Page 55 of Her Knotty Alphas

Time to go track down my alpha.

Chapter 23

Austin

Bringing Hannah along had been a horrible idea. Her scent wraps around me like a damn caress, but instead of its usual warm, sweet aroma, it's tinged with bitterness. She's worried about Noah, that much I can tell, and I can't help but wonder if he's going to be pissed at me for letting her see him…however he's going to be. But if I hadn't brought her along, she would have tailed me all the way down to an abandoned warehouse in the Industrial District, and at least this way, I can keep her safe.

It probably would have been a good idea to clue at least Enzo in on what was going on, but Noah will be spittin' mad at me as it is with just Hannah knowing.

We ride in silence, my truck playing the local country station on low volume, my fingers tight on the wheel. The freeway is basically empty this time of night, the only lights are from my headlights and the street lamps that line the roads.

It's much too similar to the last time we were in my truck together, except this time her arms are wrapped around her legs, her head leaning on the window. Her stress pheromones are setting my alpha on edge, and everything in me itches to make it better.

Before I can think of something to say though, she speaks. "Hey. So. Um, I know things are weird between us, and I wanted to apologize for what happened that night. You know, the night you took me home."

I'm stunned. Downright speechless. What on the gods' green earth would possess her to thinkshehas anything to apologize for? I glance over at her, mouth slightly agape, the streetlights we pass by giving me staggered glimpses of her flushed face.

She's embarrassed.

But then she keeps talking. "I swear, I didn't plan any of it. Sure, I'd hoped you'd grab my number, but I didn't…"

"Hannah," my voice comes out strained, "you don't have to—"

"No, but I do." She lets out a breath and turns to look at me. We're doing this then. I suppose it's time to stop dancing around each other and finally get it all out in the open. "When my neighbor texted me that I had a package on my doorstep, I thought it was a new coffee table I had ordered. I didn't realize it would be….what it was."A delivery of two knotted dildos with packaging that wouldnotbe classified as discreet."And when we were in the car, when I said I might need your help with a package I got, that's what I meant."

I mean, I had figured as much. The look of absolute mortification on her face when she saw the words "Knotty Love" on the side of the box, and a detailed diagram of the err…product, is an expression that I've been replaying in my mind the last four months.

"I know that, darlin'," I say gently, glancing over at her. "You havenothingto apologize for. I'm the one…" I trail off shaking my head. "I…Hannah, I never thought you were up to anything untoward. Is that what you've thought this whole time? That I ran away because I thought you were trying to seduce me?"

"That was the only thing I could think of." She lets out a derisive snort. "Or you were offended that I thought we wouldneedthe dildos."

"I…" My own cheeks heat at the memory. The way I straight up panicked. I had never been with an omega, let alone seen a knotted dildo before, and I ran. "I grew up very sheltered," I explain, my eyes fixing back on the road. "Georgia Hills, South Carolina. Mama and Pa are both betas, and while we learned about what omegas need in school…" I sigh. "I panicked. I took too long to say something, and I knew you'd be able to tell just how…how…naive I am. You were looking at me with that mortified look on your face, and before I knew it, my feet had taken me halfway down the stairs. So, Hannah,youdon't need to apologize. I'm the one that ran like a coward."

Her gaze stays on my face, and she looks at me in silence for…too long. The quietness of the car is interrupted by a snort, and then she's covering her mouth, a choked laugh leaving her. "Oh my gods. It's not funny." She keeps laughing though, and my lip tilts in minor amusement. "It's really not funny," she says again over a fit of laughter, holding her stomach. "But this whole time…I thought you thought I was a whore or something! Or that you were so put off with the very idea of me that you left. When in reality…" she looks over at me, tears in her eyes fromher laughter, "you were just…embarrassed. Just like I was. Shit, Austin!" Her eyes go wide as she tucks one leg under her. "This whole time…Austin, I thought you were repulsed by me!"

"What?!" The laugh that leaves me at that, is shocked. "Hannah, darlin', I obsessed about you every day formonths.Noah was about ready to send me to a psychologist. That day, Titus' party? I only came because I thought you might be there. I made Titus cupcakes with frosting the same shade as your hair for cryin' out loud." Her lips form a soft little "o", and her cheeks flush more pink than red.

"You did?" She asks quietly. "You…wanted to see me?" I hate that she doubts herself, and it's doubts I helped put there. It's my job to fix it now.

"Of course I did." I reach over and take her hand in mine, and she weaves our fingers together. So warm and soft in my calloused palm. There's a hesitancy in her expression, like she's holding herself back. It occurs to me then that if she thought I was put off by the very idea of her, she must think I'm not happy about the scent match.

Welp, time to put the truth out there. "Hannah, only a fool would not want to be with you." We're turning off the freeway, and I meet her eyes again. "An idiot. An absolute imbecile. Only someone who couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel would notwantyou."

Her smile produces enough electricity to make the dead rise.

"I mean it, darlin'," I tell her, meeting her green eyes. "I may be a lot of things, but I'm no fool. Not when it comes to this."

We park in front of the abandoned warehouse Noah's location is blinking from, and Hannah takes a deep breath.

"Before we go in," she says quietly, looking up at me, "I just want to make sure of one thing."

"Shoot," I tell her, turning off the car.

"You want this? Me? The scent match? Not just because I matched Noah too?"

"More than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life." I'm not sure that I've ever said truer words, and she nods, biting her lip.

Before I know what's happening, she's sitting up on her knees, leaning over the center console, and brushing her lips over mine. It's over in an instant. Too soon. But the way lightning tingles at my lips at the brief contact, I know it's a feeling I won't ever forget.

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