Page 36 of Knot My Sin

“The hook?” Everest asks, snickering. “That’s a conversation for another day, Wren.”

I’m even more confused as I take the glass of water and take a small sip of the cool liquid as I glance at Flynn from under my lashes. My throat soothed for a moment, I give myself a moment to take in the pack surrounding me. Shaw sits by my side, staring at me as if he’s been gobsmacked. I’m not beautiful by any means, especially after spending however much time in a ravine, so I’m blaming the curse of biology on this.

Ambrose’s shoulder-length brown hair is loose as he lays across the bed completely, smirking at the hook above me.

“There’s a few hooks around the bed, Darling. Our alphas are a bit kinky,” Flynn explains.

“Not ours,” I whisper. “Yours.”

Shaw leans forward, and Ambrose prowls toward me on his hands and knees to be able to hear me. Everest merely drops to his knees next to me, his brows furrowed as if he only heard part of what I said, but doesn’t want to ask me to repeat myself.

My throat reminds me of how bad an idea swallowing is, making me wince.

“You don’t have to talk if it hurts,” Shaw says, rubbing his chest absently. “There will be plenty of time for that. Ignore Everest, we tend to get hurt as well in our line of work, so the hook gets used pretty often for IVs.”

I don’t like the idea of any of them getting hurt, and I can feel a whine building that I shove down. They don’t deserve my worry.

“Guys, we’re overwhelming her,” Ambrose grunts. My gaze meets his, and I realize I’m starting to pant. Everything is just too much after everything that happened, and I can’t even get up because I’m attached to a goddamn IV.

“Wren,” Flynn says urgently. “Breathe.”

Gasping, I realize my eyes are wet. When the hell did that happen? My fingers reach up to touch my cheeks as the tear slowly slides down, and I stare at it in wonder. I cried in pain in the forest, and now I’m crying again. I haven’t done this in too long to count.

“What is it?” Shaw asks, taking my hand. He stares at it as if it’s offending the both of us, making my world spiral. When did we become on the same side?

His mouth opens before I can say anything, and he sucks the tears off my fingers.

“Do you want us to leave?” Shaw asks, squeezing my fingers. “I’d hate it, but we’ll go. I’m so sorry about everything. I knew you were my match the second I scented you in the ravine. You fell in, and we looked for you for two days before we found you.”

Why would they look for me?

“You were too warm when you left,” Flynn says brokenly. “I knew there was something wrong. I wish you didn’t feel like you had to leave, Darling. We would have helped you.”

“Not mine,” I whisper, shaking my head wildly. Shaw takes the cup before I drop it, and Everest puts it on the nightstand. “Can’t stay.”

“Sweetness…” Shaw huffs out a sigh when I stare hard at him. He cannot call me cute pet names. I can’t handle it. “You’re hurt. The doctor has antibiotics and fluids running through your drip bag, and you have cuts and scratches all over you.”

I vaguely remember making some of those scratches on my body, in an attempt to feel something other than the unending ache from my heat. Drawing my legs up under the blanket, I hunch into myself. It appears I’m in a giant bed, maybe a pack bed?

“I… don’t belong here,” I say brokenly. Two days of screaming in pain underneath the water and swallowing it before I puked it back up has taken its toll on my throat.

“I won’t ask you why, because it’s a loaded question,” Everest says. “It’s too much to have a conversation about all the things we’re dying to talk about. So, instead, I’ll start easy. Do you want to stay in another room?”

“We all needed to be near you,” Ambrose says, wrinkling his nose as he rubs the stubble on his face. It’s clear none of them have shaved in days. Even Flynn has the beginning of a reddish beard coming in. “We didn’t mean to overstep.”

If I was allowed to care, I’d tell him it looks good, but I’m not.

“We may not deserve your words, but we need them, Darling,” Flynn says gently.

Why does he understand me so well?

I’m tired already, and I have to pee. Fuck my life.

“Not this room,” I say softly. Sighing, I stare at the offending IV line, wiggling in the bed. “I need a bathroom.”

“Of course,” Flynn says, rubbing his index finger over his lips as if to hide the smile I see peeking out. “I’m going to pick you up, and Everest is going to hold up your drip bag. Ah… I’ll make sure to put a new transparent guard on your IV first so I can close off the system and unhook you from this. Alright?”

Flynn holds out his hand to his alphas, asking them to wait before they jump into action, making me blink. I always thought alphas held all of the power, but they’re taking their cues from him.

---