Page 73 of Her Knotty Alphas

"Hannah," Enzo turns to me, his voice serious. "I'm going to leave this up to you. We could still back out without your integrity questioned with the technicality thatyoudidn't agree to this, your hard-headed alpha did."

Biting my lip, I look over to Noah, who looks so unlike his usual cocky self. I can tell he wants to fix this for me. But what if he loses? Then I'll be disregarding one of Nana's last wishes. But…he wouldn't have accepted the challenge if he couldn't do it. I suppose the question is…do I trust him?

When it comes down to that…the answer is easy. "You can do the fight."

Based on the looks from my other three alphas, I can tell they don't agree with me, but based on the way Noah's face lights up, I know I made the right decision. Has heeverhad anyone put their trust in him like this?

Noah stands, crossing the room in just a few strides as he leans over, gently grabs my neck and tilts my head up so he can kiss me. "I won't let you down, princess," he says, his forehead resting against mine. "I swear on my life."

"This will end well," Charlie huffs, resuming his massage of my feet.

"Be nice," I scowl, narrowing my eyes, "we're a pack. We support each other."

Silence follows, and I look, confused, around at my alphas. "…What?" I ask as I take in their varying degrees of shock and smug satisfaction (Okay, only Noah is smug).

"I just don't think you've ever referred to us all as a pack before, darlin'." Austin grins. "Sure is a pretty soundin' sentence though."

My stomach flips under their scrutiny, and it hits me then. This is mypack. These are the men I've been waiting for.

Then, something else hits me. "Wait!" I gasp, sitting up and pulling my feet out of Charlie's grasp. "I think this is the first night that we've all been home together since I moved in! Usually Charlie has a game, or Austin has to work…"

"You're right," Enzo gives us all an appraising look. "It's our first night together as a full pack, what would you like to do?"

A devious smile lights up my face. "Oh, I can think of a few things."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but in what world are flying monkeyschewy?" I laugh, putting down the card for the game "Alphas to Omegas", where one person gets an adjective or short sentence card, and the rest of the group has to put down subject cards that best describe it.

"Chewy" is currently on the table.

"Has anyone evereatena flying monkey?" Charlie argues, sitting up from his spot on the floor, clad in boxers, a t-shirt, and one sock. "Who's to say they aren't chewy?"

We're all in the middle of the living room, sitting in a circle, playing the strip version of the game. That I just made up.Basically, whoever puts down the answer that gets picked has to remove an item of clothing, and the first one naked, wins.

What can I say? I'm an innovator.

Even though I started out with more clothes, I'm down to my bra and underwear already.

I thumb through the rest of the cards, referencing each one as I speak. "Gumischewy, but that's a little too on the nose, don't you think? An existential crisis, however…" Grinning, I look at the last card. "Omega pheromones? Really? I take offense to that. My pheromones arenotchewy. Winner is the existential crisis."

"YES!" Austin's hands shoot up in victory as I toss him his card.

I look him over, biting my lip. "Take off the pants."

"Yes ma'am." He stands up quickly, shucking off his sweatpants, leaving him in just his boxers and socks. My Southern gentleman isbuilt.

"Gum was the perfect answer!" Enzo's jaw drops. He only has one piece of clothing left, which, unfortunately, are his boxers.

"You gotta know your audience, Enz." Austin chuckles, settling back on the floor. "Our girl appreciates a good idiom."

My eyes shoot over to Noah, who is still fully clothed, and apparently, really bad at this game. Based on the way Charlie defended the flying monkeys, that was clearly his answer, which means…

"My pheromones arechewy? Really?"

He gives me a sheepish grin. "Sorry princess. My other cards werenotgood."

"Sure, blame the cards," Enzo smirks, making Charlie and Austin laugh.

"This game is purely subjective!" Noah argues, "There's no clear-cut way to win!"

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