Since when did we close the kitchen door?
I tried to push it open but it wouldn’t budge. There was weight against it, something or someone blocking it from opening properly. I pushed harder but it still wouldn’t move.
Hormones are a hell of a thing. They can make you cry at commercials, crave pickles dipped in peanut butter, and apparently, they can give you the strength of ten men when you’re irritated enough.
I took a step back and kicked the door open.
The bang echoed through the house. Four pairs of eyes from the living room snapped to me in alarm. Knox’s parents and the Cranes all stared with startled expressions.
I smiled and shrugged. “It was stuck.”
Then I pushed through the now-open doorway and saw a woman stumbling backward, catching herself on the counter. Dark brown hair, blue eyes, designer clothes, and a scowl that made her pretty face turn ugly.
“I was standing against it!” she snapped at me.
This must be Isabella. The childhood friend Knox didn’t remember. The woman his mother had described with such fondness, mentioning how she’d had a crush on Knox when they were young.
I immediately disliked her.
When the hell was going to be the day I’d meet a normal she-wolf who wasn’t a complete bitch? Was it too much to ask for one female wolf who didn’t instantly treat me with hostility and barely concealed contempt?
“Then don’t put yourself in the way or you’ll end up hurt,” I grunted, not bothering to hide my irritation. “Isabella, right?”
She straightened up, lifting one perfectly shaped eyebrow at me. Why did she have to be so beautiful? Tall and slim and polished, with the kind of effortless elegance that made me feel dumpy and huge in comparison. Seven months pregnant and swollen everywhere, standing next to a woman who looked like she’d never eaten a carb in her life.
“I am,” she said, standing taller and looking down at me with barely concealed disdain. “And you are...?”
I snorted. She knew exactly who I was. Every wolf in a hundred-mile radius knew who the Luna of Ravenshollow was. She wasplaying games, trying to make me feel small and unimportant, and I wasn’t going to dignify it with an answer.
I didn’t have to, anyway, because Knox was already crossing the kitchen in three long strides. He was in front of me in an instant, his hands gripping my waist as he lifted me up and kissed me with an intensity that made my toes curl.
“Hi, baby,” he grunted between kisses, his mouth moving over mine with desperate hunger. “I missed you so much.”
Hunt and Noah both started whistling, making exaggerated catcalls and whooping sounds that echoed through the kitchen.
“Get a room!” Hunt called out.
“Some of us are trying to maintain our appetites!” Noah added.
I laughed against Knox’s mouth, pulling back slightly to catch my breath. His gray eyes were dark with want and his hands were still gripping my waist, holding me against him possessively.
“I missed you too,” I whispered, reaching up to touch his face.
He finally set me down, though he kept one arm wrapped around me as I turned to hug Noah.
“Hi,” I said, squeezing my brother-in-law.
“Hi, favorite sister-in-law,” Noah replied, hugging me back warmly.
“I’m the only one.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t be my favorite. You brought sanity into this family. Before you came along, Knox’s idea of fun was growling at people.”
“That’s not true,” Knox protested.
“You once made a trainee cry because he filed a border report in the wrong folder. The kid was seventeen.”
“He needed to learn attention to detail.”
