Page 29 of Knot Her Mountain Men

“Restmore.” He nudged me toward the couch and pushed on my shoulders until I sat. His touch had heat rippling through me. “We can handle the work.”

It was going to be a long week if my body was going to react every time one of them was close to me. At least Ryder and Maverick didn’t have scents. I was already struggling with the delicious onslaught from Bear and Kit; I couldn’t imagine adding two more to the mix.

Brandon not being here was a good thing, above and beyond the fact that he had abandoned me. He’d probably be so pissed to see me reacting to other alphas when I had never done that for him. In fairness, I hadn’t even known that was something he wanted. Blissful denial had been a necessity when spending time with him. I couldn’t fall back on denial here.

I pulled Bear’s flannel tighter around myself. “I can’t sit on my ass for a whole week, or however long it’s going to take us to get out of here. Eventually you have to let me do something or I’m going to get cabin fever.”

“You have to rest for at least a full twenty-four hours,” Kit insisted. “After that, we can find you something to do if you really want to.”

“I don’t knowhowto relax. I’m pretty sure it’s not in my nature.”

“All the more reason to practice.” Kit’s easy smile and rush of sweet earthy scent had my toes curling as he sat next to me.

“But it’s boring.”

“Do youreallythink chopping firewood will alleviate your boredom?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe.”

Ryder snorted. “Chores don’t exactly qualify as entertainment, but you’ll fit in well here if you think that’s the case.”

“I like to keep busy,” I said, instead of acknowledging that another one of them thought I might be staying.

I knew alphas and omegas the world over dreamed of finding their scent matches, and once they did, most of them immediately hitched their wagons to each other. That was such a foreign concept to me. Sure, growing up I’d fantasized about scent matches in the vain hope I wouldfinallybe around someone who might understand me, but that didn’t mean I was still attached to the idea as an adult. I had already given up on the idea of finding love withoneperson, let alonefatedlove with a whole pack.

Practicality was what had always gotten me through. Surrendering so easily to fate felt like the opposite of everything I had used to survive to this point.

“Can I please dosomething?”

The alphas shared a look and Kit finally relented. “Maverick is off hard labor for a few days. Why don’t you be his sous chef?”

“Hell yes.” I hopped off the couch and scurried into the kitchen. “What are we making?”

“Bastardization of a family recipe since we only have trout and not salmon. Do you like fish?”

“Love it.”

He walked me through the steps of preparing what would traditionally be a Nordic salmon soup. They’d caught the trout themselves at a lake not too far from the lodge. I chopped ingredients and Maverick assembled, pouring jars of fish stock they’d made over the summer into the pot, and Ryder intervened to carry it all over to the iron stand in the fire.

“Why aren’t we using the stove?”

“Fire’s already going,” Maverick replied. “Seems silly to waste the fuel for the stove.”

“I’m cool with that. Campfire food tastes the best anyway.”

I settled in front of the flames with a cushion beneath my knees and a ladle as tall as my torso in my hands. While the concoction bubbled away, Maverick sat next to me and the others went back outside to clear some of the snow off the roofs of the outbuildings. Pumpkin lived her best life, racing around between piles of snow tumbling down around her, trying to bite it out of the air before it landed.

“What’s a regular day like here?”

“Depends on the season and whether we have guests or not,” Maverick replied. “We trade off on who goes hunting with groups so there’s always someone taking care of the lodge.”

“Okay, what’s it like with no guests? What do you do all day?”

He shrugged, hissing at the movement like he had forgotten he was injured. “I sleep until I wake up unless something important needs doing. A lot of projects and repairs in the summer we do as a group. We don’t have much of a garden with all the trees, but I swear half our time is spent out in the forest picking food. Our freezers are crammed full of berries and greens foraged over the spring, summer, and fall. Ryder’s a wizard with mushroom ID so we have a fuckload of dried ones.”

“Really? I’m always afraid I’m gonna accidentally poison myself so I’ve been too chicken to forage for mushrooms.”

“We haven’t died yet.” Maverick laughed.

---