Page 54 of Her Knotty Alphas

"Goodnight, alpha." I reach onto my toes and press a kiss to Enzo's lips. He purrs against me.

"Goodnight,preciosa."

I startle awake in an unfamiliar room. My mind races, trying to remember where I am. Cinnamon and clove surrounds me…Noah's room? Enzo went to bed, shortly followed by Austin. Noah and I went up to his room and we were talking…I must have fallen asleep.

"Noah?" My groggy voice calls out.

Nothing.

I feel around the bed, and am met by nothing but cold sheets.

Usually my omega and I are pretty in sync, but right now she's raging at me, telling me something is wrong. Why would he leave? He wouldn't. This alphawantsus.

Frowning, I fumble for my phone, blinking against the harsh light of the lit screen. It's one in the morning. Turning on my flashlight, I turn it towards the bed, and see that yep, it's empty.

He could just be in the bathroom. There's a niggling sensation deep in my gut that insists that he's not in the house.

But, because I'm not a crazy person, I quietly slide off the bed and check the attached bathroom.

"Noah?" No answer.

It's then I realize I'm not wearing my jeans, and I briefly wonder if I kicked them off or if Noah removed them for me. Ivaguely remember telling him that only psychopaths can sleep in jeans. Frowning, I put them back on, and creep out into the hallway, lightly knocking on the door that Noah had pointed out as Austin's.

"Austin? Are you awake?"

There's some rustling behind the door, and a moment later, Austin cracks the door open, in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. His hair is rumpled and his eyes are sleepy. "Hannah? Is everything okay?"

"I…I'm not sure." I admit, suddenly wondering if I'm overreacting. I mean, he could just be downstairs. Maybe he didn't like sleeping in the same bed as me but didn't want to kick me out. My omega bristles in offense at the thought her mate could dislike sleeping next to her. "I woke up, and Noah was…well he's gone."And my omega is screaming at me that something is wrong.

"Have you texted him?" He asks on a yawn.

Shit. I probably should have done that. "Oh. No, I didn't think…"

Austin's sleepy expression snaps to realization. "Hold on."

He leaves the door open and goes back into his room, grabbing his phone. "We have a find our family app that lets us track each other…" His fingers swipe and tap on his screen, until they suddenly still. "Oh. Oh, no."

My heart drops into my stomach. "What do you mean, 'oh no'?"

"Um…he does this sometimes, but he's not in a good neighborhood…" He puts his phone to his ear, and I vaguely hear the phone ringing on the other side. "No answer."

"He doeswhatsometimes?" I demand, every instinct roaring at me that I need to find my alpha. Now.

"I have a sneakin' suspicion, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Idoknow that I need to go get him." Austin starts pulling on a pair of jeans.

"I'm going with you." I don't know why he left in the middle of the night, but something is telling me with every fiber of my being that heneedsme.

"No," Austin says, almost sharply. "It's a bad neighborhood, darlin'. You're staying here."

"You can't make me stay here," I snap. "If you leave me behind, I'll just follow you in my car."

"I'm his brother, let me sort him out." Austin brushes me off, walking past me into the hallway.

"I'm hisomega," I hiss, grabbing his arm. He stops, looking down at my hand. It makes me realize this is the first time we've ever had physical contact.

"Fine." He relents, and I release his arm. "But you do exactly as I say, okay?"

"Fine," I echo, crossing my arms and following after him down the stairs. I grab a hoodie that's thrown over the side of the banister, lifting to my nose and smelling Noah. Slipping it on, I tiptoe behind Austin as we quietly leave the house.

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