Page 119 of Knot My Sin

Twitching the high slit in her dress to the side, she shows us the knife strapped to it before allowing it to drop. Squeezing Wren’s hands gently, she says, “Welcome to the family, dear. May I suggest some hand to hand combat lessons? Your pack is very well versed in all that.”

Wren nods in surprise as Jodi gives her a beautiful smile and moves on.

“They really didn’t check any of the omegas upon entrance to this shindig,” Jas says with a snort. “Some of these women are deadlier than the mob bosses, sis.”

Jasper’s words are thankfully low enough that no one hears, because I’m not sure we want to overshare about that here. While Jasper’s boss has business dealings with some of the mafia bosses here, I’m sure he has enemies as well.

“God, they’ll let anyone in here, won’t they?” a girl sighs heavily as she stomps over to us. Her peppery scent tickles my nose, making me want to sneeze. There’s also a really odd undertone of mustard to her, which is just unfortunate. I also can’t remember her name, but I believe she’s Jodi’s daughter.

Yes, the Ryan’s were blessed with a daughter who is a pain in the ass and kind of terrible.

“Can we help you?” Jasper asks, sounding bored. “If not, I think you should probably move on.”

“I have the same right to be here as anyone else. Besides, a new omega is something to be asked about, especially when a pack already has one,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you any manners?” Wren asks, lips twitching. She does appear a lot like Jodi with her blonde hair, except her mother is prettier. “Since I just met her and she’s lovely, I’m going to have to say she didn’t. Pity.”

Jasper hides a smile, and I have to admit that Wren sounds like a high society debutante who is currently smelling bullshit.

“Excuse me?! How dare you speak to me like that?—”

The girl is turning a really worrying shade of red when a tall, blonde omega comes up behind her, pressing something into her back. “Reagan, I will cut you and then tell your mama you deserved it,” she growls.

Of course Jodi’s daughter would be named Reagan. It’s like giving her a prissy name from the damn get-go. Poor girl never had a chance.

“Aisling,” Reagan whines. “You’re hurting me.”

“Good. Get the fuck out, and stop bugging people,” Aisling grunts.

Pulling away, Reagan stomps away, and my eyes widen as I watch Aisling put away a huge knife down the sheath between her breasts. Smart, and not somewhere any of the security here would want to search.

“Hi, I’m Aisling,” she says with a grin, making my lips twitch at her friendly demeanor. It’s so different from earlier, it’s amusing.

“Wren,” my omega says with a small smile. God, she’s so damn cute. I don’t remember ever having met Aisling before.

“I’m Flynn,” I introduce myself. “I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

“That’s a long story,” she admits, wrinkling her nose. She smells like sugar cookies, and I find it doesn’t bother me to be in the same space as her. It’s kind of soothing. “My mom is Beatrice Reynolds, and she may have had a little affair with Cian Sullivan. He found out after my mom passed away, and he decided he wanted to get to know me.”

“Wow,” Jasper says. That was a lot of information, but it explains why I haven’t met her before.

“Are you two getting along?” Wren asks sweetly. Knowing her struggles with her family, I squeeze her waist, loving how she melts into me easily.

“Yes and no,” Aisling says with a laugh. “I didn’t grow up in this life, so some of the rules are hard for me to understand and follow. I’m just glad the families in these packs don’t work in sex trafficking.”

“It’s barbaric,” Wren grunts. “Hearing how many omegas fall into this or kidnapping makes me feel helpless.”

Aisling stares at her for a moment, biting her lip. “Do you mean that? I don’t know you well enough to know if you do or not.”

“Wren doesn’t say what she doesn’t mean,” Jasper growls. My omega reaches out to touch his arm as if soothing him before giving Aisling her full attention.

“I mean it. Why?” Wren asks.

Aisling blows out a breath as she drops her hands to her sides, smoothing her black dress. “There’s so few resources for omegas, and I want to change that. My mother died when I was sixteen and I didn’t know what to do. I got kicked out of our apartment when they found out she had passed away in her sleep, and I ended up living on the streets for a month. None of the shelters would take me because I was an omega,” she explains.

“Shit,” I breathe. Again, I’ve lived a very sheltered life because my parents wanted to keep me safe. When I hear these stories, it hurts my heart, and makes me want to find ways to fix it.

“I was living in Minneapolis when this happened in the spring, but it was still really fucking cold. My mother knew she was dying, and refused treatment because we couldn’t afford it. She wrote my father a letter to tell him I was his daughter without telling me,” Aisling continues. “Unfortunately, the letter was hidden by his wife, while I froze my ass off on the streets.”