Page 184 of Knot So Social

As I slide toward the end of the bed, Alessandro stops me. Groggy and more asleep than awake, he tugs me close and offers his lips. My heart swells as I look down at his pouted mouth and closed eyes.

I press my lips to his. He’s awake all right, because a swell of tingling heat runs through our shared bond. When I drop another kiss on his cheek, his short black beard tickles my skin.

Alessandro releases me and I slip free, padding to the bathroom. As I shower, I consider my options. For the most part, I’d rather just avoid the whole situation. Delete all my accounts, disappear from social media. The Boss College could keep operating, running on ads from a hired account manager. Not everyone using social media knows who I am, and not everyone would learn how my empire fell.

That would be running away. Again.

Back then, when the Ilvine pack abandoned me, I didn’t know about human rights. Hadn’t heard about the omega support programs that would’ve helped me sever the bond and get back on my feet. So, I endured it all, agonizing over every sexual encounter streaming second-hand into my heart, shaking every time the alphas connected to me got sick, scared, or frenzied during ruts.

I wish I could sever my bond to social media as cleanly as the lightning seared my bond to those bastards. Wish there was a way to stop caring about how millions of people now see me as a fraud.

But it’s also my life’s work. Hundreds of hours of filming, advising, helping people. Would I really take it all back if I could?

No. Not one bit.

I hop out of the shower and wind a towel around my hair. Jeremy stumbles in, bleary-eyed, herb scent thick on his shirt. He hugs me from behind, arms caging me in.

“Okay?” he mumbles into the back of my neck.

I stand in his arms for a moment swaying side to side in the steam, processing how the bond carries my emotional state to him and his to me—yet we still want to talk about it out loud.

“Better than yesterday,” I whisper, stroking the dark hairs on his arms. My throat scratches, sore from all the screaming.

He nods. “What do you want to do first?”

“Coffee. Then damage control.”

He kisses the back of my neck and releases me. “I’ll be right behind you, baby.”

And that’s how it’s going to be from now on.

A hint of a smile plays across my mouth as I get dressed in comfortable slacks. I cast around for an oversized shirt, but then I spy Joel’s shirt on the floor from yesterday, presumably discarded after I soaked it with tears. I tug it over my head, lifting the collar to breathe in his baked clay scent.

All warm and earthy. Like the sun’s dried into the fabric, if the sun had a scent.

Yeah, this will help me get through my day.

Jeremy and I have our coffee in near silence, him holding my hand and squeezing it often. Mr Shares and Jock, accidentally left out overnight, both stick their heads in my lap for cuddles.

Thank God the weather’s so warm and they had each other.

My alpha gets up before our drinks are finished and makes toast. He brings me two slices slathered in mashed avocado with onion and cheese, and I eat a few bites, knowing he’s worried I’ll need my strength.

Joel and Alessandro get up as I’m finishing my coffee, each alpha pausing by my chair to kiss the top of my head. It sinks in that the days of sleeping alone in my car are so far behind they may as well be another lifetime.

The three of them flutter around the dining table, looking for things to do. Alesandro makes himself a coffee but doesn’t drink it. Jeremy rearranges my shelf of newspapers. Joel goes to the pantry three times for the cereal he’s already put on the table. We’re all nervous, but for different reasons.

“I think,” I begin, pressing my palms flat to the table. “That I need to make an announcement. A recording.”

My alphas gather around the table in mere seconds.

“That is your primary form of media,” Alessandro says with a hum.

I nod.

“And what are you planning to say?” Jeremy asks, worry in his eyes.

That’s the million-dollar question, literally. “Well . . .”