Page 74 of Knot Gonna Lie
ELARA
The mess hall thrummed with easy laughter, the kind that only bloomed when boundaries dissolved and walls came down. I perched cross-legged on Luca’s lap, his strong thighs creating a living throne beneath me while his arms formed a protective circle around my waist. Through our bond, satisfaction purred like a well-tuned engine—pride in having me close, displayed, claimed before his clan.
The holographic card display shimmered between us, casting sapphire light across familiar faces gathered around the central table. What had started as a simple game of strategy had somehow evolved into something far more dangerous—truth-or-dare disguised as entertainment.
“Your turn, Elara.” Maia tapped her stylus against her lips, eyes glinting with calculation. The rules had shifted three times already, each round peeling us closer to confessions no one had planned to share.
I studied the digital cards hovering in midair, their luminescent edges pulsing with each heartbeat. Winning didn’tmatter anymore. This was a dance of dares and truths, intimacy dressed as entertainment.
“Truth,” I decided, knowing that honesty cut cleaner than deception.
“Ooh…” Stella leaned forward, green eyes sharp with interest. She’d claimed the chair across from Sylas, who watched her with the devotion of a man worshipping his goddess. “What was your first impression of each of us?”
Heat crept up my neck. The question seemed innocent enough, but nothing about Stella was innocent. In the little time I’d been around her, I could tell the clan’s security could read people effortlessly, dissecting motivations and stripping them bare.
“That’s dangerous territory,” Luca murmured at my ear, his breath sending a shiver down my spine. His chest rumbled with restrained laughter as his arms tightened around me. “Choose carefully, little omega.”
But I’d already decided on honesty. “Luca felt like coming home to a place I’d never been. Seth reminded me of gentle rain on a warm day—steady, necessary, healing. Jaxom...” My gaze shifted, finding Jaxom where he sat at the table’s edge beside Xavier. His dark eyes locked on me with a quiet intensity that made my pulse stutter. “He notices what others overlook. Small things that matter. He makes me feel… something.”
Something flickered across Jaxom’s features—surprise melting into something deeper, hungrier. His fingers tightened around his glass of hard liquor, knuckles going white.
“And the rest of us?” Tobias prompted, clearly fishing for his own validation.
“Tobias and Maia felt like finding siblings I’d always wanted—chaotic, brilliant, and absolutely devoted to each other. Stella and Sylas radiated the kind of partnership that made me jealous… what I want to have one day with my pack. AndXavier…” I paused, meeting Xavier’s cool gaze across the table. “Xavier felt like winter. Beautiful. Necessary. But not meant for me.”
Silence stretched, taut as a vacuum.
Xavier’s jaw tightened, something unreadable passing through his dark eyes. But he raised his glass in a motion that might’ve been salute or dismissal, taking a deliberate sip without breaking eye contact. “Fair assessment.”
“My turn,” Seth announced from the kitchen nook, where he’d been nursing a steaming mug while monitoring supplies. His mark peeked from his open button shirt, still angry red against his golden skin, sending possessive satisfaction spiraling through me. “Tobias.”
Tobias groaned dramatically. “Truth.”
“What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened since joining this clan?”
“Oh, no.” Maia covered her face, already laughing. “Don’t you dare—”
“The first week,” Tobias began with a grin, “I tried to impress Maia by fixing the environmental controls in her quarters. Except I somehow reversed the atmospheric settings and filled her room with industrial coolant instead of breathable air.”
“He nearly gassed me,” Maia said, exasperation softening into affection. “I found him passed out in my doorway, unconscious from his own mess.”
“Romantic,” Stella drawled. “He was the reason why I had to put security codes on almost everything. Before, the whole crew had access to the whole system, being able to take over in case of an emergency. But I didn’t want to die due to someone’s attempt to impress someone.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Tobias waggled his eyebrows. “She had to nurse me back to health.”
“I should’ve left you there,” Maia muttered, but her hand found his across the table. “But I was afraid what else you would do to grab my attention.”
The easy camaraderie flowed between us, each story showing me more of the bonds holding them together. They weren’t just crewmates—they were family, chosen by their alpha to stand not only as part of his crew, but as part of his clan.
I found myself relaxing into Luca’s embrace, his steady heartbeat against my back anchoring me to this moment, this feeling of belonging.
“Elara’s turn again,” Jaxom said quietly, eyeing me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher.
“Dare,” I answered, bolder than expected.
Tobias’s eyes lit up with mischief that should have been a warning. “I dare Seth to kiss you—right there, on Luca’s lap.”
The words landed heavy, cutting through the air. Seth froze, his mug stalled halfway to his lips, gray-blue eyes widening, caught between panic and desire. Luca’s arms tightened around my waist, his alpha instincts flashing possessive through our bond before something steadier took hold—trust and wondering where this was headed.
