Page 80 of Knot Her Mountain Men

“They’ve been so ridiculously good to me, it’s hard not to like them.”

“It’s about time you had some more solid people in your life.” Cash planted a kiss on my temple. “I’m happy for you.”

“I don’t know how to do any of this.”

“No one really does.”

“I guess that’s true. I keep flip-flopping between wanting to stay and needing to assert my independence.”

Cash shrugged. “Nothing wrong with a little community. Not a single person in the history of the world got to adulthood alone. You’ve been talking about living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for as long as I’ve known you. Would you still want to live there alone?”

I lapsed into silence. This place was unlike anywhere I had ever been, made different by the fact that the men who lived here went out of their way to take care of me. Thinking about a future of solitude felt strange, like the solitude would be more akin to loneliness if I still aimed for that goal.

“This place… These alphas…” I sighed. “They weren’t the plan, Cash.”

“It’s okay for plans to change. You’re the most practical person I’ve ever met and I know you don’t like to account for hypotheticals, but you have a bondmate now, so I think hypotheticals are out the window. I’m sure you could get some level of happiness no matter what you chose, but I want you to have a ridiculous amount of it. I want you to be so fucking happy you don’t even know what to do with yourself.” He squeezed me tightly, lifting me right off my feet. “You know we’ll support you however that looks.”

“I do know that, thank you. Do you mind if we go back inside? I’m getting chilly.”

Cash pulled the door back open, waving me through. “After you.”

Bear passed me a cup of tea as I hit the top of the stairs. I snuggled into his warmth, sipping the steaming beverage before I let myself be bundled back over to the couch.

Maverick was halfway through dinner prep when Cooper, Kit, and Levi returned.

“So, uh, I did talk to Brandon’s parents,” Cooper said, “and I got his number, but it sounds like he’s been missing for about a week.”

“Missing? Where would he go?”

Cooper shrugged. “They said the last they heard from him was when the search and rescue started, but he hasn’t answered a single call from them since then, and he didn’t answer when I called either.”

“What the hell?” Where on earth had Brandon gone, and why?

“Maybe he’s on the run?” Ryder suggested, though I couldn’t quite tell if he was joking or not.

“Why would he be on the run?” I asked.

“Cops get involved when people go missing. Assuming they’re halfway decent at their jobs anyway, which not a lot are. But, if they think you died out there, he would be the first logical person to look at if they’re deciding whether that was accidental or not.”

“Do they actually think I’m dead?”

“Isn’t that usually the assumption when a search and rescue gets called off?” Maverick replied.

I sighed, knowing they were probably right. “The doctor at the clinic let them know I was alive, so there’s no murder to investigate. God, this is all so fucked up.”

The small bit of hope I had kindled about saving my belongings fizzled out. Brandon was gone, for whatever reason, and the only other place my wallet could be was lost on the trail, in which case I would never get it in time.

I tried to put it out of my mind and enjoy this evening with everyone. Kit and Maverick made us an incredible meal of bison steaks with garlic mashed potatoes, Cooper and his pack taking care of the cleanup. Dinner was followed by card games until I started to droop.

“The blankets should all be dry,” Ryder told me. Some had gone in the dryer now that we had power back, and others were hung on lines across the living room so the fire’s heat could speed along the process. “Let’s reassemble your nest unless you want to sleep somewhere else.”

“The nest is perfect, thank you.”

Cooper and his pack settled into the bunk room for the night, and I gathered up my alphas into the nest with me, quickly drifting away between Bear and Kit.

* * *

I woke to the scent of coffee. Kit and Ryder were gone from the nest, leaving me with Bear and Maverick, but at least the fabric bundled around me smelled like my whole pack now. I stretched slowly, giving myself a few extra seconds of snuggling between them before I forced myself up.

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