Page 18 of Knot Her Mountain Men

Having no scent made hunting easier, but it was biting me in the ass now. I had to hope my blockers would wear off before she left us. She seemed determined to, and I didn’t blame her for that. She didn’t know us. Not everyone adapted easily to the plan fate had for them, and getting snowed in wasn’t the best opportunity for us to show her what life could be like out here. It was hard to experience the peace the forest brought when you were trapped inside and asshole trees were falling on you. This wasn’t the first time I’d been hit by a tree, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. At least it had been a branch and not the trunk. I always figured I would die out here when my time came, but I wasn’t keen on it being quite this early. Thirty-four was a little young to perish by a timber-induced death.

This place was more home than anywhere else I had ever been. I wanted Morgan to love it, not only because she was our scent match, but also because it seemed like she needed a little peace in her life. I was still fucking flabbergasted that someone had left her in the woods. Abandoning anyone like that was a dick move of the highest level, but abandoning an omega? All bets were off. I didn’t often wish ill on people, but in this guy’s case, I would make an exception.

Pumpkin came to join us at some point, falling asleep with her head on Morgan’s other shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” Morgan asked me, her voice still a little raspy.

I blinked slowly, taking in her gray eyes and sweet freckles. “I’ve felt worse.”

“Was it the snow that brought it down?”

“Probably. The temperature has been fluctuating a lot so the snow got pretty heavy and the winds out there fuck stuff up pretty fast.”

“We’ll cut a few trees down when the weather calms,” said Ryder, sitting by my head. “Give us a bigger perimeter.”

“If trees would stay where they’re supposed to, they wouldn’t have to come down.” Morgan sighed and shifted marginally closer.

“The forest is rarely that cooperative.” Ryder leaned back against the couch, watching the two of us. “Getting bored of babysitting him yet?”

“Hey!” I squawked.

“Kit told me I have to relax, so I’m trying to be good until I get too restless. Having a job to do makes it easier to sit still.”

“I would offer to put on a movie, but the tree fucked up some of the solar panels so we’ll be on a generator until the snow is cleared.”

“I’ll survive,” Morgan insisted.

“Do you like card games, little fox?” Kit asked, coming into view.

“Love them. Pick something I can participate in without seeing what’s in play.”

Everyone gathered around the fire. Kit shuffled and dealt the cards for crazy eights countdown. I wasn’t playing, but I could watch Morgan easily. Bear held up the top card on the pile for her each time it came around to her turn. They played for hours, interrupted every so often for snacks. Morgan’s purr didn’t last the entire time, but she kept it up enough that I was paying more attention to her than to the ache in my body.

Funnily enough, this was very reminiscent of the life I’d always hoped to have. Minus the injuries, of course. My high school English teacher always said life was meant to be a B movie. If things were like a blockbuster all the time, you would only get exhausted, in the same way that you might stop appreciating the good things in your life if you never had any comparison. Life was meant to be composed of quiet moments and small pleasures with bursts of amazing and terrible so we kept perspective. Snuggling up to my omega by firelight while my pack played cards was one of the many quiet moments I had always envisioned.

I had given up hope that we would find an omega. Maybe I’d gotten too comfortable out here. In fairness, I hadn’t been actively searching. If fate wanted us to find our scent match at a specific time, I couldn’t do a damn thing I could do to speed up the process.

Now that she was here, I wanted to keep her. I wasn’t in any condition to successfully woo her, but if the others could do a decent job, then I could work on it when I felt less like something a cat coughed up.

Pumpkin sneezed and Morgan jolted. “Oh god. It’s all over my face.”

I chuckled and picked up my discarded T-shirt, using it to wipe the Pumpkin sneeze off her. “You were in the splash zone.”

Bear adjusted Pumpkin to the other side of him and our dog rested her chin on his thigh.

“I’ll forgive her because she helped save my life,” Morgan replied, giving her cheeks an extra wipe-down with her hand.

“Do you like dogs, sweetheart?” I asked.

“I love them, but I’ve never had one that lived inside. My family wasn’t big on pets, but we did have a couple of livestock guardians. They stayed with the animals, though, and they didn’t really like people very much so I never got to cuddle them.”

“You grew up on a farm?”

“My dads and brothers are ranchers.”

“Are you close with them?”

“Not really.”

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