Her Knotty List (MVP: Most Valuable Pack Book 4)

Oh.

Oh.

OH.

Is this—is this what this is supposed to feel like? Because I have been around omegas all my life, but this? This is different.

This is everything.

It’s only muscle memory that lets me pull the hot pans off the range before anything burns. I set them both on the warmer and immediately move, needing to be closer to Emma.

She sways on her feet, dazed. I don’t even think before I go to her, but she’s suddenly in motion. Barreling toward⁠—

Knox.

Well, fuck me sideways.

I stop in my tracks. He drops whatever shit he’s holding just as Emma collides with his chest. He grunts on impact, his arms automatically wrapping around her curves, head falling forward.

She buries her face in his chest, rubbing her sweet round cheeks all over his shirt. Jealousy bursts inside of me, rising to block my throat.

I’m… devastated.

Rejected and hurt and tortured by longing.

For this literal stranger.

By the look of utter dismay on Micah’s face, I’d say the poor bastard is in the same boat as me. His jaw hangs open, eyes widening as he stares and clenches his fists.

I’m drifting closer. I can’t stop myself. Knox’s head snaps up—and for a moment, I think we’re about to have an all-out alpha brawl over this blonde angel.

The omega notices the same second I do. To her, his angry face looks a lot like rejection. A soft whine starts in her throat and Knox visibly stiffens, thrusting her away like he’s afraid he’ll accidentally hurt her or something.

Which, of course, makes that whole “possible rejection” thing even worse for Emma.

The sound she makes scrapes my inner ear like a shard of glass. I instantly snap forward and bundle her into my arms, hoping to quell her fear. Needing her close for my own sanity.

Heaven.

Fucking heaven, that’s what she is. This scent and her light-green eyes? My chest clenches, waiting for her to cry for the alpha she clearly wants.

Instead, her pupils expand, and her soft pink lips fall open. She leans closer to my naked chest, sniffing right between my pecs. The graze of her nose makes me harder than granite.

I groan and she gasps, practically climbing me to get to the scent of my throat. She marks hers along it, and I think I might come in my pants.

Knox’s pants.

I think I might come in Knox’s pants.

My body forms a cradle for hers, wrapping her long legs around my waist and tucking my arms under her ass. I palm the back of her head, pressing her mouth against my neck, growling while she licks me.

“You like that, gorgeous?” I hum, inhaling her perfume and bucking into the open air. “Fuck, you smell divine. What do you want, hmm? You want my knot? Tell me, baby.”

She sucks on my neck and we both moan. Rearing back, she opens her mouth to bite me. I should panic—but all I can think is yesssssssssss.

A hand lands on my shoulder, intercepting her teeth. “No,” Micah scolds softly. “No, sweet girl. You can’t bite Zane.”

The hell she can’t!

I lift my head to snarl in his face, but he shakes my shoulder, forcing my eyes to his. “Zane, man, think. Breathe.”

Right. Fuck.

I’m in a stranger’s kitchen. Holding a woman I don’t know.

And she was about to soul-bond us forever and ever.

And I was about to let her.

That’s my bad, guys.

But as Micah slowly eases Emma out of my arms, I’m not relieved. All I feel is loss.

Her whine starts again, and I can’t take it. I move to scoop her back up, but Micah steps in my path, his hands rising to hold her cheeks.

Emma blinks up at him, breathtaking with her bare face and raw emotion. They stare into each other’s eyes for a long minute. The connection between them is visible. I swear, I see that shit. Like a beam of pure fucking light arcing between their faces.

Micah exhales hard. “Emma,” he breathes, wrapping her into a bear hug. “It’s—Are you⁠—”

Emma nods frantically into his chest, scent-marking him the same way she did with me and Knox.

“Yes,” she breathes, shaking. Spring-green eyes turn to Knox, then land on me. “With all of you.”