Knot Her Reality (Heated Book 3)

Epilogue

“That’s perfect! Just hold it for a moment longer!”

It’s all I can do to keep smiling when all I want to do is grimace.

“Okay, that’s a wrap! Thank you so much, Pack Hanson. You all did beautifully.”

I let my smile fall away as I walk over to the photographer. “Thank you for your patience and your attention to detail, Branson. We couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Of course, you couldn’t. No other photographer would be able to do half as good of a job as I did. And how could I tell my good friend no when she asked me to photograph her and her pack for a huge magazine spread?” He pulls me in for a hug, ignoring the snarls from my alphas behind us. “Those idiots who protested your season of Heated will be eating their words now that not only are you pregnant, but so are two of the other women in your pack. It’s practically a miracle.”

Turning back to my pack, I can’t help smiling. As betas, there have been a lot more chances in the last year to get Natalie and Lillian pregnant since I can only get pregnant during my heats that only come four times a year. It’s probably why Natalie is the furthest along at over eight months. She looks beautiful even as Ronan has to help her out of the chair she was sitting in for the photoshoot. Lillian isn’t too far behind her at six months, while I’m only four months pregnant.

It’s kind of insane to think about the fact that we’ll have three newborns in five months or less. Three babies at once, even if they’re from different mothers within the same pack, is practically unheard of. I love that it’s our pack that’s been blessed like this. As Branson pointed out, it’s a great way to rub it in the face of those CFA fuckers, but it’s also more than that. It’s a blessing to my pack.

When we were approached by Pack It Up, a popular magazine not only in the United States but around the world, I wasn’t sure how to react. Appearing on Heated definitely threw our pack into the spotlight—just like the packs from the first two seasons. We used that to our advantage, speaking out about the unfair treatment of omegas and bisexual women. Since Alejandro had already been working with Chase, both of their names were already in the political sphere, more and more people were listening to us.

But because of our notoriety, people have been watching us to see what we do. As soon as we announced Natalie’s pregnancy, we drew even more attention to ourselves. It only got worse when we announced that Lillian was also pregnant. All of that was nothing compared to the onslaught of attention on us when we announced that I was also pregnant. We only shared the news a month ago, and we were overwhelmed with requests for appearances, articles, photoshoots—you name it and they wanted us for it. It was a lot.

Thank the gods for Tessa, who took the lead on all the offers. Most of them she just outright turned down, never even mentioning them to us. She told us to trust her judgment as she’s had to deal with a lot of these people before. Having one less thing on my plate was something I was very happy about. When she brought us the offer from Pack It Up, I didn’t understand what was so different about their offer than any others.

At least until Tessa told us she knows the omega who runs the company. Emilia Reinhardt is a widowed omega mother to two young children, having lost her pack in a tragic accident last year. She’s been struggling to keep the company afloat while mourning her lost loves, taking care of her children, and having a board of alphas breathing down her neck. Tessa told us that not only did she want to help out Emilia, but that the omega would make sure we were taken care of. She might have mentioned rubbing it in the faces of the CFA too. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered what she said. As soon as she told us she thought we should do it, we were all in.

A nice beta woman, Cara Sharp, interviewed us a few days ago, but Branson Banks is in high demand, and this is the first availability he had to do the shoot for us. And there was no one else I wanted to photograph us.

“I will get these uploaded immediately and begin the edits. I promised Emilia that I would have them over within two days, so they can make sure to get the article in the next issue—especially since your pack is going to be on the cover.” He chuckles. “As if most people didn’t know who you were now, there won’t be anyone that doesn’t know your face after this.”

Nodding slowly, I sigh. “Don’t I know it. That’s okay though, it’s worth it. We have a story to be told, and we can bring attention to topics that people prefer to avoid.”

“Your pack is braver than me,” is all he says before waving to my pack and heading for his office. “Just let yourselves out when you’re ready.”

“Ugh, I have to pee again,” Natalie complains, already moving toward the bathroom. “This baby loves sitting on my bladder.”

I bite back my laughter until the door closes behind her.

Lillian’s hand slaps against my arm as I pass her. “You won’t be laughing when you’re the one dealing with it.”

“I sure won’t be, but the rest of you will be.” Pausing, I lean in to kiss her before lowering my hands to her stomach. “How is the baby treating you today?”

“Fine. This one is much better behaved than the one Natalie is carrying.” She lays her hand next to mine, both of us sighing when it kicks.

Strong arms wrap around me, pulling my dress tight to reveal my barely there bump. “I can’t wait until this one starts kicking.”

Leaning back, I turn my face up to smile at Koda. He leans down to press a kiss to my forehead as the rest of our pack surrounds us.

“Are we sure we don’t want to at least find out the genders?” Jagger asks for the millionth time since we found out Natalie was pregnant. “I hate calling all three of them it.”

I laugh as I shake my head. Natalie didn’t want to know the gender of the baby she’s carrying or whose biological child it is before the birth, so Lillian and I decided to do the same. Obviously, we’ll find out the genders once they’re born, and we’ll have DNA tests run then as well. Not because we care whose child they are biologically, but for medical purposes. Anything could happen that would require us to know who the biological parents are, so it’ll be better to have the information just in case.

“Are you going to keep asking that until the babies are born?” Tessa asks, eyebrows arched. “Because I’m pretty sure Natalie is really close to punching you for continuing to ask.”

Jagger has the good grace to look abashed as he glances over his shoulder to make sure Natalie hasn’t rejoined us yet. “No, I promised I wouldn’t ask her again. I didn’t even mean to ask right now. It just slipped out.”

“Yeah, right. It just slipped out.” Alejandro rolls his eyes. “I’ll make you a deal, Jag. Every time you ask one of the girls, you get a punch from one of the other alphas.”

“Hey! What about me? I want in on that action,” Koda cries out with a frown. “I might not be an alpha, but I know how to punch.”

Conrad reaches over to squeeze his shoulder. “We know you do. How about every time he asks, he gets punched by one of the alphas and you?”

“Oh, yeah. I can get behind that.” Koda kisses the side of my neck. “But the three of you aren’t allowed to punch anyone while you’re pregnant. We have to make sure nothing happens to any of you or the babies.”

My gaze meets Lillian’s as we both roll our eyes. “I’m pretty sure that punching someone won’t hurt the baby,” I drawl.

“That’s true,” Natalie says as she makes her way back to us. “But we could hurt ourselves, and you know how they feel about that.”

Now she’s the one rolling her eyes. She’s been having to deal with everyone’s overprotectiveness for the longest, and I know it’s been driving her crazy.

“Are we done?” she asks, hands resting on her lower belly. “Because I’m fucking starving, and this kid is heavy as shit.”

Koda releases me without a word, hurrying over to stand behind Natalie, his hands going to the bottom of her belly and lifting it as she leans back into him.

“Ahhhhh…that’s nice. Thank you, Koda.”

“Anything for my girls,” he purrs.

The rest of us grumble or shake our heads. We’re used to this kind of behavior from Koda, as he’s been the one who has been most focused on making sure we’re comfortable. Which is a good thing, but also makes everyone else grumble about how they didn’t think about it.

“Yeah, I’m starving, and I need a nap,” I admit, resulting in Conrad lifting me in his arms. I laugh even as I lay my head on his chest. “You know I can walk, right?”

He hums. “Yes, but I can’t carry Nat and Lilly like this anymore, Evie. It’s not comfortable for them, and Tessa would probably bite my head off if I tried it on her. You know I like toting you all around.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine.” I act like it’s a hassle to have him carrying me, but honestly? I’m practically falling asleep in his arms.

My eyes fall shut as he heads for the door, the others following behind us.

“Don’t let her complaints fool you,” Koda calls after us. “She likes to be carried.”

If I wasn’t so tired, I would stick my tongue out at him. Instead, I just burrow further into Conrad’s chest as he begins to purr.

“It’s okay, omega. I understand why you feel like you have to complain.” He nuzzles the top of my head. “I don’t mind as long as I get what I want.”

Gods, I love my pack so much. We might always have to deal with judgemental assholes who think they’re better than us, but they’re everything I could have ever wished for. I loved them when I chose them to be my pack, but I somehow love them more now.

They really were made for me, and I was made for them.