Page 9 of Knot the Right Omega

“The controversial heiress to Harringday industries has made a last-minute upset in the business world, showing up at the scheduled vote that would have relinquished her seat to a board of directors. The dramatic entrance was caught on camera by one of the staff where you can see…”

The reporter’s words blended into background noise as I watched with my own eyes as Celeste Harringday burst through the wooden doors of a conference room, all fire and poise as she strutted inside the room filled with men. The grainy footage recorded from the meeting showed enough that I knew instantly that the meeting had gone in the opposite direction as our client had wanted - she wasn’t supposed to show at all. And Celeste didn’t look sedated, not one bit.

I bit back a curse and quickly made my way to the valet, barking out orders as I pulled out my cell phone. How did this happen? I saw video evidence that my pack had secured the target. Just an hour ago they had updated me that she was still sedated and stable in our safe-house. I called Maddox, knowing the last time I spoke to him she was safely in our locked room. He answered, and I could tell by his gravelly voice he had been napping.

“Kian? How did the conference go?” I had no time for pleasantries when my reputation was on the line.

“It went fine - up until I saw on the news that Celeste Harringday made it to the board vote on time and cast the deciding ballot!” I could barely contain my fury as Maddox tried to keep up on the other end of the line.

“Kian, what are you talking about? She’s right here!” I was already in my car and headed toward the safe-house.

“Clearly, whoever you took is not Celeste. Check the news and try to figure out who the fuck is in our safe house with you!” I ended the call, trying to stay cool as I made my way toward them. Either we were double crossed or our pack had royally fucked up. I couldn’t remember the last time a mission had been fucked this badly. It had to be over two years ago, at least.

The safe-house wasn’t too far from where I was, but I still had to take a longer route to make sure I wasn’t followed. My mind was so set on all the ways this had gone wrong that I didn’t notice the drive. I made it to the safe-house in record time, the garage door opening for my car as I pulled up. I knew the client would call soon. In fact, I was surprised they hadn’t been blowing up my phone. Which meant that they were probably somewhere in the same room that the vote had been cast. Our client used a voice changer and code name, which was common in our field. We could all use plausible deniability if any of us were ever caught. Luckily for us, Cy was such a talented hacker that he could usually tell us exactly who hired us, even with the safeguards in place. I cursed as I stormed into the house, the rest of the pack jumping up as they saw me come in.

“Kian! We don’t know what happened, but we’re retracing every step.” Cy tried to use a calm voice as he approached me. I growled a warning, putting my hand up to stop him in his tracks. He was an alpha like me, but knew that in a fight I’d always win. Not because of my strength, but because of my sheer determination to fight to the end. I never gave up.

I stopped in the middle of the room, assessing them. Maddox was looking up at me from the couch, halfway desperate to be fucked and half struggling with his feelings of shame for disappointing me. Cy was standing in the middle of the room, looking skeptical as his mind ran through all the things that could have gone wrong. One member of our pack was missing, and I was curious where Jameson was. I straightened my tie and cleared my throat. “So, since Celeste Harringday is clearly not in our possession, I am very curious as to who exactly is in this house with us.”

Chapter 15

Kian

“We’ve been trying to figure that out who she is, and it's not making sense.” Maddox remarked as I breezed past him.

“Take me to the target.” They followed as they updated me with what they’d discovered since my call.

“We can't seem to wrap our heads around it. She matched the scent card. We have to have been double crossed. Maybe whoever hired us set us up to be the fall person and take the reward for her return.” They were throwing out theories, but it didn’t make sense. No one knew where our safe house was.

“There can’t be a reward for Celeste if she isn't missing.” I strode toward the room where our captive was, certain that this was some sort of ruse.

“Are you sure it was Celeste in the vote today?” Cy asked, and I snapped at him.

“Check the video yourself! She walked into a room full of her board members. I’m sure they would notice if the heiress of their own corporation was someone else.” I stopped in front of the door, using the fingerprint keypad to open the lock. I heard the click and slowly opened it, my pack members flanking me.

Inside, I saw Jameson, his enormous form overwhelming the room as he hovered over the captive. Once I stepped inside, I was hit with a scent - strong, synthetic, and intoxicating. It did match the scent card we were given, but there was something else in the room too. A small, but still present scent of something, or rather someone, else. I walked over to where Jameson sat, his hand holding the small omega’s own as he watched her.

“So. This is Celeste. Or who we thought was Celeste.” Jameson didn’t take his eyes off of her as he rubbed her hand. I stepped forward, looking at her.

“Jameson - you know this isn’t the socialite. You took the wrong omega.” He turned to face me with an expression I’d never seen before. His face looked at peace. In fact, it was almost joyous.

“I know. I can smell her real scent coming through. She must have doused herself in Celeste’s fragrance before we took her.” I sniffed again, the harsh scent of synthetic omega mixed with the faint sweet scent of the little stranger in the bed. The natural, real pheromone laden scent of an omega was growing. It was incredible how even a small hit of the scent was clouding my head.

“So then who could this one be? It’s been a whole day. We should have had a news report come in for her. Any other omega who was attending that ball is likely someone’s golden child or a minor celebrity. We need to come up with a plan and get her out of here as soon as possible.” Jameson nodded dubiously, his gaze concerned as he looked at her. She was pretty, I’d admit that. She looked like Celeste, especially her hair - but she was an entirely different omega.

“I suppose we can keep her sedated another day while we figure things out. Did you check her for a tracker?” I asked, and Jameson nodded as he gazed at the girl. I knelt down, looking at the mystery in front of me. How had she been in Celeste’s place? Had our target known all along? This one might be dangerous if she woke up. She had already surprised Jameson when he took her, something that was nearly impossible. Perhaps she was a trained omega, one sent as a decoy. We’d have to be careful around her. And Jameson was treating her like a little princess. He should have been treating her like any other captive, and instead he was holding her hand and looking at her with damn puppy dog eyes. What had she done to my fearless mercenary?

I reached out, grabbing the omega’s chin and turning her face toward me to look at her features. She was beautiful, I had to admit. Whoever had sent her in Celeste’s place had found a true gem. She certainly did resemble Celeste, but up close I could see the minor differences. Her nose shape, the plump lips, her big eyes… which fluttered slightly. That shouldn’t happen. The sedatives we used were enough to knock out an omega of her size for two days straight. I frowned, tilting her face side to side to observe her. I leaned in to look closer, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, a fist came barreling at my face.

Chapter 16

Bella

I was in a cloudlike state, my brain confused and my thoughts fragmented as I fought to gain consciousness. My subconscious was screaming at me to wake up, but for some reason, I knew I wasn’t in immediate danger. There was something keeping watch over me, keeping me safe. I heard a voice speaking in the distance yet so close to me. My nose caught the scents in the room, waking me a little more. The synthetic scent of Celeste permeated the air, but was weaker now. There was a pleasant, stable scent of honey, oak and burnt caramel that seemed to be in the background, something that calmed my body and made me feel safe. Another scent hit me now, a splash of ocean water and cedar mixed with luxurious amber. The incredible smells pulled me from my muddled, dreamlike state, urging me toward something important. My body fought to awaken, fighting against the deep sleep that was keeping me quiet and still. Then I heard a voice talking about an omega. My mind cleared a little as I gained some clarity. I suddenly knew two things - I was not where I should be, and the most deliciously scented alphas I’d ever smelled were surrounding me.

A hand reached out to touch me, an invasion of my space. The hand gripped my chin, and I could open my eyes slightly to see a blurred face peering down at me. Even though the yummy scents were pulling me awake, urging me to meet the owners of these incredible smells, my body still remembered what happened when I woke up with a pack of alphas surrounding me. Years of being bullied, robbed and chased in Goldpine came rushing back to me without thought. Alphas could be a huge threat. When someone tried to assert dominance, the best course of action was to challenge it or escape. Since I wasn’t in any condition to run, my body reacted out of instinct, swinging at the blurry figure that was leaning over me. I swung my fist with all my might - and a surprising amount of force considering I had just woken up and was still dizzy. I felt the impact of my knuckles against a hard skull, and heard the muffled thud of my fist against him.

“Fuck!” I heard a man growl and watched the figure stumble back, my adrenaline waking me as I tried to gather my bearings. My other hand was warm, secure… and holding someone else’s hand, apparently. My vision focused as I tried to sit up.

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