Page 47 of Their Knotty Pack
"What the hell even happened?" I snap, slamming the door shut and rounding on the alpha.
"Hunter…" Brody is suddenly next to us, his own car abandoned on the curb.
"No," my voice is harsh, "somebody owes me a godsdamned explanation. How the fuck did you all go in to tend to an omega in heat, only to come home bonded to one who already has a mate?"
"Like I said earlier," Kieran grits out, all amusement gone from his features, "she bit me first. My alpha went into a rut and bit her back."
He looks at me likeI'mthe crazy one. An alpha going into rut…it's not something that happens often, and if it does, it's not publicly spoken about. "I really thought you had more self control than that," I say coldly, careful to not let any emotions show through.
"Self control?" He lets out a bitter laugh. "They gave us all rut blockers and Istillwent into a rut. I was fine until she bit me. Have you ever been in an essentially air-tight room with not one, buttwoof your scent-matched omegas while one of them is in heat?" Then he smirks. "Of course you haven't. Because you were too much of a coward to join the rest of us."
A coward? Me, a coward? "Just because I didn't want to participate in cheap, meaningless sex, it doesn't make me a coward." My words trigger something in Kieran, his eyes going dark as he pins me to the car with his arm across my throat. He's not the only one responding to my thoughtless jab, if the low growl from Brody is anything to go off, and I immediately regret my poor choice of words.
"How dare you speak that way about Bethany and Miles. It was neither cheap nor meaningless." His eyes burn conviction, and if I didn't just realize I had insulted our mates, I would throw him off me.
Gritting my teeth, I pry his arm from across my throat and level him with a glare. "Okay, fine, that's not what it ended up being, but that's what you went for. None of you," I look to Damien andBrody as well, "knew you were going to be meeting two scent matches, so don't pretend you had some greater motive here. If I had known that our true scent matches were going to be there, I probably would have joined you."
Kieran nods as he steps back, my point made, but I continue, "I"m not going to lie, this is freaking me the hell out. I have no idea what to do here. I've had all of twenty minutes to wrap my head around it."
"We should have texted you right away," Brody grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck, "that's our fuck up, man."
Sighing, I shake my head. "I'm sure things were more than a little messy. I don't blame you for being distracted with all the pheromones running wild. We just need to figure out what's going to happen now. What we want, as a pack."
"Them, obviously," Kieran snaps at me, and I suppress the uncharacteristic urge to roll my eyes.
"Bethany didn't seem too happy that she had bonded you." My words have the guys pausing, all exchanging glances. "What?" I ask, when it becomes obvious they know something I don't.
"Miles wouldn't give us the full details—he said it wasn't his information to give—but mentioned that Bethany had been with a pack until…she wasn't."
Why does the thought of her with another pack make the carefully controlled threads of emotion I keep so close to my chest threaten to unravel? "She…had a pack?" My voice chokes.
"For three years, I guess." Damien holds up his phone. "I may have looked her up on Instagram on the way over here. The posts of her with some douchey alphas had started in August over three years ago, and then this last October, they just…stopped. There's a vague text post on Christmas Eve about asshole alphas," he shoots Kieran a devious grin, "but then…nothing. She's been a ghost."
Threeyears?
"Well, her omega forcing the bond makes sense now," Brody mutters, rubbing at his face, "if she was with the same pack for that long and they never bonded her."
"Let me see that," I hold out my hand to Damien, and Brody and Kieran gather behind me as I scroll through the feed. Selfies with slightly annoyed looking alphas, some with a purple-haired girl. Mostly photos of different plants with names underneath. Did she…nameher plants?
Barry, Cal, Penny… A smile tugs at my lips as I keep scrolling, until I reach a photo of her, dressed up for what looks like a black-tie event, four alphas in tuxes surrounding her. It's the only photo where they don't look annoyed at being photographed, the next one is a picture with the caption "Visiting my parents!" with her and a couple that are unmistakably her parents. Then that post on Christmas Eve that Damien mentioned, then…nothing.
"She named her plants," Brody comments, chuckling as he shakes his head. "I think whatever she went through with those alphas, it put her off packs. She and Miles are obviously deeply in love, and whatever we do, wecannoteven give the impression that we would favor one over the other."
"Because we wouldn't," Kieran growls, stepping away from me.
"Of course not," Brody says carefully, "I'm just saying we need to be careful to make sure they understand that."
"So…" Damien takes his phone out of my hand and pockets it before we all head inside, tired of having private conversations in our driveway. As soon as the front door shuts behind us, Damien's asking the question I'm sure has been niggling at him since they discovered the fact we have a male scent-match. "Are you guys all bi now? Because you're a little late to the party but you're welcome to attend."
Brody frowns. "I'm not sure that's how I would classify it. I don't think I'd be attracted to just any random guy, but Miles? There's something about him that…"
"Makes me want to wrap him up and keep him safe," Kieran finishes. "For the record, I've always been attracted to both women…and men. I had just never met a guy I wanted to explore that attraction with."
Damien's jaw drops in mock outrage. "Not even me?"
"Especially you, Damien." He smirks, and Damien barks out a laugh.
"Right back at you, which is saying something, because usually I'll fuck anything."
