Page 26 of Her Knotty Alphas

"Was it strange, suddenly living with three stepsisters?" I suppose he wouldn't know, if he had two years of having his stepmother before Titus was born.

I give a non-committal hum. "Two. Birdie was already at college by the time Mom and Paul got married. Which I amnotcomplaining about."

It's not necessary right now to go into detail about how my step-sisters took whatever they could from me whenever they could, including Charlie.

He looks pensive for a moment, but then I'm brushing the hair off his shoulders, and removing the cape. "There you go, let me know what you think."

Enzo doesn't even move his eyes from mine. "It's perfect."You're perfect.

"You haven't even looked yet." I roll my eyes.

His eyes dart to his hair for all of a millisecond before they're back on mine in the mirror. "It's perfect." Before I can call him on his bullshit again, he's standing, turning towards me and taking my hands in his. "Go on a date with me,reinita."

Biting my lip, I make a mental note to definitely look up whatever "reinita" means later. He looks at me with such yearning, such hope, that I find myself wanting to tell him yes. My heart is forgetting that it's supposed to be protecting itself, the damn thing.

The alpha in front of me leans in slowly, and for a moment, I freeze, thinking he can't possibly be meaning to kiss me, but instead he brushes his cheekbone against mine, the act of scent-marking me, even though there's so much de-scenter lathered on both of us there's no way anything's getting through.

Just the thought of his leather and tobacco scent has my mouth watering, and I'm once again extra glad for the scent-blocking panties I'm wearing. I have to see where this goes, right? Enzo, out of all of them, seems the most stable. The most sure of what he wants.

"Okay." I nod, biting back a smile as his shoulders seem to sag in relief.

"Thank you,preciosa." He gives me a heart-stopping smile as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. "Put your number in. We'll make plans for this weekend."

Swallowing roughly, I nod. "Okay." Then I mentally curse myself for how stilted my conversation skills have become in the last two minutes. Do I know any other words other than "okay"?

I type my number into his phone and call myself so I have his number, and hand the phone back to him. Smiling like the cat that got the canary, Enzo pushes a strand of hair behind my ear before he leaves the salon, leaving me staring after him like some sort of slack-jawed idiot.

By the time I get my wits about me, I see that the rest of the hairdressers around me are shooting me sneaking looks and I throw my hands up. "Nothing to see here, people!"

Lilah snorts as she foils her clients hair. "Sure. Bet you'll be bitten and bonded by this time next month."

I flip her off, grabbing a chocolate croissant from the box Enzo brought and nearly moaning when I take a bite.

Weirdly enough, Lilah's words don't freak me out. If anything…I kind of like the idea.

Chapter 13

Charlie

Enzo

I'm going out with her this weekend.

Itry hard not to scowl at the text that Enzo just sent in our group chat, I really do. But how on earth is it fair that he gets to take Hannah out first when I've known her the longest? Ever since she, her mom, and brother moved in with the Pearson family, just down the street from us. Kieran and I hit it off right away, with little Hannah always trailing behind us since it was obvious her new step-sisters weren't her biggest fans. Sure, shewas only nine, and I was eleven, but I knew that she belonged with me somehow.

True scent match. Peaches and warm brown sugar so tempting and tantalizing to my senses I popped a boner while I was sniffing Enzo's hand.

Don't get me wrong, I fucking meant it when I said that even if she stayed a beta or presented an alpha, she'd be mine. But this just proves that I was right. We were always meant to be together. My mate.

And to think that if I hadn't seen that picture of Cady online with Hannah in the background, I never would have insisted on trading teams. Well, threatened to leave basketball altogether if my previous team, the Phoenix Coyotes, didn't endorse it. That would have left them without a replacement for me.

There's nothing that I wouldn't do for Hannah though.

Even after I traded, I had no idea if she actually lived here. Maybe she was just visiting Cady for the ceremony. But having Cady's alpha be my tattoo artist on the same day they were having a party that Hannah was invited to?

Fucking kismet.

All because her mom married Paul Pearson, resident veterinarian of Laguna Falls. At first, I just thought maybe I was supposed to be extra protective of her because she was my best friend's little sister. Then, when I was fifteen, we found ourselves spending more time together. Kieran had dragged us both down to the lake for the day, then ditched us when his new girlfriend came along. Hannah and I talked on the beach for hours, and every time someone I knew from school came up to talk, I made it clear I was perfectly content hanging out with my best friend's little sister.

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