Page 53 of Tangled in Knots

“There are several bathrooms back here, he may have gone to the one Ophelia typically utilizes the most when she’s preparing omegas,” the beta says, ushering me to a door.

Carefully opening it, I keep one eye on the beta, expecting to be ambushed. It’s quiet back here, I wouldn’t be surprised. The beta instead takes several steps back to give me space, as if realizing how bad his proximity to me is for his health.

I can spot Morris’ strong muscles in his back as he stands under the shower, his clothes in a disorganized pile just outside of it. That’s not like him, and I forget about the guard as I walk inside and slam the door shut behind me and lock it.

“Morris?” I ask, walking slowly toward him. Most of his weapons are in his shoes, but I can see a gun out of reach of the water yet easily accessible to him. I don’t want to accidentally get shot.

We’ve had more than enough of that.

“Don’t,” he rasps, his voice thick with sadness. “I’m gross and dirty.”

“Well let’s get you clean,” I murmur, pulling my clothes off.

This isn’t about sex, it’s about comfort, and I pushed Morris to his limit without a thought, because it was necessary. My single mindedness is great when I’m in the thick of things, but is coming back to bite me now.

I deserve this. I threw everyone into the fire in an attempt to save them and pull the wool over my father’s eyes. None of us are unscathed.

My weapons are in my shoes, and I don’t bring anything into the shower with me as I step inside. Morris has a piece within reach and that’s enough.

“Things went a little off the walls,” I begin, my feet now close enough to get wet from the shower. The stall is huge and I clocked the hose on the ground, walking into the bathroom earlier, with the sprayer.

Ophelia needs to be strung up and slowly skinned. I haven’t had the pleasure of listening to a woman scream under my knife in too long. No one is safe from my pack. My father is the only one who has ever held my leash, and I’m considering slipping it once I release Adira from hers. The careful control is slipping and I’m afraid I may resemble Kane’s wildness with little effort.

Morris braces his arm on the tile wall above his head, leaning on it as he remains silent. Fuck. He never hides in his mind, and this scares me.

Slowly, I reach out to touch my fingertips to his back, finding that he’s trembling. “Morris, she’s safe now. The Kelly brotherswill keep her that way. We just need to go get her. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Morris is quiet for a moment before his powerful body bursts into movement, turning and shoving me away. The only thing that keeps me from falling on my ass is great reflexes. as I flail on the slick concrete floor before finding my balance. It would be hilarious if not for his following words.

“And what about after we get her, huh?” Morris asks, his hazel eyes filled with pain. “Will we really be able to claim that she’s safe with us? We all dance to your father’s tune, Jed. She will never fucking be safe!”

His normally honeyed tones are filled with gravel, horror, and disgust. My heart pounds as I gaze back at him because he’s right. Things have to change. I’ve already let the thought shift through my mind once today.

My father needs to be knocked off the board completely, along with his pack. They are bound by depravity and their love of making others scream in despair. They aren’t pack the way my brothers, my beta, and I are. Morris hasn’t allowed me to bite him, insisting that it doesn’t matter.

There are many things I’m going to have to change.

“So we strangle his tune,” I say viciously, moving quicker than Morris can track with his exhaustion. He’s coming down from the drug Ophelia gave him and the adrenaline he’s been running on.

It’s easy to wrap my hand possessively around his throat and shove his shoulder until his back hits the wall.

“You’re right. I lead this pack, and my father refuses to let us go. We’re going to lose Damon if we don’t change things. Fuck, I’m going to lose everyone I give a shit about,” I rasp, squeezing his throat enough to know I have his attention. “Will you help me fix this?”

If I thought dropping to my knees and begging would help, I’d do it, but Morris glares at me from his position against the wall.

“How do I know this won’t be history repeating itself?” he asks. “I lost a piece of my humanity today, Jed. I don’t know… I don’t deserve her. The lying, gaslighting. She trusted me.”

“No one knew what we were planning other than Kane,” I whisper, dropping my forehead to his. “To everyone else it looked as if we were giving her up in the worst ways possible. But the joke’s on us, because perception is king. We now have to prove we not only had her best interests at heart, but that I’m also going to make my father a shitstain on the pavement.”

“You’re saying what I think you’re saying?” Morris asks, frowning at me. I hope there aren’t cameras in here, but I nod at him regardless.

“I need you to stay with me, man,” I whisper. “If you need to poison my food, put laxatives in my damn coffee to remind me that I’m an asshole, do it. Let’s get you cleaned up, dressed, and out of here so we can get our girl.”

“Ours,” Morris says, almost amused as I pull him back into the water. It’s fucking freezing, and I hold back a hiss as I grab a bar of soap to lather it up with my hands. His hair is bound at the top of his head still, away from where I’m rubbing the soap all over his body.

He’ll have to take them out of the hair tie to allow them to air dry completely after this.

Dropping to my knees, I run my hands over his pelvis and thick thighs, biting my lip as I gaze at his cock half hard in front of my face. Knowing where it was last, I thoroughly wash his dick and balls, smirking at Morris’s grunt.

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