Page 27 of Knot the One They Want

His brother?

I have no time to wonder before it's on to the next and final bite, but I'm already trembling from head to toe. I'm not sure how much more I can take.

Lake is the last and I brace myself, breath coming in shallow pants. But instead of biting immediately, he leans in close, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. "I'm sorry," he whispers, so softly I almost think I imagined it.

His teeth are in my neck, just below his brother's mark, his arm wrapping around my waist to keep me steady as I jerk against him. It still hurts, a deep, throbbing ache that seems to resonate in my very bones. But the physical pain is secondary to the rush of foreign emotions pouring into me, a dizzying cocktail of anger and sorrow, guilt and regret. While Lake's bite is physically the gentlest by far, the emotional onslaught is so intense I forget myself for a moment.

Like the force of it is all too much, and I'm filled with so many intense, conflicting emotions from the four of them that there's no room left for anything else. For me.

I can feel them now, all of them. The mating bond snapping into place with each bite, a chain I can never break. Four shackles binding me to these alphas, these strangers who now own me body and soul.

I'm panting when Lake finally releases me, my skin feverish and too tight. I can still feel them in my mind once it's over, a tangle of dark emotions and twisted thoughts that make me want to claw at my own skin. To run and hide and never look back.

But I can't. I'm theirs now.

Bound to them irrevocably, my very being tied to theirs in a way that can never be undone. My father is speaking, something about a feast to celebrate, but his voice seems to come from faraway. All I can focus on is the weight of my new bonds, the way they press down on me like iron chains.

I'm led from the room in a daze, barely registering the faces that blur past. The orchestra strikes up a waltz, the notes jarringly cheerful against the despair choking me. I'm spun into Damien's arms, his hand firm on my waist as he leads me through the steps of a dance I go through on autopilot. A broken doll somehow just going through the motions, because this is all I know.

All I was made for.

But all I can feel is the throb of his mark on my neck as he touches me, the poison of his emotions still simmering in my blood. I'm trapped in a nightmare masquerading as a fairy tale, my silk dress just another prison.

Eventually, he passes me to Cole, and Cole to Lake, and Lake to Asher. Each dance I share with the members of my new pack is the same as the last. These men I once gushed over are nothing more than faceless automatons.

And what does that make me?

With each turn around the gleaming ballroom, each forced smile and empty congratulations, I feel myself shattering a little more. The silly girl who dreamed of love dying a slow, agonizing death with every beat of the music.

Evangeline Beaumont is gone, buried beneath the marks of her new masters. In her place stands a hollow shell, a pretty puppet dancing on twisted strings.

My hand instinctively goes to Damien's mark, which seems to throb even more painfully than the others. I'm told the discomfort will subside when we finally mate, and they complete the bond, but I'm dreading that moment in its own way. When my fingers brush the collar, I jolt a little.

When did that get back there? Which of them put it on me?

It's as if everything after the marking is a black, empty space and I'm not sure I want that to change.

"Are you alright?" a low, masculine voice asks, hands loosening around my waist.

I look up and realize it's Asher. Not that it really matters. The concern in his eyes is genuine. I feel it through the nascent bond forming between us, but I shut it out quickly. Somehow, knowing he's capable of concern makes it all feel so much worse.

"Fine," I murmur, wondering why I don't sound as listless and broken as I feel.

As the celebration swirls on around us, I mourn for the innocent dreamer I once was. The girl who still believed in happily-ever-afters.

She didn't stand a chance.

CHAPTER 12

LAKE

Backstage with the rest of my pack, I'm still reeling. Evie is gone, preparing for tonight with the other omegas in her life, and we have a moment alone to collect ourselves before we rejoin her, but I'm not sure a millennium could help me process what just happened.

Her scent lingers on my skin from the dance we last shared, an intoxicating elixir that I can't shake. It's all I can think about. The urge to claim her, to complete the mark, consumes me. I've never felt this way before, not even with Daria. I loved her deeply, and losing her shattered me, but this... this is different.

When Damien's teeth sank into Evie's flesh, her cry tore through me like a blade. Every fiber of my being wanted to rip him away from her, to protect her. To attack my own pack brother.

I don't understand what's come over me.

---