Page 99 of Knot What She Seems
I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. Eros Academy and my service to this country afterward beat that particular emotion out of me. However, the queen has always been an intimidating woman, and knowing that she’s the mother of my mate makes me almost desperate to make a good impression.
Inwardly, I curse, wondering when I’ve become so goddamn whipped. I’ve killed countless Noths throughout my years. Infiltrated enemy camps. Weeded out traitors and brought them to court, then saw to their executions. Something like this shouldn’t scare me, shouldn’t cause my hands to shake or sweat to drip down my neck.
Despite what I repeatedly tell myself, nothing I do is capable of alleviating the emotions percolating inside of me. They continually bubble up, demanding an outlet, threatening to explode like a geyser in every direction.
The door closest to me opens, and I stand automatically, straightening my spine and placing my hands behind my back. I widen my stance until my legs are a shoulder’s width apart and then heft my chin in the air. I expect to see the queen gracefully striding into the room, ready to begin our scheduled meeting, but it isn’t her. It’s someone much, much more terrifying.
Brylee.
My mate.
I take a moment to study her while she’s unaware of my presence. Her golden hair has been plaited away from her face in a tight French braid. I don’t like it on her. Of course, she looks beautiful no matter what she does, but I prefer her hair down and cascading around her shoulders. It makes me yearn to run my hands through it, to wrap it around my fist as I guide her head?—
I shut that shit down, quickly, and take stock of the dark shadows beneath her eyes and the sunken quality of her cheeks. Has she been sleeping well?
I suddenly have the irresistible urge to banish all of the ghosts that haunt her, decimate all of the demons that dare to harm her.
She’ll never allow me to, but I want to. God, I want to.
I don’t know if she senses my eyes on her or she sees me out of her periphery. Either way, she stiffens, a tremor reverberating through her, and slowly slides her gaze in my direction. The pure vitriol in those blue orbs takes me by surprise. I don’t understand why my omega is being so damn stubborn. She’s my scent match, destined for me and my pack, yet she pushes us away at every opportunity.
“You fuckers seriously are stalking me, aren’t you?” She pops her hip out, displaying a level of sass that makes me want to bend her over my knee and spank the shit out of her. I wonder how her ass will look with my handprint on it. The thought instantly hardens my cock, and I turn slightly, so my erection isn’t as obvious.
“Believe it or not, Your Highness, my world doesn’t revolve around you,” I say with a scoff. I don’t bother to tack on that it could, if she would allow it to. Stubborn omega.
That seems to take her by surprise. Those pouty lips of hers pop open, forming a perfect O, and color enters her cheeks.
“I guess I just assumed…” She awkwardly scratches at the inside of her wrist, looking everywhere but at me.
“That we were all so incredibly obsessed with you that we would follow you anywhere?” Sarcasm laces my tone. It’s better than sincerity. She doesn’t need to know that we absolutelywouldfollow her anywhere.
“Of course I don’t think that.” Her hands ball into fists, and I half expect her to stomp her foot like a petulant toddler. It’s…cute. She’s cute. “You four barely know me.”
“We know that you’re our scent match,” I feel the need to point out. “And that we could be fucking incredible together if you would give us a chance.”
She opens her mouth, closes it, and then slowly shakes her head. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
This woman…
This damn woman…
She’s fierce, stubborn, pigheaded, and everything I shouldn’t want in an omega. But damn if she’s not everything I’ve been waiting for. The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew. She’s the one. Fate doesn’t mess around. It’s written in the stars, in every battle I’ve fought, in every scar I’ve earned.
She is mine, and I am hers, and that’s the fucking way it’s supposed to be.
“You don’t get it,” I tell her, my voice steady, even though inside, I’m bracing myself. “This isn’t just about me or you. This is about something bigger than us. Something that’s been coming for a long damn time.”
She crosses her arms, a challenge glinting in those arresting blue eyes of hers. “And what exactly is that? Fate? You think that just because I smell good to you, you and yourfriends”—she practically spits the word—“are destined to be with me?”
She doesn’t just smell good. She smells like perfection. I want to lose myself in her scent, in her, in the sensations her mere presence evokes within me.
“You can call it whatever you want, but you feel it too. You know it. You’ve felt it since the first moment our eyes met.”
She doesn’t respond, but the smallest shift in her posture tells me I’ve hit a nerve. She won’t admit it, not now, but I can see it.
You can run, little omega, but you can’t hide. Not from me.
Irritation distorts her features. “Once you stop chasing me, you’ll realize that this will never work. You have rose-tinted glasses on?—”
