Page 217 of Knot What I Expected

Waiting.

Planning.

Calculating how quickly I could grab Matteo and run.

Tonight, my weekender bag is sitting inside Rowan's cabin. Matteo's dinosaur backpack is beside it. And I'm surrounded by three of the most dangerous Alpha Shifters I've ever encountered.

Yet somehow? I feel safe.

My gaze drifts to Rowan. He catches me looking.

Of course he does.

His eyebrow rises.

What?

I shake my head.

Nothing.

His eyes narrow. He doesn't believe me.

Then his fingers tighten around my thigh. The matebond tingles. Heats. And my heart does something dangerously close to turning over completely.

At some point, the conversation gets quieter. More personal.

Wreck pushes his chair back and stands. Gia looks up at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Hush up and let me talk.”

Her mouth drops open.

“Wow. Romance.”

“I had something planned.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

He clears his throat. We all go still and quiet.

Well, almost all of us.

Matteo continues eating frosting off his fork.

Wreck looks down at Gia, and the change in his expression is immediate. The joking disappears.

So does the growling.

There is so much love on that huge Bear's face that my throat suddenly feels tight.

“Gia, before you came into my life, I was a mess⁠—”

“Yeah,” Rowan calls beside me. “That's why we call you Wreck.”

Wreck slowly turns his head.