Page 251 of Knot What I Expected

God, so much fucking need.

It floods through my abdomen, my chest, my limbs until every inch of me feels hypersensitive. My breasts ache. My skin feels too tight. Even the brush of my own clothing becomes unbearable.

And underneath it all?

Empty.

That’s the only word for it. Suddenly, I feel painfully, impossibly empty. And every instinct inside me knows exactly what’s missing.

Him.

My Alpha.

My mate.

My body wants Rowan with a ferocity that frightens me.

No. Not just with me.

Inside me.

Knotted with me.

My hand flies to my lower belly. The thought doesn’t feel entirely like mine.

It comes from somewhere deeper.

Older.

A place where instinct and magic tangle together until I can’t tell where Gabriella ends and my other nature begins.

Mate.

Alpha.

Baby.

Oh, God.

A moan slips out before I can stop it. Silence falls on the other side of the door.

Then, a moment later, I hear him.

“Gabby?”

The doorknob rattles.

“Talk to me.”

I open my mouth. Nothing comes out. My pulse pounds. My skin burns. And beneath it all, my other nature pushes closer.

Closer than she has been in years. But she isn’t angry. She isn’t frightened. She’s calling out.

Calling out to him.

The matebond stretches between us like a live wire, and suddenly I swear I can feel Rowan on the other side of that door.

His worry. His confusion. Then something sharp and wild.