Page 52 of Her Knotty Alphas

Mate.

I glance over my shoulder at Austin and Noah, determined to say my next words without blushing. "And I also like a lot of tattoos with my hackers and ginger with my bakers." Noah lets out a belly laugh as I bury my face in Enzo's chest, letting myself melt into him.

"Hi alpha." I whisper into his shirt, and his arms tighten around me briefly before he releases me. I try my best to act nonchalant and not hone in on Austin's expression to see how he reacted to my words, but I've never been good at playing it cool. His face is as red as a tomato, and I have no idea if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I guess we'll find out.

Chapter 22

Hannah

The guys ordered greek food, and I'm in heaven with a beef gyro, pita, and hummus. "Shit, that was good." Noah groans, rubbing his stomach.

The four of us are sitting around the dining table in the little breakfast nook in the kitchen, the food spread out in front of us. Enzo, Austin, Noah and I together around this table…it all seems so…domestic.

It's so easy to imagine what our family might look like one day, a few kids, maybe a dog…

"It was," Enzo agrees across the table, a little more dignified in his response to the food. "I wonder if they do something special with their tzatziki sauce, because that was heavenly."

"That was my first time eatin' Greek food," Austin admits, "they never had any Mediterranean restaurants or nothin' back home."

"We've been out here for thirteen years." Noah points an accusatory fork. "That's plenty of time to try new things, brother."

Austin sits a little straighter when Noah says "brother", and I wonder if he meant it in the foster brother sense, or the pack brother sense. But he shrugs. "Dunno why you never brought any home then."

Noah just rolls his eyes as Enzo shakes his head at their antics. "What's your favorite kind of food, Hannah?" Enzo asks, leaning forward, his dark eyes intent on me.

"Hmm…" I think about it, tearing off a piece of pita bread and dipping it in hummus, "probably Chinese. Nothing like a good cream-cheese wonton and house special chicken from Crazy Chopsticks."

"Crazy Chopsticks? I haven't heard of that one." Noah tilts his head.

"Oh, my Nana used to take me all the time. It's a little hole in the wall—"

"On third and main," Enzo finishes for me. "Lizzie used to like it there."

…Lizzie?

"I thought…" he gives a heavy sigh, "after not being forthright about Charlie, it would be best to get everything out in the open, Hannah. You already know I used to have a scent match. Or…IthoughtI did."

Oh, we're going there. Alright then.

"Yeah," I swallow dryly, my heart pounding in my chest. I'll finally know what happened. "Back when Cady first got together with her pack, Titus…well, he kind of told her what happened. That your scent match left, but they didn't know why."

"Right," he sighs again, and Austin and Noah lean in slightly, clearly not having heard this before, "well, after Titus' party, I got into contact with one of my old pack members, because I thought, if you were a true scent match for me, then you might be for them too." My stomach flips at the notion, the possibility of more scent matches. Before I can think too hard on it though,he continues. "But when I met up with Hank, he admitted that he foundhisscent match ten years ago."

"Oh, shit." Noah's jaw nearly drops.

"Yeah," Enzo gives a little chuckle. "That's what I said. Then, he told me that the night Lizzie disappeared, he had found her going through his office, and when he caught her and accused her of not being up to any good, she left. He thought he cost us our mate, so he never told us."

"What was she doing in his office?" I ask, my brows furrowed. "Certainly you don't just leave if you're innocent, right?"

"He never found any missing money, so he doesn't know what she was doing, but we realized that what we feel for the matches we found later pale in comparison to what we felt for her. But what are the odds she'd have scent sympathy with four alphas who weren't destined to be pack?"

Noah frowns. "It could be nothing. Just a coincidence, but…"

"I’ve asked Noah to look into her,” he tells me while grabbing my hand, and I nod. “We’re not sure what’s going on but something doesn’t add up."

Noah grimaces. "Shit. Yeah, Titus already asked me to look into her, but with everything going on, it kind of fell to the wayside."

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