Page 94 of Knot a Thief

I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I’m warming to the omega. And I like that she’s fighting me at every turn. It surprises even me that I don’t want her to lose her spark.

I’m not an evil alpha. Yes, I took her under the guise of a contract, but Ava is mine. I wanted her to find out about that on her own. Too many alphas have taken from her.

She doesn’t know it, but I gave her everything.

I smile as I look at her one last time. “I hate I want you too,” I murmur in her ear.

She rejected me but it’s like Ava Darling is learning that she is mine, and I wish I could give her the freedom she craves, the freedom I once gave her.

But how can I do that now?

I can’t let her go again.

Chapter 27

Ava

I hate I want you.

It’s the first thing I remember when I woke up in his arms this morning. It was around 5.04 am, and he was holding me like he couldn’t let go.

I hate that I didn't want him too.

I'd love to hate the sounds he makes when he sleeps; the purrs he makes, but I can't. It’s the most soothing thing in the world, and I fell back to sleep.

The next time I woke, it was 6.10 am, and he’d gone.

The absence of his warmth left a surprising emptiness. The sheets beside me were cool to the touch, but the memory of his arms around me lingered, as vivid and unsettling as a fever dream.

The soft, golden light of early morning bathed the room as I absently traced the spot where he had lain.

Only coming to my senses minutes later, pulling my hand away as if it had been burned.

How can I feel this way?

How dare my body and mind betray me like this?

I close my eyes, remembering every moment of last night. I remember begging for his knot. Worse than that, I was begging for him.

“Oh, God.”

Hugging my knees to my chest as I try to make sense of the vortex of emotions swirling within me.

Anger warring with a longing I don’t want to admit. Then there’s a healthy dose of disgust at myself, and at my weakness. But all of it is wrapped in a blanket of comfort. The same feeling I found in his arms.

You are an omega, Ava. You’re beating yourself up when it’s just biology.

Is it just biology?

The purring sound he’d made in his sleep echoes in my mind, like one of the meditation tunes you listen to get to sleep. When it turns out, he’s all I need.

Tears of frustration well in my eyes.

How could I let this happen?

How had I even allowed myself to find solace in the arms of my captor?

But I can’t deny I loved the warmth of his embrace, the gentleness of his touch. But I have to remember my situation. I’m still a prisoner here, regardless of how tenderly he held me.

---