Page 30 of Knot Playing Fair 2

“No, you’re not,” Emiel replied.

“Neither are you,” I told him.

“Never said I was,” he said.

We sat on opposite sides of the room, peering at each other like two people looking at their reflections in a funhouse mirror—the big, hulking alpha and the scrawny, pathetic omega... too alike for our own good.

“I’ll be okay,” I said at last. “But tell Mia I need a bit more time on my own tonight, please.”

I wasn’t sure if Emiel would take the hint or not—but he nodded and shoved to his feet, knees creaking.

“I’ll tell her,” he said.

For some reason, I couldn’t leave it alone quite yet. “You could keep her company tonight if she’s upset.” The words were pulled from me. “I think she’d like that.”

Princess bopped my chin with the top of her head, marking me as hers.

Emiel paused in the open doorway. “Dunno if I trust myself that much.”

I ached for him despite myself, suddenly glad beyond measure that I’d still been able to take pleasure from other people, despite the tangled knots tied up inside my soul—outside of my heats, at least.

“Shetrusts you that much,” I said. “Isn’t that good enough?”

He stayed unmoving in the doorway for another long moment, not looking back at me over his shoulder. Princess made a little chirping noise and trotted away, crossing to twine between his legs. Then he left the room without answering, his cat in tow—closing the door softly behind him.

THIRTEEN

Mia

I SAT ON THE BATTEREDcouch in the TV room, my knees drawn up to the pillow I was hugging to my chest. I hadn’t even bothered to turn on the television; I was just sort of staring into the middle distance.

This whole thing had such aripped from the headlinesfeel to it. Sometimes it was hard for me to believe that it was an actual thing that wasactually happeningto me and the people I cared about. Was it possible that I’d been watching one too many detective shows, and this chain of tenuous circumstantial evidence was all inside my head?

But... there was Luca. His fear wasveryreal, and he had a damned good reason for it. SSG gang members had tried to snatch him from the first cage fighting venue. They’d tried to follow Emiel home from the Spivey Building, after discovering that Luca and Emiel were related somehow.

It wasn’t as though Emiel would have misidentified those gang tattoos at the Bella Vita when we went there for lunch. This was real. It was happening, whether I liked it or not.

As though my thoughts had conjured him, Emiel paused in the room’s doorway, his dark eyes landing on me. Princess trotted past him, hopping up on the couch with me.

I swallowed, trying to raise some moisture in my dry mouth. “Hey, there. Nat left a few minutes ago. Is Luca okay?”

There was a faint pause; one that was becoming familiar when speaking with Emiel, as though he was rehearsing the words in his head before saying them out loud.

“Yeah, he’s just upset.”

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