Page 286 of Knot What I Expected

Soft.

Curvy.

Beautiful.

Mine.

But I know better now than to mistake softness for weakness. This woman escaped an entire Wake with a baby in her belly.

She's survived years of fear. Worked herself half to death to protect her son.

And now she's walking back toward the male who terrorized her because Matteo needs his mother.

Fuck anyone who ever called my mate weak.

I adjust the small radio clipped beneath her flannel.

“One tap if you can't talk.”

She nods.

“Two if you see Matteo.”

“Okay.”

“Three if⁠—”

“Rowan.”

“What?”

She reaches up and cups my face.

“You're stalling.”

“Damn fucking straight.”

“I have to go.”

Every cell in my body screams no. Monster claws at me.

Mate stays.

“We follow.”

Mate stays.

“We protect.”

Mate—

“She chose this.”

That shuts him up. Because that's the fucking point, isn't it?

Gabriella chooses.

Always.