Page 47 of Her Knotty Alphas

"Oh, shit, Hannah are you okay?" He's immediately at my side, a gentle arm around my shoulders as he guides me into the house. That's one of the things I love about Cady's pack. I really am like one of their own. In a super-platonic, little sister kind of way.

Though his ocean-breeze beta scent is actually kind of calming, a muffled cry is all I can get out, and he looks at me in a panic as he kicks the door shut behind us. "Cady! You're needed downstairs!"

Footsteps come down the stairs, and Archie steps aside just in time for Cady to sweep me up in a hug. Her vanilla and orange blossom signature is as familiar to me as my own, and I sniffle against her shoulder as she strokes a hand through my hair.

"What happened, Hannah-Banana?" She soothes, pulling back to look at me. She must have gotten home from work not too long ago since she's in a pair of sweatpants and a big t-shirt.

"I—" I choke on my own words, and Cady gives Archie a look.

"Babe, can you get Hannah some water please?"

I feel a little tickle of fur at my ankles, a chittered "meow", and I know that Reggie, Cady's demanding tuxedo cat, is just giving me an earful for requiring so much of his human's attention.

"You got it, blossom." Archie gives a little salute, marching off towards the kitchen as Cady leads me to the couch. She rubs my back in soothing circles until Archie comes back with a bottle of water, which I promptly drain half of.

Reggie perches himself on the back of the couch, watching my water bottle intently to see if I'll let him play with the empty plastic when I'm done.

Archie hovers by the stairs, like he's not quite sure what to do with himself. "Do you want some privacy?" My best friend asks gently, and I shake my head.

"No, um, it's fine." It's not like this is going to be a secret anyway. So I unload. From feeling weird earlier, to going to the doctor—though I did leave out the official diagnosis— then showing up at Noah's and finding out the whole pack lives there. Right up to Charlie being one of my true scent matches.

"You're fucking with me," Cady gasps, sitting back. "He didn't…" she shakes her head like she's trying to clear it, "I had no idea, Hannah, I swear."

"I think they were hiding it from me," I say quietly, the words turning my stomach. "He's obviously the one who bought the house, and he must have told them I wouldn't be happy aboutbeing mated to him. They all looked guilty as hell when he showed up. Even Enzo."

How can I be with them now? Did he tell them the whole story? How can they be okay with being packed up with someone who would cheat on their omega? Sure, I may not have technically been his omega at the time, but cheating is cheating.

A growl comes from behind us, and I look up to see Titus, looking murderous. I have no idea how long he was listening for, but I get an idea based on how he starts stalking towards the front door.

"Ty, what are you doing?" Cady asks, standing quickly and walking after him.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him," Titus growls out, turning to face us. "Or all of them. Jameson will be hard to replace but not impossible."

At that point, Reggie tackles the now-empty water bottle out my hand and starts wrestling it, the crinkling sound putting me even more on edge.

"You will do no such thing," Cady counters, planting her hands on her hips, and I watch in awe as a tiny five-foot-something omega reigns in a six-foot-four growly alpha. "Unless that's what Hannah wants you to do," she concedes, glancing at me, and I shake my head.

"That might make things more difficult, Titus," I say gently, bracing my hands on my knees. "I…I have scent-sickness." Cady lets out a little gasp that I try to ignore. "I'm going to need their scents, which might be hard to do if they're dead." I'm like…ninety-eight percent sure that Titus wouldn't actually kill anyone, but he's always been kind of a wild card. I give them a weak smile. "Besides, you just reconnected with your brother. You don't need to ruin that on my account."

Titus looks like he's going to argue, but then Cady steps in, raising her hands. "How about," she looks between the twoof us, "Titus and Archie," she glances over at the beta, who nods without even knowing what she's going to say, "go to the Hannah's pack's house, and make them gather things with their scents. In trash bags, so you don't contaminate them with your signature. I'm talking bedding, pillows, blankets, laundry. I don't care if they have to sleep on bare mattresses tonight, Hannah needs this."

"On it." Titus, ever the soldier, nods like he's just been given a direct order from the president himself and continues his trek to the front door.

Part of me feels just the littlest bit satisfied, envisioning Titus kicking in their fancy door and giving them hell. Laying into them for keeping Charlie from me, and the stress I'm being caused right after being diagnosed—

"Wait!" I shout, making everyone jump. Titus, with one hand on the doorknob, turns to me and raises a brow in question. "You can't tell them about the scent sickness."

I ignore Cady's sigh, my eyes trained on Titus. His lips press into a thin line. "They should know how badly they're fucking up."

"Please," my voice is pleading, "I'm handling it. I'll tell them when I'm ready, can you just…tell them my omega needs their scents? It's not a lie."

Titus only huffs out a growl before wrenching open the door and shutting it behind him. That means he won't tell them…right?

"I'll…go throw a shirt on," Archie says quickly, running up the stairs.

"He doesn't even know where he's going," I mutter, picking at my nails. Don't get me wrong, my omega loves that a pack is sticking up for me. It's just not…my pack.

"He'll figure it out," Cady sighs, coming back over to me. "He can just call Enzo—"

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