Page 158 of Knot So Social

I set my fork down and blink at my plate. Is this what they call spoiling an omega? I’m not used to it. My heartbeat pounds loud in my ears.

Mr Shares bounds up and drops his head in my lap, nuzzling at my hands.

“Oh shit,” Joel hisses. “Did we make her cry?”

I cuddle my dog’s head. “A week ago, I hadn’t eaten a meal at a table with anyone but you in about seven years. And now I have three alphas vying for my attention and treating me like a queen. What do you think of that, Mr Shares?”

I’m thinking aloud by talking to my dog, which is an old habit from living in isolation.

Jeremy leans his chin on his fist. “Aren’t you a lucky girl then?”

I chuckle wetly. Trust him to strip away the tension building inside me. “Yeah,” I muse. “I really am.”

“Do you prefer to eat in silence?” Joel asks.

I chuckle and release Mr Shares. Loading my fork up with the delicious food, I purposefully stretch the silence as a test run. Which results in me hearing myself chew.

“No, I think I quite like the chatter. I’m just saying, it’s new for me.” I pick up a chicken piece and point it at Alessandro. “As is sex.” The chicken swivels Jeremy’s way. “And pretty much everything else that’s going on right now.”

“We’ll take things slow,” Joel promises, offering to pour from the gravy boat for me.

Somehow I doubt that will be the case. Nothing about this past week has been slow, but taking action was always the way I improved my life. Now the action happens to include three very fit alphas falling over themselves to please me.

Who am I to complain?

I wipe the grease on my bruised napkin and link my fingers together. “Well, I’m a businesswoman at heart, so how about we get the hard stuff over with first?”

All three men swivel my way.

Chapter forty-nine

Jeremy

Hard stuff? My palms suddenly feel itchy.

Willow sips from her water glass, washing away the quivery emotion she was fighting a minute ago. “I think all of you have some idea of my past, but what you might not know is that I . . . had a pack once . . . a bond as well.”

Joel tightens his grip on his cutlery, anticipating what comes next.

“They abandoned me and left me homeless and penniless. It took me years to drag myself out of the gutter.” Willow toys with the edge of her plate, not looking up.

Alessandro swears in Italian, and I feel the same. My chest tightens, thinking of anyone treating Willow cruelly.

The omega nods, glancing up. “Scumbags, yes. Speaking honestly, which you’ve all said is okay, I feel safer with you three, but I'll still find it hard to trust alphas again. So, um,” she lowers her gaze and her voice drops, as if she’s embarrassed. “I’m going to have to ask for a pre-nuptial agreement.”

A cold tingle meanders through me, not because there’s anything wrong with an agreement, but because she needs one to feel safe, and because she’s so nervous about raising the topic.

She carries on bravely. “The thing is, I counsel all my followers to not leave themselves completely vulnerable, so I can’t be doing the opposite. And, I want all of us to feel at ease. You might have assets to protect, and if things ever end between us . . . well, no one should be at a disadvantage.”

Willow chews on her lip, and Mr Shares, who settled on the floor beside her chair, looks up and wags his tail.

“Done.” Joel leans back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest. He scowls, but I know it’s for her awful history, not the request.

“Fine by me,” I add.

Not like I have anything of my own to protect, but I’d never want Willow to worry about someone taking off with her money.

“Sì, me also.” Alessandro tips his head. “I also am homeless. It is not a good feeling.”