Page 108 of Knot So Sweet
"Heat's broken," I observe. Can feel it through the bond, the fever gone. Her temperature normal now. "You'll need rest. Food. Lots of water."
"Later." She burrows closer, face pressing into my chest. Her breath warms my skin. "Right now I just want to stay here. With all of you. Feeling this."
"Feeling what?" Garrick asks, voice rough with emotion.
"Home."
27
VIOLET
Iwake up drowning in alpha.
That's the first conscious thought my brain manages to string together. Not a complaint, just an observation. I'm sandwiched between warm bodies, surrounded by scents so thick I can taste them. Coffee and cedar and burnt sugar, all tangled up with my vanilla until I can't tell where I end and they begin.
My second thought: everything hurts.
Not bad hurt. More like I-just-ran-a-marathon-while-someone-used-my-body-as-a-trampoline hurt. Which, considering the past three days, isn't far from accurate.
I try to move and immediately regret it. My thighs protest. My hips scream. Parts of me I didn't know could be sore are filing formal complaints with my nervous system.
"Don't move yet." Liam's voice, soft against my ear. His arm tightens around my waist from behind, holding me still. "Give yourself a minute."
"I'm fine," I mumble, though my body's calling me a liar.
"You're not fine." Xaden, from my other side. His hand finds my face, thumb brushing my cheekbone. "You've been in heat for three days. Your body needs time to recover."
Three days. Has it really been three days? Time's a blur, fractured into moments of desperate need and overwhelming satisfaction. I remember pieces. Xaden's knot locking inside me. Garrick's hands on my hips. Liam's gentle voice coaching me through waves of sensation. The bite marks.
My hand flies to my throat, fingers finding raised skin. One on the left. One on the right. Still tender, slightly swollen. Then my shoulder where Liam's mark sits, different placement but just as permanent.
Three bites. Three bonds. Three alphas who claimed me.
"Just thinking," I say, which is true. My brain is trying to process everything that happened over the last three days.
"About?" Xaden shifts, propping himself up on one elbow so he can look at me properly. His dark eyes are warm, searching my face.
I swallow hard. "About how different everything is now. Good different. Just... a lot to process."
"That's fair," Liam says, moving to kneel beside the couch. His chamomile scent wraps around me, soothing. "You just went through your first heat and bonded to three alphas. That's a lot for anyone."
"Understatement," I murmur, but I'm smiling.
Garrick's hand finds my ankle, thumb stroking the bone there. "You okay though? Really?"
"Yeah." And I mean it. Through the bonds, I can feel their certainty, their contentment, their love. It's overwhelming but in the best way. "I'm really okay."
My stomach chooses that moment to growl. Loudly. Like a bear waking up from hibernation and demanding tribute.
The mood shifts immediately. Liam's already moving, reaching for his medical bag. "When's the last time you ate?"
"I don't... yesterday?" Time's blurred together. "Maybe the day before?"
"Jesus." Garrick's on his feet, heading for the door. "Stay here. I'll make breakfast."
"I can make my own..."
"You can barely sit up," he says over his shoulder. "Let me feed you. It's literally what I do best."
