Knot Their Darling (Knotting-verse #1)

When Mercedes first told me to get the guys into her room after they came home, I was curious. I didn’t ask at the time, mostly because I was shocked into silence, but I had plenty of time to think about it while waiting for Darius and Warren to get back, while not-so-patiently waiting for them to re-heat their dinner and scarf it down.

She has to be ready to tell us about the alpha she’s running from. If I would’ve known that seeing my scars, that hearing the story of how I nearly lost my life four years ago, would push her to open up to us, I would’ve told her the moment she came home with us.

Of course, it isn’t as though I enjoy reliving those memories. If anything, I prefer to pretend they don’t exist, which is what I think everyone in this family does. But over the last four years I’ve learned that we couldn’t go on forever the way we were; things between me, Darius, and Warren never completely healed. I think they were always wary, their guards up. The scars on my chest are the only visible ones from that horrible day and the days that followed, everything else was under the skin, the fracture too deep for us to heal on our own.

When Warren strolls into the house after dusk, I’m ready and waiting for him in the kitchen, and he slows to a halt when he spots me. “Hello,” he says slowly, eyeing me up. “Is there a reason why you’re standing alone in this dark kitchen?” He goes to the refrigerator and pulls out the leftovers from dinner, fixing himself a plate.