Knot Their Sugarplum (Knotty Holidays #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Last night was a complete disaster.

Everything started great. One second I’m celebrating my best friend, excited beyond reason that her men have asked her to bond, and the next, I’m staring into the eyes of my ex-boyfriend.

I huff, tossing my glass cutter and grozing pliers to the side, too antsy to concentrate on my work.

Taking my frustrations out on colorful pieces of glass is usually very therapeutic. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to calm the raging storm inside my chest this morning. I need something destructive to do, and creating stained glass ornaments is not destructive.

I push myself away from my workbench and march out the door.

I knew I would have to face my ex eventually.

It’s unavoidable when he’s the best man in a wedding that I’m a bridesmaid in.

Knowing is one thing, but seeing Kai at the Halloween party felt like having a bucket of ice water dropped on my head.

It’s been five years since we broke up, and sometimes I think I’ll never get over the damage he did to my heart.

I never thought I would be the omega who'd panic and ask the closest alpha to be my fake boyfriend, but then, I also never considered how I'd react to seeing Kai again unexpectedly.

The shame and embarrassment of that moment are lingering still, and it’s been over fifteen hours since I fled the bar with the alpha on my arm. I wince as the memories refuse to be ignored.

My heart starts racing, and anxiety floods my system as I catch a familiar scent in the air. No… it can’t be him.

“Damn. You look good in that costume, Sweet Plum,” the deep voice behind me growls, causing my hackles to rise and my muscles to tighten. My fight or flight kicks in, and I have to force myself to remain calm.

That is not the voice I wanted to hear tonight, or ever again, if I’m honest. Why is he here already? He shouldn’t be back in town yet! The wedding isn’t for weeks! I lick my lips and lift my chin, turning to face the beta with as much composure as I can muster.

“Kai…” I keep my tone neutral, hating the hint of emotion I hear despite my best efforts not to react. I keep Kai, and every memory of our relationship, locked in a very tight box. But seeing him? Having him speak to me like that after everything? All while looking like this...

It’s been said that women use Halloween as an excuse to dress slutty, but what about the men, half fucking naked and showing off their damn abs?

So unfair. My brain stalls out as I take in the sight of Kai dressed as a gladiator.

His tan skin glows in the dark lights of the bar, his black hair all disheveled, and his brown eyes shine bright as he grins at me.

Normally, I would use Sable as a shield in a situation like this, rare as they are for me, but she just left the Halloween party with her soon-to-be pack. It’s probably why he waited to approach me. He knows Sable would’ve chased him off.

Glancing around, no doubt looking just as desperate as I feel, I spot the only person who might just save me.

Benson.

He’s an alpha, standing tall and hot in his crazed killer costume—shirtless, of course, and covered in fake blood.

I’ve known him all of my life, but up until recently we haven’t interacted a ton.

He’s been flirting with me whenever we’re around each other, though, and he’s just playful enough to possibly help me out right now.

“Benson!” I smile up at him, and his curious blue and green hazel eyes meet mine as he lifts a brow at me. I understand what he’s saying with this one look, because about an hour ago when he greeted me, I blew off his attempt to flirt once again.

“You can stab me all you like,” he’d growled sexily earlier, after hearing me threaten to stab an omega for talking shit to Sable, before his brother, Rhian, shooed him off.

Fuck, I really hope he doesn’t hold that moment against me, because I need him.

I reach for the alpha's bicep, grip tightly, and yank him into me. “There you are, babe,” I giggle, cozying up to him and hoping he doesn’t embarrass the fuck out of me right now. I stare up with wide eyes that I hope scream, ‘Please play along and save me,’ and not, ‘I’m fucking delusional.’

“Plum,” Benson says playfully, wrapping his arm around me and resting his palm on my ass, apparently catching on a little too well.

I have to resist growling at the alpha and keep my face neutral as I smile over at Kai.

“Kai, this is my boyfriend, Benson. Benson, this is Kai. The best man in your sister's wedding,” I explain, and Benson nods, smirking at my ex.

“I know Kai,” he nods to the beta, glancing down at me as he gives my ass a firm squeeze. I squeak, jumping at the feel of the firm grip. It’s been a long time since I was touched like this. “Long time no see, city boy.” The smile he gives him is wolfish as their eyes meet.

I’m going to strangle him for enjoying this so much. While I’m grateful he’s saving my ass, I wasn’t prepared for him to grab it so damn much too.

Even more distressing is how much I’m enjoying his touch.

Kai is never going to take this seriously if Benson can’t behave, though. Kai was once my very real boyfriend, after all.

“Stella hasn’t mentioned you two being a thing. Must not be very serious,” Kai says with that smirk of his, flashing me those dimples that used to make me melt.

I have nothing to say to that, but thankfully, Benson does.

“We’re taking it slow. Enjoying each other.” The alpha turns to me, caressing my cheek in an intimate gesture that sends shivers down my spine. “Isn’t that right, baby?” he purrs, and the shivers intensify.

Oh hell. What have I gotten myself into? I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this.

This whole situation is unhinged, especially because I’ve liked Nick, Benson’s older brother, for years now. Hell, I flirt with the man who’s ten years older than me every chance I get. Everyone knows that Nick practically raised Benson and their siblings. Including my good friend, Stella.

But the way that Benson is staring at me right now? How he’s holding me? Fuck me, it feels so good. I could get addicted to this feeling.

The crisp autumn air and the crunch of the leaves under my feet bring me back to the present.

I wasn’t expecting him to play along so well, but now I can’t stop thinking about Benson calling me baby last night. The tone of his voice when he said we’re enjoying each other. The heat in his eyes as he caressed my cheek. I swallow thickly, trying desperately to shake off the memory.

I’ve never been so confused by my reaction to an alpha in my twenty-three years of life.

Benson isn’t an alpha that I spent much time thinking about before last night.

Minus a couple of weeks ago, but that was a very different situation.

I’d dragged Sable to the bar, and while she got herself into some alpha drama with the owner, I’d spent an hour flirting with Nick.

Well, I attempted to flirt, anyway. Later, I drove her home, smelling like slick and pheromones. At least someone had fun.

After dropping Sable off, I spotted Benson walking alone on the side of the road. Honestly, he was stumbling at best. It was just after midnight, though, so I pulled over and offered him a ride home.

We ended up back at my place because he begged me not to take him to the farm, mumbling something about disappointing his brothers.

It was no big deal. He crashed on my couch, attempted to make me coffee in the morning after interrupting my phone call with Sable, and then passed out once again.

He made his way home later in the day, and that was that.

Until last night.

Seeing Kai. Hearing his voice. Getting a lung full of his scent of balsams and cedar wood… Well, it was more than I could take. I panicked, latching onto an alpha-shaped lifeline.

Which leads me to this morning. My head filled with conflicting emotions, panic gripping my chest. Thankfully, my father’s tree farm, where my glass art workshop is located, offers the perfect outlet for all this pent-up energy.

I storm past the old alpha, leaving him in a cloud of my angry scent.

Dad sells Christmas trees, and now that Halloween is over, he’s got a lot of stores to stock across not only our town but several adjacent ones as well.

Which means he also has a lot of wood that needs chopping.

He has machines for it, but he always leaves a pile of logs for me to massacre when the mood strikes.

“Uh… Good morning, Plumdrop,” my father says cautiously, watching me with a wary frown.

“Morning, Dad,” I grumble as I tug on a pair of leather work gloves, then grab the safety goggles and snatch an axe off the tool rack.

I can feel his concerned gaze following me as I stomp my way over to the stack of un-chopped wood.

Lifting one of the logs, I place it on the chopping block and swing the fuck out of the axe.

The wood splits with a satisfying crack, so I reach for another one.

Kai is back in town four weeks early. Stella’s wedding events don’t start until the day after Thanksgiving, yet he’s here now, already disrupting my peace.

If I didn’t love the girl as much as I do, I would bail on being a bridesmaid.

Even though Sable is my best friend, Stella and I grew close after Sable moved away for school six years ago. Especially after Kai dumped me. She realized I was struggling and swooped in to fill the void two very important people left behind.

We were inseparable until she joined the same college Kai had been attending. That's where she met her fiancé, Val. Kai’s best fucking friend.

Stella didn’t even need to tell me he’d be the best man. The second my phone rang and she told me she was getting married, I knew. Two weeks later she asked me to be her bridesmaid with an absolutely adorable invitation, and I called her to say yes.