Knot Broken (Hiddenverse)

37. Elliott

CHAPTER 37

Elliott

The week drags by. Date after date. When all I want is to be with Lilah. It’s like they scheduled her for last so that they could torture us. I’m not sure what I thought this show would be like when I convinced Rafe and Miles to sign up, but it isn’t this constant longing and need for one omega.

But the day is here, and every possible thing that could go wrong has. Am I cursed? It feels like it.

First Miles, tripped and sprained his ankle on his run. Meaning our original plans of coffee tasting followed by a romantic walk on the riviera and possible bike ride are not going to happen. Now, Rafe’s in a mood. He’s being as obsessive as Miles normally is about the details of our new date. In fact, I’m pretty sure they were just arguing about it.

Pushing out onto the veranda of our current carriage house, I glare at them. “Are we going to fight over what to do on the date? It’s going to be night before you two decide.”

I need to see Lilah. It’s a thrumming inside of me with each beat of my heart.

“You can’t make it seem like a nest,” Miles says. My attention catches on the pile of pillows and blankets set up on the back lawn. A huge movie screen blown up in front of it.

“It’s just pillows and blankets. We want to be comfortable, right?” Rafe replies.

Miles tugs his fingers through his hair. It does look like a makeshift nest, and it pushes thoughts of sinking into her over and over again. The constant memory of the club playing on repeat inside my head.

“What’s this?” I ask, interrupting the on coming argument between them.

“We can’t walk because Miles is clumsy, so we can watch a movie under the stars.”

“As long as it isn’t one of Rafe’s,” Miles clarifies from his chair overseeing the area.

“Maybe she would want to watch me on the big screen,” he says, clearly poking at him.

Stepping down to the lawn, I eye the area they’ve set up. Enough room for the four of us to be cozy. A fancy cooler set up with bottles of wine, and fruit, cheese, and cracker platters, already sits near the edge of the space. Rafe lays another blanket down and tosses two more pillows toward the growing pile.

“You did this all, Rafe?” I turn to look at him, studying his face. He’s further gone than I thought, if he did.

He shrugs. “I might have done a search on the internet.”

Miles snorts from his spot on the veranda. “He’s just missing the rose petals.”

“Don’t act like you don’t want this to be perfect too,” he says, pointing at Miles. “It’s your fault we can’t do our original plan.”

“Yeah, my fault the root was across that path.”

Rafe rolls his eyes and turns back to fluffing the pillows.

“Can we not fight? You two are acting like alphas getting ready to go into a rut. ”

They both still, and my stomach drops. Is that what this is? The excess energy running through me? I don’t think they’ve had a heat break out on the show, and I can’t recall a rut. But there’s a first time for everything, and they’ve kept us from Lilah all week.

Our omega could soothe us. Pull us back from the brink if we were entering a rut. As long as she isn’t going into a heat too. Of course her presence could have the opposite effect and have us fighting over knotting her. Just the thought has blood rushing behind my zipper.

“This needs to be good enough,” I say what I know they have to be thinking. The longer we are away from Lilah, the stronger this urge will get. The need to find our omega and make sure she’s ours. Knot her, claim her, breed her…all of it, everything we are unable to do while on this fucking show.

“Wait, I have candles,” Rafe says. He bounds up the three short steps and grabs a box before bringing it back down. He circles the area with tall, thick candles. “Okay.”

“Let’s go,” I say, before they can decide to add more pillows or fight about it looking like a nest.

My heart slams against my ribcage as I step out of the SUV, my eyes running over the Villa in front of me. It’s bigger than the mansion in the states. At least from the outside it looks that way. And there is an elegance to the lawn decorations. It feels like we are someplace magical. Somewhere dreams can come true.

Thomas stands at the top of the steps, looking slightly annoyed with us. That’s fine. He can fuck off for all we care. I turn to watch Miles climbing from the car, his crutches already out to steady him. Briefly, I wonder how his injury will play out on the TV screens. Not that it matters. Only making it to the end matters now. One more week. Three more dates after this.

“You’re late,” he says, a frown forming between his brow and on his lips. “You three are the most difficult alphas we’ve ever had.”

“That’s surprising, considering what an ass you are,” Rafe quips.

He doesn’t reply, only heads into the house, expecting us to follow. There’s a grand stairway that runs up both sides of the room, the staircase curving along the walls. At the top, there is a landing that looks down over the entrance way. I’m sure this villa was used for elegant evenings. And I can almost picture them as Lilah steps up to the banister.

Her fingers curl around the shiny wood, a smile lighting up her face as she looks down on us like an angel. In fact, it’s as if her entrance was planned to be viewed that way. The light shining behind her blonde hair even looks like a halo.

It doesn’t last long before she’s descending the right side of the staircase. When she reaches the bottom, she closes the distance and throws her arms around me. A purr rumbles in my chest as I gather her close, allowing her perfume to sink into my senses like a healing balm to my soul.

“I’ve missed you,” she says, her cheek pressing against my shirt, then she’s pulling away, and I want to pull her back.

But she’s turning to Rafe and giving him the same treatment. He folds her into his arms, nuzzling her neck with his own purr.

“I might have missed you too,” she adds as she detangles from him. When she turns to Miles, her eyes go wide. “What did you do? Are you okay?”

She stops in front of him, taking in the crutches and his wrapped ankle. “I’m fine,” he assures her gruffly. “Where’s my hug, sunshine?”

When she doesn’t move, he pulls her into him, one of the crutches falling to the ground as he holds her to his chest. He presses a kiss to the top of her head and inhales like a man starved of oxygen. We may have been away too long because I’m not sure the building urge to rut has gone away. A fleeting thought has me parting my lips to warn Lilah, to tell Thomas. But this selfish need to have her with us for the night snaps it quickly shut.

The show has to have something in place if alphas go into ruts. Some kind of protocol. It has to have happened in all the years they’ve filmed. And it isn’t a sure thing that any of us will have that problem. She could soothe us.

Lilah pulls back slightly from Miles before she ducks under his arm, attempting to be his fallen crutch. “I’ll help you back to the car.”

He puts the majority of his weight on the opposite crutch, but keeps her glued to his side. It makes a slight growl bubble up from my throat, and I cough to cover it up. Pack mates don’t fight over omegas. Even if every atom in my body wants me to tear her away from him and push him down the stairs. Whoa . Insane intrusive thought. Maybe I should tell Thomas about the possible rut, because I’m further gone than I realized.

We make it down to the roundabout driveway without me being a terrible pack mate, and I hold the door open for Miles as Lilah helps him into the front seat. Rafe climbs into the back, a cameraman scurrying into the rear third row for filming. Once Miles is in, Lilah straightens with a bright smile, oblivious to the possessive need swirling inside of me. I shut the door on Miles and help her into the backseat. When all I want to do is kiss her.

Closing her door, I circle the front of the SUV and climb behind the wheel. The engine rumbles to life, and I ease into drive, eager for the evening under the stars.