Page 73 of Knot Your Rebel

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“Do you want to go see Nova?” I ask her cautiously. It’s been a rough few hours for Rebel, and I don’t want to force anything on her after what I now know. I can’t believe it. Her story. I mean, I believe her. My mind just doesn’t want to process how someone could do something so incredibly fucked up to the girl I’m falling hard for. To my omega.

Violence churns below my skin at the injustice. I will find this fucker, and he will pay with his life. It may not be by my hands, but I will make sure it happens. Then another thought hits me. Is he the one who’s been terrorizing my omega?

I’ll hop onto my computer later and find out exactly what we’re dealing with. For now, I need my omega calm. I need her to feel safe. She’s vulnerable. The assault didn’t happen to her, but those memories had her turning to a razor. A blade I didn’t even know existed in my bathroom.

I’ll have to make sure those are all gone in case this happens again. In case she falls back on the old memories she can’t escape. I never want to see the defeat in her eyes again. It’s the first time she’s ever let down her walls enough to let me see the real her.

She’s been flying outside of my radar. Trying to not let her feelings get involved, but I want all of her fucking feelings. Good ones, bad ones, scary ones, naughty ones. I need everything from her.

“Rebel?” I question again because she looks lost, my eyes following hers to the window as she looks out into the woods behind my house.

“Does it make me a horrible person if I say no? It’s just…” She sighs and shakes her head. “I feel guilty, okay? I know what that’s like, living in fear that he’ll find you again. Knowing what can happen when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ve fucking lived it, and it guts me knowing that she was assaulted because I wasn’t there.”

I pull her into me, tucking her head under my chin and against my neck. “Gunnar got there in time. He didn’t actually…” I don’t want to say the words out loud for fear that it’ll throw her into fight-or-flight mode. It’s the last thing she needs right now.

“She still got hurt because of me.”

Using my finger and thumb, I lift her chin to look up at me. “Are you listening? Because I want you to hear this.” She nods sadly. “You are not the reason she got hurt. She got hurt because some sick asshole decided to do something that violated someone else.”

She looks drained, emotionally, and I know she probably is physically. I can only imagine how bad the cuts hurt on those beautiful thighs. How did I not see the marks before? How did I not catch those little white lines? I’ve been down there worshiping her a few times, and I hate that not once did I see anything off.

She’s a fucking survivor. So damn brave.

“You want to rest in bed for a little while before we go see her?”

She shakes her head numbly. “No, I won’t be able to. Every time I close my eyes…”

I know what she’s going to say. When she closes her eyes, she just sees him, and it wrecks me.

My brows pinch in concern. “How can I help?”

She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Maybe take my mind off of it.”

My eyes widen in surprise. That… is not what I was expecting her to say. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea, my little firebrand.”

“Please, Tate. I just need to forget about things for a while, and I know how good you are at making me lose my mind.”

I smirk. “Oh, I’m good am I?”

Her lips twitch as she narrows her eyes. “Don’t be cocky.”

I lean in slowly, so slowly. “Don’t pretend you don’t like me cocky, Omega.”

My phone buzzes, interrupting our banter. I ignore it because I have better things to do right now. It buzzes again, and Rebel looks at it. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”

My eyes find the screen, and my mom’s name lights it up. Why is she calling me? It’s been a few weeks since we talked. I’d been so preoccupied by Rebel that I forgot to check in like we normally do.

The phone continues, but I make no move to grab it. I’m lost in the gold of Rebel’s orbs, and I’m mesmerized. Her eyes are gorgeous, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.

“Look, you should really answer that. My mom was a bitch and hated me, but I’d give anything to hear her voice again. And I can’t. You have the opportunity to, though, don’t waste it.” The sincerity in her eyes kills me. Her mom treated her like shit, and she still says that. My girl is too loving for her own good. To be knocked down so many times. To be hidden from society and only trotted out when the occasion called for it. No wonder she has insecurities. Who the fuck wouldn’t?

“I’ll send her a text, okay? I’m a little preoccupied right now, making my omega focus on me, and me only.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her into me.

She grins up at me. “Oh, is that so?”

“It is definitely so.”

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