Page 44 of Tying the Knot
“Morgan,” he growls.
We stare into each other’s eyes, and we both know that we can’t fight it. Fate is winning this hand, and there is nothing we can do but be swept away on the wave of destiny that has been thrust upon us so savagely, so sweetly, so unbelievably unexpectedly.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Elijah
The wayshe looks at me leaves me in a state of perpetual awe. I hadn't wanted to admit it, but I know she is my mate.Ourmate. I need her with an intensity that is almost tangible. I need her with a force that seems to be drawing me in like a tide, a force that is compelling me to ask her if I can enter her nest, even though I know that I shouldn't.
She still belongs to someone else. Even though I need her desperately, I know I can’t have her. If I ask to move into her personal space, I’m setting myself up for heartbreak that I know will finish me. I will never get over it if I make myself vulnerable to her and she ends up back with her pack. I cannot allow myself to be the one who crosses the line.
Something deep within my heart stirs, begging me to tell her that we will wait for her, to tell her that my heart is open to her when she is ready to come to us.
She blinks. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. Deep down, I think she knows everything I want to say but can’t. She knows that our hearts are beating in the same rhythm and that we feel something between us that is so much more than physical. We both know this is fate, and we are destined to be mated. But how? How can I say any of this when she bears the marks of another pack?
“We lost them,” Dylan pants returning to the room with epically lousy timing.
He pauses in the doorway when he sees me on my knees, gripping Morgan’s feet.
I rip my gaze away from hers and stand up. “Excuse me?” I snap, my irritation made worse by the heartbreak tearing its way through my body. I can feel the rut within my grasp. It has surfaced knowing I’m in the presence of my mate.
“Lost them,” Dylan mutters, his gaze on Morgan. “You can’t stay here. If they come back and you’re alone.”
“I have nowhere else to go,” she whispers, her eyes still on me.
I know I should offer. They are all expecting me to. Even her. But how can I be in the same house with her while she is in heat and I’m in rut? How will I stay away from her?
You don’t, fucking arsehole. Take her.
Grimacing at the inner thoughts that are urging me to make a choice that I will only end up regretting, Dylan does it for me.
“You will stay with us,” he says, glaring at me. “I’ll pack your stuff up while you get a shower if you feel up to it?”
I gaze at her. She lowers her eyes and nods. I stop the groan that threatens to come out. It will make it seem like I don’t want her there. I do, so I know she is safe, but where does that leave us? Any of us?
“Stop thinking and move,” Dylan mutters as he pushes past me.
I nod dumbly, taking orders from my beta. What the fuck is that all about?
I step forward to help her up, but Nik is already there, mooning over her like an abandoned puppy who has found his forever home. I watch them. She smiles up at him, and he helps her to her feet. He is gentle and loving, while Kaleb starts the shower running for her. Dylan is packing up her stuff, and I’m just standing here with my knob in my hand…so to speak.
“Wait,” I say, turning, my mouth running away from my brain at a rapid pace. “What about your mates?”
Everyone freezes.
I hear Dylan’s moan of protest.
She blinks again and purses her lips. “What mates?” she says and then turns back to the bathroom, walking steadily away from me after leaving me hanging with that question.
“What mates?” I call after her, getting my arse to move forward. “Your pack? Where do they stand with you now?”
“Eli, shut the fuck up,” Kaleb groans.
She gathers her inner strength as she faces me. She is grim and determined. “I have no pack. I haveonealpha who still has a claim on me, but that, too, will fade.”
“Which one?” I grit out.
“Adam.”
