Chapter 45 Knox
Knox
Iwake up before the sun.
Not because I have to. Not because something’s wrong.
Just because I can. For a long moment, I don’t move.
I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, listening to everything around me.
The sound of Walker’s snoring. The sound of Lia smacking her lips in her sleep.
The sound of Eli shifting around for the seventeenth time that night.
I listen to the sounds of my family.
Family.
Holy shit, I’ve finally got a family.
Carefully, I turn my head. Lia’s right there, her cold little feet pressed against my thigh while she tucks herself into Walker.
She’s curled into the center of the bed like she was made for it, tucked between the three of us like she’s the final piece of a puzzle we’ve all been missing for too damn long.
Her hair is a mess. Her lips are chapped and parted in her sleep. And the marks on her skin?
Our marks?
They stand out against the softness of her warm skin.
I swallow hard. I still can’t quite believe that part. It’s hard to believe any of this, really.
Walker’s got his arm draped over her waist while he sleeps, like he’s not willing to risk losing her. Eli’s on Walker’s other side, his arm around Walker just so he can hold Lia’s hand. And then there’s me, pressed like a solid wall against her back.
I’m part of it. Part of them.
A real family.
“Holy shit,” I whisper under my breath.
When no one stirs with me, I slip out of bed as carefully as I can. The second my feet hit the floor, I stretch, my muscles shivering as my arms go up over my head. My back pops in a way that makes me wince before a grin slides across my face.
God, I feel good.
I glance back at the bed before I reach down and tuck the blankets back around Lia. No sense in her getting cold just because I’ve gotten up. I tuck those little feet of hers beneath the blanket, making sure her freezing cold toes don’t get any colder.
Then I scoop my boxers and flannel shirt off the floor.
After haphazardly dressing myself, I pad out of the room.
With all of them still sleeping, it gives me a chance to prepare a little something for them.
All of us will need caffeine, I’m sure of it.
And with the time Walker’s parents spent in the house yesterday, the fridge is likely filled to the brim with food.
Eli’s place is quiet as I pad out into the hallway.
It’s the kind of quiet I’ve never been able to achieve inside of my own head.
For once, the swirling voices in my head are silent along with the house, no longer torturing me with thoughts of being alone and dying without anyone next to me.
Sunlight is just barely starting to creep in through the windows as I start up a pot of coffee, committing all of this to memory.
Our first heat together.
I never want to forget it.
As the coffee maker sputters and spurts to life, I start opening cabinets to find where Eli keeps his mugs. One of the hinges creaks, and my brow furrows. I wiggle the door. I don’t like how it moves.
“I wonder if he’s got a toolbox somewhere,” I mutter to myself.
When I don’t find anything in the kitchen, I slip out to my truck in the driveway.
The world is only beginning to be drenched in morning sunlight, and a cool breeze kicks up, ruffling my hair.
I make my way back inside with my own toolbox that I keep in the bed of my truck, and I get to work on that loud, wiggly cabinet hinge.
“All right,” I mumble as the smell of coffee fills the kitchen. “Finally.”
This cabinet door has been crooked since the first time I came over, and now I have the opportunity to fix it. But just as I’m packing up the tools, I notice that one of his sliding drawers isn’t quite closing.
I open it up and find that it’s Eli’s junk drawer.
It makes me smile. Of course, Eli’s the kind of man that has a junk drawer.
I slip my hand to the back, just to make sure nothing’s jammed or hooked up. But when I don’t feel anything, I pull out the flashlight from my toolbox and take a look. I have to open the cabinet beneath it and stick my head under to see that one of the wheels is a little off its track.
Easy fix, no tools required.
After wiggling the drawer out completely, I slide it back in, making sure all four wheels are connected properly to the track.
It squeaks a little, but it’s nothing some good ol’ WD-40 can’t fix.
I keep a small bottle right there in my toolbox, and a couple of squirts against the small wheels has it opening and closing without a sound in no time.
“Much better,” I mutter as I pack up my toolbox.
After putting my toolbox back in my truck, I rummage around in the fridge.
Walker’s mom wasn’t joking about filling this damn thing up.
In the freezer are stacks of plastic Tupperware containers that have cooking instructions taped to the top.
I pull out a few, smiling at her impeccable handwriting.
I’m not sure Lia’s body will be ready for things like shepherd’s pie and lasagna, though.
“Scrambled eggs with toast it is,” I say to myself.
Just as I’m cracking eggs into a pan, muffled footsteps shuffle down the hallway. They’re slow, and heavy, and I know who I’m about to see before he even breaches the entryway into the main area of Eli’s home.
“Morning,” Walker says as he yawns, scratching at his disheveled hair.
“Morning,” I say as I crack another egg into the pan. “Scrambled, sunny side up, or hard fried?”
Walker looks over at me with only one eye open. “We got toast?”
I nod. “And butter. And jam, too, if anyone wants it.”
“Sunny side up, runny yolk,” Walker grumbles. “That coffee ready?”
I reach up and open the silent cabinet where the mugs are, grinning to myself at a job well done. “Absolutely. Creamer and sugar are on the table.”
“Thanks.”
I hand him the mug and the pot of coffee for him to pour himself some. But after taking the two things from me, he just stares at the profile of my face while I move his eggs around in the pan.
“Salt and pepper?” I ask.
“You’re up early,” Walker grunts out.
I just shrug as I reach for the loaf of bread. “Couldn’t sleep. Too busy having an existential crisis about how I somehow lucked my way into a family.”
His huff of amusement is quiet. “You’re not the only one with that crisis.”
I slide a couple slices of bread into the toaster. Walker pours himself a coffee and places it back on the hot plate. I slide his eggs onto a plate for him and finish it with some salt and pepper just as the bread pops out of the toaster.
“Butter and jam’s on the table, too,” I say as I hand the plate to him.
He takes it from me. “Domestic looks good on you, Knox.”
I chuckle. “Careful, Walk. Keep talking like that and I might never leave.”
“That’s the idea,” he says as he walks over to the kitchen table.
His words settle inside of my chest and make up a home that reminds me of the home I’m making with all of them right now.
Eli’s presence pulls me out of my mind.
“Morning,” he mumbles through a yawn as he scratches at his head.
“Morning,” I say as I reach up for the mug cabinet. “Coffee?”
Eli pauses. “You fixed it.”
“What?”
He points. “The cabinet. Isn’t that the one that always squeaks?”
I smile as I step back, opening and closing his junk drawer. “Yeah. Fixed a few things. Hope you don’t mind.”
His smile is lopsided. “Thanks. I’m not good with that kind of stuff.”
I just toss him a wink. “Cream and sugar are on the kitchen table. How do you want your eggs?”
“He makes a good sunny side up,” Walker says with a mouthful from the table.
Eli wrinkles his nose. “I don’t like my eggs with texture like that.”
“So, scrambled with cheese?”
“And extra pepper, if you don’t mind.”
“Not a problem. Toast, too?”
“Ohhh,” Eli says as he makes his way to the kitchen table, “yes, thank you. That would be amazing.”
“Coming right up.”
The morning routine of eggs, toast, and coffee feels like something we’ve been doing forever instead of for the first time.
It’s a quaint ritual, and one I could quickly come to love.
When Eli’s breakfast is made, I deliver it to him at the table before reaching into the cabinet for a coffee mug of my own.
The telltale sound of shuffling footsteps pulls all three of our attentions toward the hallway.
Lia shuffles from the darkness of the hallway and into the soft light of the morning sun, and she steals my breath from my lungs.
Her hair is mussed and tangled from sleep, her body clad in Walker’s shirt, the hem brushing against her juicy thighs.
She’s got socks that look a lot like Eli’s pulled midway up her shins, and she rubs at her eyes like she’s been sleeping for ages.
Fucking hell, she’s a miracle wrapped in the definition of beauty.
“Good morning, my Alphas. I smell coffee.”
Walker growls from the table. Eli has a chuckle on his lips. But me? I move. I make my way out of the kitchen with those two words echoing off my mind.
My Alphas.
I’m her Alpha.
Always, and forever, so long as she’ll have me.
I have to hold her.
“Good morning, my Omega,” I murmur as I scoop her against me, burying my nose into her messy hair.
“Mmm, hi, Knox,” she hums against my chest.
I press a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s get you fed. How does eggs and toast sound?”
“Can I have coffee, too?” she asks.
“Only if you chase it with some protein water,” Walker says from the table.
“Seconded,” Eli says with his mouth full.
I guide Lia to the table and take her order: a mug of coffee and a protein water with scrambled eggs, no cheese in hers, and two pieces of heavily buttered toast. It takes me no time to whip up her order, and then the four of us are sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying our first meal together as a bonded family.
There’s two others missing that would make this even more perfect. And it doesn’t shock me when the door slams open a few minutes later.
“Dad!” Amber exclaims.
“Well, there’s my princess,” Eli says as he wipes off his mouth and holds out his arms.
Her voice cuts through the house like a firecracker, bright and loud and full of energy.
She runs into the house with Pickles’ leash in her hand, but she drops it when she takes off at a full-tilt run toward her father.
Pickles’ paws skid across the floor as he rushes into the house, tail wagging as he bolts for Lia.
I watch Eli hug his daughter while Pickles jumps up onto Lia so she can hug his neck.
“See?” a familiar woman’s voice says as she walks through the opened front door of Eli’s home. “I told you we wouldn’t get here in time to cook them breakfast. They’re already eating.”
“Hey, it was good to let Amber and Pickles sleep,” Eli’s father says as he makes his way into the house behind Eli’s mother.
It doesn’t shock me that Walker’s parents are right behind them.
“Oh, there’s dishes,” Eli’s mother says as she makes her way into the kitchen. “Don’t worry about these. I’ll get them cleaned.”
“You clean, I dry?” Walker’s mother says. “I don’t think Eli’s got a dishwasher in his place.”
“Who cooked the sunny side up eggs?” Eli’s father says as he pats Walker’s shoulder. “They look nice.”
I lift my hand as I take a bite of my toast.
Eli’s father points at me. “Atta boy. Cooking and fixing. That’s a prime Alpha right there.”
I beam with pride at his words. “Good to see you, as always, Mr. Black.”
“Nonsense,” he says as he walks over to Lia and pats her shoulder in a silent greeting. “You’re family now. No formalities.”
“We got any dishes that we’re done with over here?” Walker’s father asks as he walks over to the table. “I can refill coffee mugs, too.”
Walker just holds his mug up in silence, still chewing on a piece of toast.
“Miss Lia!” Amber exclaims.
Lia unravels from Pickles just in time to brace herself for the massive tackle hug that Amber has for her. My Omega perks up instantly, a smile breaking across her face as she holds the little girl against her.
Amber climbs straight into Lia’s lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like she’s a lapdog and not an early-emerging nine-year-old.
I can’t help but watch as Amber lays her head on Lia’s shoulder. “I missed you, Lia. Did Daddy take care of you? Gammie and Papaw said you weren’t feeling well.”
Lia kisses the top of her head. “I’m feeling much better, thank you. Your dad, Walker, and Knox took good care of me, I promise.”
“Good,” Amber murmurs, “because I’ll beat ’em up if they don’t.”
That makes all of us chuckle as the sounds of dishes being washed emanates from the kitchen. Eli’s parents and Walker’s parents fall into a rhythm of cleaning up behind us and refilling our coffee mugs while we all sit there and… take everything in.
Walker keeps stealing glances over at Lia like he can’t quite believe what’s happening. Eli keeps his gaze trained on his daughter like he’s trying to figure out how to tell her what’s happened between all of us.
And me? I reach over and tuck a strand of loose hair behind my Omega’s ear. Maybe one of these days, we’ll have another little one running around our home somewhere. A little one I can chase behind and teach things to, like how to fix a bike wheel and how to change the oil in a car.
But for now, I soak in our first morning as a pack.
As a family.
I make a silent vow right then and there to never abandon my pack the way my parents abandoned me to a system that didn’t give a shit about anything but the paycheck I came with. My family deserves better than what I had. They deserve love and nurturing. They deserve my presence and energy.
And I’ll make sure that’s exactly what they get.