Page 49 of Knot Mine

Evans opens his mouth to answer but it’s Hunter who gets in there first. “It’s when somebody does something that disgusts you for no reason and now everything they do just annoys you. It changes your whole perception of them.”

Taking a moment to think about it, I try to rack my brain and pinpoint anything that would give me ‘the ick’ but nothing comes to mind. It wasn’t that she’d done anything specific. Or that it had been something that happened instantly. It had been a seed, growing, swelling and taking root for a while now.

“No. That is not what I’m talking about.”

We sit in silence for a while. Behind us, in the house we hear some of the others come down and start pulling the food out of the fridge and preparing it for the grill. Someone else brings out more drinks, placing them in the snow to keep them cold.

“You know, that kind of thing happens sometimes between bonded partners, where other people will give them the ick.” He grabs a poker and stabs at the fire. “So, for example, if a bonded alpha is in physical contact with another omega who’s not their Mate, they might get the ick. It’s an evolutionary thing.”

“How on earth do you know that?” Blake sounds as confused as I feel right now. This was Hunter. Nothing he ever said was reliable.

“My parents are Fated Mates,” he shrugs as all our heads swivel to glare at him.

“How come you’ve never told us that before?” Crossing his arms, Blake looks at our housemate as if he doesn’t quite believe him. The same roommate that once tried to convince us that betas could become omegas if there weren’t enough omegas in the area, as if they could just magically grow a womb. He also tried to convince us that sharks were older than trees.

“It’s never really come up.”

“Hunter, I swear man, you live in a world of your fucking own.” Evans looks like his eyes are going to pop out of his headas he runs a hand through his hair. “We literally talk about mates, omegas, future relationships all of the fucking time.”

He snorts, shaking his head. “No, we mostly talk about your weird thing with Sadie and that bores me.”

Evans throws his hands up, making a noise of protest. “What has everyone got against me and Sadie?”

“You keep doing you, man.” Blake offers. He’s ever the diplomat even though we all know he hates Sadie. “We’re just trying to look out for you.”

I try to be supportive, even though I’m struggling. “Yeah, if Sadie makes you happy, it’s none of our business.”

Moments later, the woman herself appears in nothing but an absolutely tiny bikini that leaves nothing to the imagination. “Did I hear my name being mentioned?”

Evans grins at her, mesmerized by her bouncing tits as she climbs onto his lap with a giggle.

“Speak her name three times and she shall appear,” Hunter murmurs under his breath, so only I can hear him. “It’s like summoning a demon.”

Chapter Nineteen

Shiloh

After a quick call with Bell, I push aside my guilt and jealousy, forcing myself to catch up on my sleep. Waking, I feel better. My head is clearer, and I tell myself it’ll be fine as long as we never speak of it again and I pretend that it never happened. It’s just another forbidden memory to be packed away. The attic of my mind was starting to look a little full with all these boxes, but needs must.

My body still aches, all the muscles are sore and tender after sleeping on the floor and my preheat hasn’t eased up completely, coming over me in waves, so I pull on my swimming trunks and plan to sit in the hot tub for a bit.

When I finally emerge from my room in the evening, most of them are sitting out on the heated patio, either by the firepit, cooking some burgers or in the hot tub.

Millie is in the tub with Evans, Sadie and another alpha from the football team called Blake. He’s one of the only ones who never seems to have an issue with me. I’m not really sure why he’s friends with them since he doesn’t appear to be an asshole—but what do I know? He could be sticking chewing gum under seats and kidnapping cats.

Zale and the others are sitting by the firepit, drinking beers and chatting as they occasionally flip the food over. I’d passed Caz and Ivy in the kitchen, making some sort of chicken kabobs. They were an alpha and omega pair who were pretty decent to me, always giving me the occasional head nod whenever they passed me in the corridors. The rest of them could be set on fire, and I wouldn’t piss on them to put them out. The only reason they were being civil to me was because Millie was here.

“Lo-Lo! Are you feeling better?” Millie yells when she sees me, obviously more than a little tipsy as she waves a bottle of champagne in my direction. “Get in here!”

Ignoring the sensation of being watched, I strip off my T-shirt and step into the hot tub. She slings her arm around my shoulders, and offers me the bottle of booze. I shake my head, and she shrugs, putting it on the side.

“Can you believe we’re twenty-one?!” she whispers in my ear, as the others carry on whatever conversation they were having when I joined.

“Has it changed anything?” I ask, watching her in her element, surrounded by friends. Looking like some sort of beautiful, wild, force of nature with her curls falling loose from her hair pin, cheeks flushed and a wide smile.

“Well, not really. But it’s our birthday, Lo,” she removes her arm to nudge me with her shoulder. “We’re grown-ups now. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and we’re right on the edge of it.”

I chuckle, ignoring the way Zale stares at us across the firepit, the flames reflecting in his eyes. “We’ve always had our whole lives ahead of us, Rom. That’s how it works.”

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