Page 159 of Tangled in Knots

“She’s not walking home alone anymore,” I grunt as I lay down, gazing over at her. “One of us will drive her from the bar once she’s working again. Most of the mafia families in this citymay not be working in the trafficking trade, but there are enough people who are that it doesn’t matter. We can’t lose her.”

“Agreed,” Kane and Damon mutter. She’s lying in Damon’s arms, her head on his shoulder, breathing deeply in sleep.

“The shelter will understand,” Morris murmurs. “She said that these men were traveling from city to city to pick women up. They are probably trolling for their boss, whoever that is, to funnel people to auction houses. These men have no real affiliation with the mafia, just looking for a quick paycheck.”

“They have to be watching for long enough to be able to scent the woman they’re trailing is an omega, and then kidnapping them,” Kane says. “That’s what makes the most sense. They probably drop the girl off at the closest auction house, take their cut of the money, and move on to the next city.”

“Pieces of shit.” I sigh. “There are more evils in this city than just us, and this is a reminder of that. Get some rest, we’re going to have lots of calls to deal with tomorrow. Adira has people outside of us who care about her, and Duncan will be working on figuring out how to keep her safe, even if Dad had nothing to do with tonight.”

“Things will move quickly,” Morris mutters. “Let’s hope people want to work with us sooner rather than later, but let the record show that I fucking hate that this is what it had to take for these families to get their heads out of their asses.”

“In their minds, the status quo is safe,” Damon says softly, gazing at Adira. “If this goes badly, Dad will bring war to these families. We’ll do everything we can to make this a quick, strategic strike, but they don’t know how we work.”

“We’re the wild cards,” Kane agrees. “It’s what makes us really fucking good at what we do.”

“Being misunderstood and underestimated keeps us alive,” I murmur. “Fuck, it kept Adria alive. My little monkey omega.”

Huffing out a laugh, I lay on the mattress, listening as my family falls asleep. It’s not until the sun is beginning to rise that my eyes close, my mind thinking about all the ways this could have gone badly, and thankful Adira is safe with us.

CHAPTER 33

MORRIS

Adira is a terrible patient, but I can’t even complain after her past experience with me.

“People are going to worry about me,” she says. “I just want to go home and sleep.”

“You lost consciousness,” I remind her. “Someone needs to check on you to make sure you wake up regularly, and the bump on your head is ah, huge.”

“You’re saying I look like a monster, aren’t you? Oh my God, I’m going to scare kids,” she moans, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks.

Fuck me. She's curled up on the couch with a blanket in one of Jed’s shirts now, looking pathetic, sad, and hurt. I hate that this happens so often to her. I just want to take care of Adira, but I feel like a jerk instead.

Jed merely looks amused, shrugging as I look at him in distress.

“Fix this,” Damon grunts. “I’m going to pick her up some clothes. She needs a splint for her wrist and a sling to immobilize it.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kane murmurs, glaring at me.

Oh my God, my pack may kill me and bury me for making our omega cry, while Jed laughs at my stupidity. I don’t know how to deal with women well. I can take care of people fine, but talking to Adira is a minefield today.

Also, she may not completely agree that she’s ours yet, but we’ll get there. Even if we have to spend the rest of our lives protecting her, while she pointedly refuses to forgive us. I just want to be near her.

“You guys suck,” I mutter.

The alphas all leave me alone with Adira, and I take a breath, knowing Duncan and Callum will be here soon to check on her. If she’s crying then, they really may murder me with my shit track record.

“Adira, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I breathe. “A little bump isn’t going to change that. Will you please let me take care of you? You’ll know what any medication is that I give you, and if there are any side effects or issues. I hate that you’re hurt.”

“I’m not an invalid,” she growls, arguing for absolutely no reason. If it’s important to her, then we’ll do this.

“No one said you were,” I remind her. “With this being said, I do want to get your arm looked at, maybe get a quick scan to make sure no one scrambled your pretty brains, alright?”

Giving me a watery smile, she nods before wincing.

“Your head hurts, huh?” I ask in sympathy.

“It does,” Adira admits.”I wish he’d hurt more before he died, but —”

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