Page 54 of Tangled in Knots

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I murmur once his legs are also washed and clean.

As I put away the soap and stand up, I’m not expecting Morris to grab my curls in his fist and gaze at me hard.

“What?” I ask, wondering if I hurt or triggered him in some way.

“I’m just as much a problem in this as you are,” he reminds me. “I could blame you for everything. It would be easier than dealing with this gnawing, angry pain in my chest. I can’t, though. I did things to her that are going to haunt me. These two hands. Me. I can’t blame the drug O gave me completely. The auctioneer told me to make it look good.”

“It was a show put on for the buyers,” I say softly, waiting to see where this is going to go.

“Adira doesn’t need a physical reminder of what happened to her,” Morris finally says. “I think I should leave the pack.”

My blood runs cold and I lose my shit. Twisting my body, I shove him against the wall, my hand holding onto his man bun to pull his head to the side. Pulling away from his fist, he loosens his grip for a moment and then my teeth are sinking deep into the tissue of his throat.

Mine.

I scream it in my mind, angry that he’d ever think about leaving us. The pack is forever, even if he’s been hesitant to complete the bond. He always explains that it’s not because he doesn’t want to, but because he doesn’t think betas are important enough for it. Bullshit.

Morris groans as I suck on the bite, the tang of his blood hitting my tongue.

“You are mine,” I growl. “You’re just as important to this pack. I let you continue on this ridiculous notion that you didn’t need a bite because your voice and consent is important to me. But now?”

My cock is rock hard, a side effect of the adrenaline and arousal of biting him. If I had been fucking him when I did it, he’d be full of cum right now.

“What, asshole?” Morris growls, making me chuckle darkly.

“You’re fucking stuck with me,” I rumble, moving to kiss him roughly. “You go, I go. Want to burn the whole goddamn world down?”

“Name the time and place,” he grumbles, rolling his eyes. I can already feel the strand of his awareness inside of me, and it’ll get stronger as time goes on. Oddly enough, betas don’t always need to return the bite, not when they already have a strong relationship with the alpha.

“I can’t imagine a more aggressive or romantic claim. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Smirking, I turn off the water and grab towels to dry him off first. He glances at me, and I merely roll my eyes, tossing a towel over his shoulders. He can dry his own back.

Dressing takes more time to get our weapons back in place, and I yank open the door to find Ophelia about to knock on the door.

“You took awhile,” she says slowly, glancing between the two of us. My bite is clear on his throat despite his shirt and sluggishly bleeding, despite the fact that I attempted to clean it up a bit with what I could find in the bathroom.

Grinning lazily as I play my part as the possessive alpha, I shrug. “I had to remind him who he belonged to,” I tell her.

Morris merely gazes at Ophelia with a shrug as if to ask her what else she expected.

“I guess I can’t ask for you to loan him out from time to time now,” she says with a sigh.

Shaking my head, I deny her without an ounce of worry. My father won’t push for this, as he knows Morris is a part of my pack and team. Missions go off as well as they do because of him.

“Not a chance,” I grunt, moving around her to get the fuck out of here.

I find my brothers out in a hallway in the main auction hall, the place almost abandoned by now. I didn’t plan to take as much time as I did in the bathroom, but it was necessary.

Helping Kane lift my still unconscious brother, I walk out of a side exit to our car.

We’re coming, Adira. I promise.

ADIRA

I’m exhausted, weak from lack of food, and coming down from the drugs still as I blink open my eyes. I’m laying in a soft bed with a fluffy comforter over me, and when I take a deep breath, all I can smell is a laundry detergent. Even that is light and doesn’t tickle my nose uncomfortably.

What is going on?

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