Page 67 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

He says it so casually, like it doesn’t really matter one way or the other to him. But he’s watching me with that same wrinkled brow and intense stare.

I straighten, putting distance between us and his gaze drops to my breasts for a moment before he’s back to looking at my face.

“I can’t just not go home,” I say uncertainly. It’s a lie though. I could totally just not go home. I don’t have any commands pulling at me to go back. He’s never thought to give me one about how long I can be away from home. I could disappear from his life forever, and what would he do about it?

A lot, actually. He could do a lot about it. Not the least of which is hunt me down wherever I hole up, and then destroy whoever he finds me with. Like the Calloway pack. Or Florence’s family. I would never want to do that to either of them.

The other option would be to strike out on my own, but I have no money and no real marketable skills. Something tells me there aren’t a lot of paid positions available for ‘dutiful politician’s daughter’.

Besides, if I did that, I would need to be on the other side of the country to avoid Frederick Bell’s wrath, and I want to stay here, close to the Calloway pack, to find out where this is going.

God, I hope it’s going where I want it to end up.

Bonded, mated, their omega. Safe in the arms of their pack.

If that’s not how this ends, I think it might destroy me.

I push the thought away. They haven’t given me any sign that they aren’t genuine with this connection, that they aren’t planning on keeping me. Beyond Creed’s reluctance, but I hope we made some headway with that tonight.

“You can though. You can just stay here with us.”

I lean back to look at his face, to see if he means that. After all, I’m the girl who just blurted out that I’m falling in love with him the first time we had sex… he might just be saying this to keep me from going stalker psycho on him or something.

“My father wouldn’t like that.”

He frowns. “And that matters why?”

My gaze drops to his chest, watching my fingers trail over the ridges and valleys, the swirls of ink, the octopus tentacles on his shoulder and neck. “I don’t know what your business is with him, but I know you must have something going on. Otherwise you wouldn’t be at his rallies, wouldn’t show up at his parties, wouldn’t donate to his campaign. I don’t know if you’re… dependent on him for anything.” It bothers me saying it, not because I’m going against my father’s demands, but because if they depend on him for something, he can well and truly fuck them over. “But if you are, if you upset him by say, having his daughter who is supposed to marry a beta or a lone alpha pack up with you, he’ll delight in ripping the rug out from under you. He’ll destroy you, Hale. I don’t want that to happen.”

He’s quiet for a long moment. “Little mouse, look at me.” I lift my eyes but not my face, looking at him through my lashes. “Do you want to marry a beta or a lone alpha?”

I swallow around the automatic response that wants to bubble up, keep my lips firmly closed around the lie my father has demanded I say, and shake my head, ignoring the sudden ache behind my eyes. Hale’s frown deepens, and he pinches my chin, tilting my face up to his.

“I want you to listen to what I’m about to say very carefully, okay, mouse? We were there foryou. Every single rally or party we attended was to be close to you. To just fucking see you. Every time we donate to your father was just so we could get into his good graces, so he’d fucking let us near you. We know how he views packs. We knew he’d be distrustful of any pack that approached him out of the blue about you.”

“But it’s been years,” I whisper.

“I know.” He smiles ruefully. “We’ve spent years getting him to trust us, years getting closer to you. It was hard, keeping our distance from you, having you right there, but not being able to touch.”

I frown. “What changed? I know he didn’t give you his blessing. I know that.” He would never do that. He’s made it clear that I will not under any circumstances be joining a pack.

“He didn’t. But he signed a contract with us, and that shows a level of trust. And we got tired of waiting.”

He leans forward and trails his lips over my neck while I consider his words, mull them over. “You really donated millions of dollars to him just to be close to me?”

I feel him grin against my skin. “Yep. And now that we have you, we’ll start to quietly pull our funding and support.”

I straighten and push him back, eying him primly. “Who says you have me?”

Hale arches a brow and lowers his gaze to where I’m still stuck on his knot. “Who says I don’t?”

“Pfft, just because I let you knot me doesn’t mean you have me, Hale Calloway. You’ll have to work harder to earn me.” The truth is they already have, just by being them, by showing me this week what being packed would be like, by taking such good care of me. But Ren would skin me alive if I didn’t make them work a little for it.

He barks out a laugh and bands his arms around my back, rolling us so he’s on top of me again. “We will, Omega,” he grinds his knot inside me. “I will.Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”

I moan, pressing my head deeper into the pillow. “I think you should start with a few more orgasms.”

Another of those dirty silky laughs of his. “Oh, little mouse. That will be my pleasure.”

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