Page 16 of Knot the One They Want

"When?" I ask, my voice sounding distant to my own ears.

"Next week."

"Next week," I repeat on autopilot, the handle of my brush nearly slipping from my grasp.

Cole steps closer, searching my face. "Are you alright?"

I force a nod, my jaw clenched tight. "I'm fine." The words taste like ash on my tongue.

Cole's eyes narrow, seeing straight through my flimsy façade. He knows me better than anyone, can read me like an open book. Sometimes it's a comfort, having someone who understands me so completely. Other times, like now, it's suffocating.

I turn away, my shoulders hunching. "I just... I don't think I'm ready to mark another omega." The admission scrapes my throat raw. "Not after Daria."

Cole's hand settles on my shoulder, a warm, steadying weight. "It's okay, Lake. Damien is right. We're going to find a way out of this."

Guilt churns in my stomach, acid burning my veins. I know I'm at least part of the reason the others are so against the idea of taking an omega. It left scars on all of us, but I'm not…stronglike them. I've never been like other alphas, who take their anger out at the gym or in a fist fight. For me, it's always turned inward.

And unless I can get those feelings out on canvas, they eat me alive.

When Daria left, it was like she took my muse with her. All the colors, they lost their intensity. All the shapes their meaning. In their wake was left only darkness, and I very nearly spiraled into it.

But against it or not, it's clear we can't put things off forever. The Blackwood Pack needs to secure its alliances, shore up its weaknesses.

And an omega is the key to that.

"I'm worried," I murmur, the words barely audible.

"Nothing will happen before you're ready," he assures me. "We're in this together, always."

I shake my head, frustration simmering under my skin. "No, that's not… I'm worried for Evie." Her name feels forbidden on my lips. Sacred. "I saw the way Damien looked at her." Cold. Calculating. Like a predator sizing up its prey. "I'm worried he's going to take his hurt and anger out on someone innocent."

Cole doesn't answer, but I can feel his unease, his own worries mirroring mine. Damien is a ticking time bomb, his control fraying more each day. Losing Daria fracturedsomething vital in him, an integral part of his being. I fear that fracture is only going to spread, splintering him into someone unrecognizable.

Someone dangerous.

To Evie, to all of us, to Damien himself.

The memory of Evie's smile flashes through my mind, bright and warm as the summer sun. I barely know her, but the thought of Damien sinking his claws into her makes my heart seize, my protective instincts surging to the surface.

I pull away from Cole, pacing the room like a caged beast. Anger coils in my muscles, the bitter sting of betrayal an all too familiar taste on my tongue. I want to lose myself in my work. To forget the ghosts that haunt me. But I know there's nowhere far enough to escape the shadows in my mind.

Cole watches me, his expression pained. "What do you want to do?" he asks quietly.

I stop, staring out the window. What do I want? I want to rewind time, to go back to before Daria shattered us. I want to trust again, to believe in the possibility of a future. I want...

I meet Cole's gaze, shaking my head. "I don't know."

Maybe I haven't in a long time.

CHAPTER 7

EVIE

Ismooth the skirt of my dress, the pale pink fabric sliding like silk beneath my fingertips. It's the kind of dress I always imagined wearing for this moment—classic, feminine, perfectly tailored to hug my curves. And yet, as I stare at my reflection in the full-length mirror, I can't quite reconcile the image before me with the sinking feeling in my stomach.

"You look stunning, Eves," Addie says softly from behind me, her warm hands resting on my shoulders. "Just like a princess."

I meet her eyes in the mirror, seeing the concern she's trying to mask with a smile.

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