my mouth, scraping my teeth over it, and Liam’s scent fills the room, heady and wanting. Lemon blueberry cheesecake.

Sorrel makes a little noise as I sweep my tongue into his mouth, and Liam kisses me back. When I pull away, his eyes are half lidded and he’s got this pleased smirk on his mouth that makes me want to put him over my knee.

Sorrel clears her throat, cheeks flushed from more than just sleep, but she’s still right there, right next to us, like it didn’t occur to her to move away to give us space during our kiss. Perfect. That means she might be interested in joining. “I could go over and see if Sadie or Sylvie have any on hand, though they’ve both been gone for a couple of weeks.”

I frown at the underlying sadness in her tone, like not having her friends around hurts her. And I want to fix that for her.

But I don’t know how. She shifts on her feet and a waft of her lavender and clean linen smell hits me, but there’s an undertone of something metallic. It only takes a moment for me to realize what it is.

“You’re bleeding?” I ask harshly.

Sorrel stiffens, her aqua eyes flying to Liam and running over him to make sure he’s not injured, and he’s doing the same to her. “Where are you hurt, lovely?” He asks, and her brow furrows.

“I’m not-” she cuts off as her face goes bright red. Redder than I’ve seen it, and she’s blushed a lot in the last eighteen hours. Her eyes drop to the space between her legs, just for a moment before she pulls her gaze back up, meeting mine. She takes a deep breath like she’s preparing herself and I know what she’s going to say before she says it. “I’m not hurt. It’s just that time of the month.”

When Liam’s head tilts and his frown deepens, she mumbles something to herself and explains something that shouldn’t need an explanation. “Omegas have heats. Beta females have periods. You should know that if you passed high school health.”

Liam chuckles. “Well, my high school experience wasn’t exactly normal, lovely.”

Her nose wrinkles adorably. “No, I don’t suppose it was.”

Liam brushes his fingers down her arm gently. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

Sorrel shakes her head. “No, thankfully my birth control keeps the cramps pretty mild and the period itself short. Yesterday though…” She trails off and then shakes her head. “Nevermind.” Another sip of the tea I made her and she says, “I’m gonna take a shower if that’s okay? I need to run some errands in town before work.” She nudges Liam with her elbow. “We could get you some coffee? There’s a bakery that makes the best croissants and a decent latte.”

My omega nods while I shake my head. “We can’t. The towing company should be here in about an hour. We need to get back to Granton. Grayson will be missing us. And you have the OM interview.”

Liam frowns and looks like he wants to argue, but then sighs. “I suppose you’re right. Even if I hate it.”

Disappointment flickers over our beta’s face, but she hides it with a smile, wiping it away with ease. “You never said why you were in the area.”

It doesn’t feel like a probing question, like she’s digging for a secret she can sell. It feels more like she’s asking because she’s hoping we’ll come back. We definitely will. But Liam has an interview set up with a reporter from Omega Magazine this afternoon, followed by a photoshoot. And we can’t miss that.

Liam grins and runs a hand through his chestnut curls. “Oh, there’s this girl who posts songs on the internet. She never shows her face, so I don’t know what she looks like. But she posted a stitch of her singing with me on ‘Rewrite the Stars’. And I want to collaborate with her on the theme song for my next movie, maybe convince her to step into a role for it.”

I watch as Sorrel’s eyes grow wider and wider, the only sign that she’s surprised by the response. Liam is watching her with a slightly wolfish expression on his face, all hunter, sighting its prey. “We hired someone to track the IP address she posts from,” I say. “It was in the area. But we couldn’t pinpoint exactly where.”

We’re here for you, conejita. In more ways than one.

Her brow furrows. “So you were hoping to just… run into this mysterious woman up here?”

Liam shrugs. “Stranger things have happened.” He’s looking at her with that same gleam in his eye. “Do you know of anyone that sings around here?”

Sorrel squints one eye like she’s thinking, teeth sunk into her lower lip. Makes me want to suck that lip into my fucking mouth. Finally she says, “Nope. I can’t think of anyone that does that. Well, Mrs. Gladstone does, but she’s about seventy. Did the woman have wrinkled hands?”

He shakes his head. “No, she didn’t. And she sounds relatively young.”

“Hmm,” Sorrel hums as she takes a sip of her tea.

“You know,” Liam inches closer to her. “She actually has hands similar to yours.”

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