Page 81 of Knot Her Mountain Men

“You awake in there, little fox?”

“Barely,” I replied, climbing over Maverick and nearly stepping on Pumpkin, who had passed out at his back. She lifted a sleepy head to acknowledge me before flopping down again. I gave her a quick scratch behind her ear and clambered out, met immediately by Ryder holding a cup of coffee for me.

“Morning, firecracker.”

“Good morning.” I accepted a quick kiss and sipped away the first third of my cup in his arms.

“I was kind of worried you would stop being cuddly after your heat was over.”

“I thought I would too, but I’m rolling with the vibes.”

“Big fan of that,” Ryder said with a laugh and kissed the top of my head. He walked me into the kitchen and sat me on one of the stools at the island, where Kit slid a plate of breakfast in front of me.

“What time is it?” I swiveled around to look at the clock on the wall. “Good god. Four-thirty? Why are we awake?”

“The warehouse opens at six and it takes a while to get nine people and a dog moving in the mornings. Figured it was better to get started early.”

I couldn’t fault that logic. The only light outside was the moon and stars, like nature was trying to prompt me to crawl back into bed.

Scarfing down my bacon, eggs, and toast helped me wake up the rest of the way, the others peeling themselves out of bed over the course of the next half hour. It was a steady stream of men moving in and out of the bathrooms to shower, dress, and get their share of breakfast. It was almost as many people as when I still lived at home, but the energy was so radically different.

“I used to get up this early all the time when I lived at home,” I told Kit.

“Yeah?”

“Mostly because I would get yelled at if breakfast wasn’t ready when my dads got up.” Kit frowned at that, but I continued, “Also it was the only time the house was truly quiet. I used to think I wanted to live alone in the woods so I could get some peace…”

“What do you think now?” Kit asked when I trailed off.

“I might be changing my mind on the alone part. It’s weird watching this many people navigate the space and not being afraid of a single one of them.”

His growl cut off abruptly when I made eye contact. “Sorry. I hate that you were afraid. I don’t want you to ever feel that way again.”

“You’ve done a very good job of preventing it,” I promised. “I’m processing a lot of things right now, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you and the pack.”

He turned the burners off and rounded the island, gathering me into his arms. Affection thrummed through the bond and I turned to see Bear watching us.

“Get over here.”

Bear crossed the distance, Pumpkin on his heels. He hugged around both Kit and me, and opened his arms when Pumpkin stood up, balancing her paws against us so Kit could pat her head.

“I think we’re ready to go,” Maverick announced.

“You ready, little fox?” Kit asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of having to scrape together all the broken pieces of my life, but hopefully it yielded some positive results. Either way, every alpha here was doing whatever they could to help me, and as new as that experience might be, I could definitely get used to it.

“This is ridiculous.” Cooper was busy going toe to toe with the warehouse staff. “I’m her next of kin and she doesn’t have her ID.”

“Next of kin can only have it if she were dead. She has to collect her own stuff,” they insisted.

Morgan’s distress kept spiking higher and higher in the bond, pissing me off more with every passing second. I understood the need for rules and regulations, but there should be exceptions. They weren’t letting her or Cooper claim her belongings, and I knew if we passed that twenty-four-hour marker, my omega was going to break down.

Her whole world had been shoved into boxes and bags for her move, and then removed without her consent. It wasn’t acrime, but it felt wrong to do to anyone, let alone an omega.

What the fuck were we supposed to do?

“Register,” Kit whispered to me.

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