Page 182 of Knot So Social

Joel vibrates with a growl.

Willow’s mouth twitches around my thumb and I flash him a warning look. Joel freezes, the growl subsiding quickly.

“How do we fix this?” Jeremy whispers.

I study our perfect omega, noting the tear streaks and the faint worry line etched into her forehead, even in sleep. It took three of us bonding her to calm her down, and now she sleeps the sleep of the exhausted in our arms while the digital world howls for her blood.

“I want to tear those bastards limb from limb,” Joel murmurs, voicing my own thoughts. “But I don’t think we can fix this for her. She wouldn’t want us to.”

Jeremy groans and slumps, resting his forehead on my shoulders. “Fucking hell,” he grumbles.

I pull Willow closer. “We just need to be right here for her, always.”

Joel nods. “Yeah, that’s what she needs most.”

I drop a kiss on her forehead, smoothing away the worry line there. “Only she can decide how she wants to live her life from this point on.”

While we can’t make that decision for her, we can be here to tell her she’s perfect the way she is. But she does need to cherish that life.

“We can’t let her . . .” I choke up. “The letter opener. The way she was holding it . . . it scared me so much.”

I’ve only just found this omega; the possibility of losing her has my soul shaking like a leaf.

Joel growls. “That’s not happening. We won’t let her go.”

Jeremy sighs and leans over his brother’s back to watch us, musing out loud. “That’s not like her. Not normally. Think about it; she’s such a fighter, and even when people say shit about her online, she puts up with it and responds politely. No, this was something that touched so deep on her history, the idea of losing everyone and everything again.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is,” Joel interrupts. “We’ll watch over her, take shifts so she’s not left alone. And make sure she never feels unloved or lonely again. I can hire a business manager so I can stay home more.”

The three of us nod in unison.

We lie still for a long time, joined in one purpose, to love the omega in our arms, sharing what we know about her in hushed whispers. This probably won’t be the only time she breaks, but so long as we’re all together, we can get through anything.

“There is something I’d like to add,” Jeremy says, clearing his voice softly. “To our pack.”

Joel’s gaze flicks over my shoulder to his brother as Jeremy rises on one elbow. His brows rise in silent communication. I envy them that, a little.

“Sì?” I ask, frowning. What more do we need?

Jeremy looks down at me, his brown eyes liquid with something I can’t decipher. “Our uncle was part of a bigger pack, and he told me something that always stuck with me.”

“Other than never trust a fart?” Joel whispers.

His brother pinches his hand to silence him, leaning on my shoulder in the process.

“He said for a pack to be fully unified, they have to be fully bonded.”

I narrow my eyes, trying to understand. “Is that an English expression? Are we not fully bonded?”

Jeremy shakes his head. “Currently, we’re omega-bonded. Well, except Joel also bit me by accident the other day.” He clicks his tongue, but anyone could tell he’s not really annoyed. “So, how about it, Alessandro. Want to become pack brothers?”

He grazes his teeth on my upper arm.

“He means even more than we already are,” Joel adds.

“Un legame alfa,” I whisper. An alpha-to-alpha bond. Emotion surges up in my chest. I may not know either of these men very well, but I do know how much they care about Willow. “Oh, I would like that very much.”

He repositions his mouth over my arm.