Page 100 of Knot Her Mountain Men

I could comfort myself with that.

Pumpkin came bounding in, Kit and Maverick following a moment later and stopping short in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” Kit asked. “What happened?”

Ryder gave them an explanation, and their faces paled. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my breathing under control. Maverick quietly tidied away the trash can and returned with a glass of water for me. I sipped it slowly, my stomach still trying to rebel.

“Okay,” said Ryder, “email sent. Now we have to hope they do their jobs.”

“How can we help you, little fox?” Kit kneeled at my side.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting my whole day to get derailed with fresh horrors.”

Bear’s arms tightened around me, warm affection smoothing down the fury and helping to settle my stomach.

“Could we maybe have a cuddle in the nest for a while?”

Kit kissed my hair, hand moving slowly down my back. “We absolutely can. As long as you need.”

Bear stood with me in his arms and carried me upstairs, the others and Pumpkin following closely. The world might be deeply fucked, but at least I had this…at least I had my pack. I needed to hold on to that. No matter how bad everything else might look, they were mine, and I really fucking needed that knowledge right now.

The cuddle session lasted overnight. We took turns doing necessary tasks, bringing up food, and taking care of Pumpkin, but at least two of us stayed with Morgan at all times.

Every time I thought I’d reached the maximum capacity for hatred, the words of the alphas on that video would float through my head and I’d climb to a new height in my loathing of them.

Morgan stirred next to me, sitting up slowly and wiping her eyes. “I didn’t mean to make you guys waste all day.”

“Being there when you need us isn’t a waste. You’re always going to be more important than anything else going on.” I inched closer to her, breathing in the mix of our scents clinging to her hair.

She turned her head, softly kissing my lips before crawling out of the nest. “I’m going to put the coffee on. I don’t even know what time it is, but I need it.”

I followed her downstairs, the others rustling around behind us, waking up after losing contact with our omega. Pumpkin was asleep in the kitchen when we arrived. She lifted her head with a giant yawn, tail wagging in anticipation of attention. I swerved over to her for some scratches.

Morgan diverted to the window. “It snowed overnight. It’s so beautiful.”

I couldn’t argue with the statement. It was a light dusting, enough to paint the world white but not enough to inconvenience us.

“If the sky clears up later, we could do your photo shoot. Only if you’re feeling up to it, though. Yesterday was rough.”

Morgan laid her fingertips on the windowsill, staring out at the world rather than at me. “I think I’d like to be done letting those alphas control my world.”

I wasn’t entirely certain what all that encompassed, but I was at least pretty sure it meant the photo shoot was a go.

My omega jolted when Pumpkin stuck her nose on Morgan’s bare ass cheek. “Good god, Pumpkin. Have some decorum.” Morgan laughed and dropped to her knees to give Pumpkin a solid rub-down. “Why did you guys name her Pumpkin if she’s brown? Why not something like Cocoa?”

“She wasn’t brown as a puppy. Her fur has darkened a ton. If you catch her in the right light, she’s definitely still orange.”

Morgan gave a mock gasp. “Pumpkin,you’ve been hiding red fur this whole time? Have we been matching and I didn’t even know?”

Our dog didn’t know what Morgan was saying, but she got excited anyway, barking a reply, tail wagging up a storm.

“Come on. Mama needs coffee.”

I didn’t make a fucking peep about Morgan referring to herself as Mama to Pumpkin. None of us were sure what the future looked like; we only knew what we wanted it to be. Morgan was happy here, that much was clear, but that didn’t mean her trauma wouldn’t win the day and force her out. I sure as fuck would have a hard time trusting alphas if I were her, no matter how nice my pack was.

Hanging back let me watch her navigate our kitchen. I hadn’t realized how quickly she’d memorized where everything went, but that could very well be a remnant of her trauma too. Learning fast probably helped avoid a few beratements.

Once the coffee was brewing, she wandered straight back to me, slipping into my arms with a sigh. “I shouldn’t still feel tired.”

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