Her Knotty List (MVP: Most Valuable Pack Book 4)

I passed out once with the Dunlap Pack.

Renee liked to hike, so despite my deep dislike of sweating in the Florida heat, I bought some new boots and agreed to brave the trails with them. I remember how optimistic I was about the whole thing—how certain I felt that the day out would bond all of us.

Naturally, it didn’t take long for me to make a fool of myself. I couldn’t keep up with them, for one thing. And, after falling behind for the eighteenth time, I twisted my ankle and stupidly tried not to put up a fuss about it. Which meant speed-limping in the hundred-degree heat while my Omega shrieked that we were disappointing our future pack.

When I came to, I could tell I’d ruined everyone’s day. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching William and Rob’s noses twitch while I pumped burned cinnamon stress into their Lexus.

So imagine my shock when I pass out in this strange alpha’s kitchen and come to…

In his lap?

He isn’t purring, but the burly alpha, who hasn’t smiled once since I met him, has my thighs hooked around his hips and my face pressed into the V of hot, woody skin at the open collar of his flannel shirt. Thick, calloused fingers lightly touch the back of my head.

Petting me?

“Shhh,” he rumbles, so quiet that I might just be hearing things. “You’re okay, honey.”

Off to the side, someone else presses cool fingertips into my pulse. I realize it’s Micah when the sharp, magical wintertime aroma of frost creeps into the air. “Heart rate is still normal, so this is just stress. Or shock,” he murmurs quietly. “Poor sweet girl.”

A door cracks open, and I hear panting. “What”—gasp—“the fuck”— pant—“happened?!”

My lips twitch. Zane.

It doesn’t seem to matter that he was just outside in the cold. His chai spiciness still washes into the room like a tidal wave. The warmth of it thickens the air as his footsteps pad across the open living room.

I still have my eyes closed, clinging to some silly instinct that tells me not to let them know I can hear them yet.

Or maybe it isn’t so silly. After all, I trusted my nose blindly last time, and look where that got us. Listening in on them for a few seconds might not be the worst thing…

“Emma got overwhelmed for a moment,” Micah replies. “It happens all the time when omegas meet their⁠—”

Again, the gruff man under me says the word no one else can get out. “Mates.”

There’s a thick swallow, but this time, Micah repeats, “Mates.”

Zane doesn’t say the word, but he drops to his knees behind me. A low growl starts in Knox’s chest. The beautiful alpha ignores it; a second later, his big hand lands on my lower back, rubbing circles.

“I’m sorry I had to go outside, shona,” he murmurs, leaning close enough for me to feel the heat rising off his bare chest. “I’ll be better. I promise.”

I hear wet snuffling and realize McKinley has crowded between Knox’s legs and Zane’s side. “Yeah, I know, buddy,” Zane sighs. “I’m worried about her, too.”

Awww!

I don’t even know what that word he called me means, but how am I supposed to ignore a promise like that?! And with the dog, too? Come on.

Pretending to blink awake, I turn my bleary eyes in his direction. The genuine way his dark gaze lights sends my heart fluttering, even before his secretive smirk tells me he knew I was awake.

“There you are, gorgeous. Did these two bore you into a coma while I was gone?”

It’s obviously a joke, but behind him, Micah grimaces and rubs at his nape. The alpha holding me grumbles something and rearranges my body, propping me up and cupping my face so he can examine it.

He’s serious and intense, the thick ledge of his brow folding over laser-sharp blue eyes. “How do you feel, Emma?”

I shrink under his intent regard, my stomach squirming at the strength of the dominance rolling off him. My Omega doesn’t know if she’s annoyed that he didn’t call us honey again… or too interested in presenting for him to care.

The second that image sails through my thoughts, I start shaking for a whole new reason.

Uh oh.

I know this feeling. The shivery sensation at the base of my spine, the thick pulse that starts between my legs and echoes in my neck…

It isn’t a full heat because there isn’t any gut-wrenching pain. But quivers of achy need shoot through my lower abdomen until I inhale sharply.

Which is a stupid mistake, of course. Because they’re all here. Enchanted, frosty coolness; the rich earthiness of cedar; sun-warmed spice. The three scents curl in my lungs, caressing my chest from the inside.

My nipples harden into painful points. Cinnamon-sugar perfume leaks into the air, the thick, gooey smell expanding between the three alphas crowded around me. Knox’s hands flinch, his fingertips digging into me as a low snarl rips from his throat. Zane freezes, his hands fisted at his sides.

But Micah…

“Aww, baby,” he whispers, easing me off Knox into his hard body. “Does it hurt?”

I swallow thickly and bite my lower lip, resisting the urge to nod. The Dunlap Pack hated it when their plans got derailed by one of my heat-spikes.

They’d been so irritated by them that I went back on suppressants to keep from having any breakthroughs between actual heats. Now, I realize I didn’t take my dose last night and might not even have my medicine with me anymore. Which is probably why this is happening at the worst possible moment.

Micah doesn’t seem bothered. He reads my expression and makes a sympathetic sound, gathering me up and pushing to his feet. Our eyes meet, his hazel gaze utterly sincere. “Do you want some help? Or should we get you set up in that big bed upstairs and give you some privacy?”

Zane turns to look at Knox. “You have a fake pussy in your drawer—got any dildos?”

My cheeks burn, and Micah frowns at Zane. “Don’t be a dick,” he tuts, molding his cool palm to my burning face.

Those earnest gold-brown eyes meet mine. “Do you need easing, Emma? I’m a heat-clinic volunteer—I could try to be as professional about it as possible.”

The thought of any of them feeling like they have to ease me is suddenly the worst thing I can imagine. Rejection hits my heart in a hard stab. Tears well in my eyes, and I’m too overwrought to fight them anymore.

What is happening?

I’m on the edge of a heat-spike, in a strange house, with alphas who have never met each other before, let alone me. I’ve never heard of an omega finding a collection of mates who aren’t in the same pack, but I feel a connection to their scents that makes my “scientifically-matched” exes seem like a joke. And, yet, there’s a deep throb in my middle, too—the sensation that something vital is still missing.

Is my Omega trying to tell me these guys aren’t the ones? The way she tried to tell me the Dunlaps weren’t right?

No, that can’t be it. Because I’m perfuming like crazy and dousing these pants I borrowed from Knox.

When fresh slick pours out of my bare pussy, all three of the alphas go still, each breathing harder. “Emma,” Knox finally grits, standing to complete the triangle of perfect chests surrounding me. His blue beams snag my focus, staring into me. “What do you want?”

I want…

I want⁠—

I want to be wanted.

I’m so tired of being sneered at. Tolerated. Pushed aside and forgotten and just… insignificant. For once, I want someone to need me so much they can’t fathom not having me.

Knox’s eyebrows twitch as he watches the longing pass through my wet eyes. His jaw flexes twice before he nods at Zane. “She needs you.”

Chai spice instantly swells to twine with my own cinnamon scent. His voice drops into a low husk. “Yeah?” he asks me, gaze burning. “Is he right? Do you need me, gorgeous?”

The way he’s looking at me—with dark, seething hunger blazing in his bottomless eyes—is exactly what I need. I whine, my head bobbing before I can stop it.

Part of me expects Micah to remain calm and professional, but his voice rasps, “Can I help?”

The room starts to spin, but I whirl my head around to see his face, which has taken on a harshness that connects with the quivers warming my lower belly. “Please, sweet girl,” he adds. “I want to touch you, too.”

My entire body trembles, more perfume and slick gushing out of me. Micah curses and sits forward, sealing me between his abdomen and Zane’s.

Knox grinds out a deep growl. “I’m watching your every move. If either of you does anything she doesn’t like, you’ll answer to me,” he warns.

Oh my God. The power roiling off him is insane. My thighs clench, fear and white-hot want chasing one another through my veins.

When I loll my head in his direction, his rough hand sifts through the hair on the top of my head, but falls away.

Things have slurred into a haze. I only understand that this alpha doesn’t want to touch me like the others do. A sharp whine snags behind my sternum, throwing the other two into high gear.

“Her clothes. They’ll chafe her,” Micah mutters, tugging gently at the hem of the large sweatshirt I have on.

He’s right. The scratch of the fabric against my skin hurts. It rasps over my raw nerves while my pulse pounds in a desperate drumbeat to match the one throbbing between my thighs.

“Have you ever done this before?” the one with dark, hypnotic eyes asks.

The taller, wider one grunts, “Yes, at the clinic. I’ve never been with an omega anywhere else.”

The other makes an odd sound, muttering, “I’ve been with omegas, but never during a heat or a spike.”

They look at each other for a long moment and seem to reach some silent agreement. “Here, baby,” the one with the swirling gaze whispers. “Let Micah take you. He’s going to show me what to do.”

He’s leaving me? He doesn’t want me, now? Is it because he took my shirt off and saw me? I whimper, trying to reach for him. The flash of red material being whipped off the second alpha distracts me, though.

Oh.

Oh.

His body is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Stacked with rippling muscles, all under perfect brown skin. I whine louder and his teeth flash white while he chuckles. “You like that, sweet girl?”

I try desperately to get closer to him, but the other alpha—the pretty one behind me—grips my chin and turns my head to him. The smirk on his face doesn’t match his eyes, but I can’t think long enough to figure out why.

He’s still wearing something over his lap, covering everything I want. When I tug at the cloth and whine, a spark ignites in his fathomless depths. “Mmm. Greedy girl, huh? You want us both naked?”

Is he… kidding?

I shouldn’t be able to tell. My haze is so strong I can barely see. And there have been others—alphas whose names I don’t remember right now—who told me how irrational I am when I’m like this.

But the way this alpha teases me feels warm. All of the instincts begging for flesh-on-flesh closeness sink into that intimacy. My whines drop to whimpers while I bounce on my knees, desperate to fill the aching emptiness carved into my core.

Compassion fills his face. “Shona,” he says softly, framing my face with his big, soft palms. “Settle for me. Settle.”

The soft bark soothes more of the restlessness raging in my blood. His gaze drops to my chest, skimming slow circles over each of my tingling breasts.

“So beautiful,” he adds, his full, dusky lips quirking up. “Can I kiss you before I kiss this perfect little pussy? Or should we let Micah do that part?”