My head snaps toward Fallon. “What?”
“Don’t look so shocked, Eli,” Fallon says, scratching the back of his neck. “She’s gorgeous. She’s funny. She’s got that whole ‘independent hardworking single mom’ vibe going on. You’dhave to be dead not to notice. I’ve seen the way you look at her when she’s not paying attention. And I’ve seen the way Knox looks at her, too.”
I stare at Knox. My mind races, replaying the last few days. The way Knox’s eyes followed her across the dining room. The intensity in his gaze when he was giving her assignments. The way he hovered over her station today.
I had interpreted it as disdain. As rigidity. But what if it wasn’t?
“I…” I falter, my grip tightening on my water bottle. “I thought he was annoyed by her.”
“He was annoyed that she was a variable he couldn’t control,” Fallon counters. “And Knox hates variables he can’t control.”
“This is ridiculous,” Knox says, turning away. He paces to the window, looking out at the dark, snowy parking lot. His back is rigid, his shoulders tense. “We’re not having this conversation. We have a rule.”
“The rule,” I mutter. The words hang in the air between us, heavy and suffocating.No emotional connections. No permanent pack relationships.
“The rule is there for a reason,” Knox says. He turns back to face us, his face a mask of indifference, though his eyes are stormy. “To protect this pack. To protect the business. Whether welikeher is irrelevant. She likes you, Eli. She made that clear. She isn’t interested in a pack. She is interested in you. Therefore, this conversation is a waste of time.”
“She likes me,” I repeat, the words settling in my stomach like a stone.
It’s true. She chose me. I know that. But hearing it stated so bluntly by Knox makes it final.
“And that’s that,” Knox says, walking back toward the hall. “If we’re done analyzing my nonexistent feelings, I’m going tobed. I have a menu to finalize.” He stops in front of me, our eyes locking. “Get some sleep, Eli. You look terrible.”
He walks out of the room, his footsteps heavy on the stairs leading to the upper level.
Fallon looks at me, a wry smile on his face. “Told you.”
“Yeah,” I say, sinking onto the couch. My legs feel weak. “Yeah, you did.”
“He’s scared,” Fallon says, picking up his glass of whisky. He swirls the amber liquid. “He’s always been the one who worries about the rules. He thinks if he feels something, the whole house of cards comes down. He saw what happened with Mary. He saw us almost fall apart. He’s just trying to protect us.”
“I know,” I whisper. “But he’s hurting her. And he’s hurting himself.”
“He doesn’t know how to do anything else,” Fallon says. “You’re the heart, Eli. I’m the… fun? And Knox is the brain. The brain doesn’t like feelings. They’re inefficient.”
I sit there for a long time, listening to Fallon resume his game, the sounds of gunfire filling the room again. But I can’t focus on the noise.
I lie back on the cushions, staring up at the high ceilings. How did I not see it? I’m supposed to be the observant one, the nurturer. I’m the one who sees the things people try to hide.
But I’ve been so focused on Amber and me, on our own dynamic, on the joy of finding her, that I completely missed the undercurrents swirling around her.
I thought I was the only one navigating these new waters. I thought I was the only one fighting the pull.
But Knox is fighting it too. And Fallon… Fallon has already accepted it.
We’re three Alphas. And we’re all falling for the same Omega.
A small, hysterical part of me wants to laugh. The rule. The one thing Knox clung to like a lifeline. It’s being tested not by an outsider, but by us. By our own hearts.
She fits with us.The thought pops into my head unbidden.She fits the spaces between us.
Knox is right. She likes me. She has chosen me.
But as I close my eyes, listening to the wind howl outside, I can’t shake the feeling that tonight’s confession has changed something irreversibly.
The dynamic has shifted. The foundation has cracked. And I’m not sure if there is any going back.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
