Page 166 of Tangled in Knots

“Correct, I’m not going anywhere,” I agree. “I’m even planning to pick a fight with the wonderful ladies at ROWS.”

“Adira has bigger balls than many of us,” Cian says with a smirk. “If she holds the leash of Pack Dresmond, then she deserves a place here. It also means we’ll need to find a way to accept them, too.”

“They’re psychotic,” Patrick reminds everyone, making me look around the room.

“Who here has never tortured or killed someone?” I ask, enjoying the way no one raises their hand. “Anyone ever stalked or threatened someone?”

“That’s how I met my omega,” Theo grumbles.

“We aren’t normal,” I state. “Stop acting high and mighty and man the fuck up. ROWS is part of the auction process too. If you didn’t know that, wake up. This is happening in your backyard, gentlemen.”

“No offense, but any of us could break you in two, Adira?—”

Sighing, Cian pulls photos out of his pocket and tosses them in front of Patrick, the alpha complaining of my size.

“The pocket pixie killed both those men, Patrick,” Cian growls. “Says she used her knife to scale up one of them and stabbed him in the throat. The other, she stabbed, electrocuted his nuts, and killed after he did that shit to her face and arm. Any other questions?”

“Nice trick,” I mutter, not knowing how he got those photos.

“Duncan had his guys take photos before they disposed of the bodies, Adira,” Cian says, barely moving his lips. The words are just for us, and I nod.

“Does anyone mind if I sit?” I ask, realizing that staying upright is becoming a problem.

Cian motions for someone to stand, and drags the chair until it’s underneath me.

“Sit, please. All our manners have left it seems. My mother will never let me live this down,” he says.

“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Cecil says with glee. “The bottom line is that we are scared shitless of the omegas in our life. Remember the night of the fight and kidnappings at the Kelly home that every one of them were in the thick of things. Yet, we keep them out of our business.”

“It is a double standard, but the way we’ve always done things,” Patrick grumbles.

“I don’t have a head of my family because he’s dead,” I say truthfully. “So am I just going to hang on the fringes of society? Surely, my family name counts for something.”

“Your mother was from Ireland,” Cecil says. “They all still live there, and there is not a current head of your family here in the United States. I believe your ideas could be innovative as young as you are with the experiences that you’ve had. I wish you didn’t need to go through them, that we all could have spared you from it.”

“Being used as a whore for entertainment is something I wish I had been spared as well,” I rasp. I said I wasn’t going to talk about it, but these men are fucking hard headed.

“Rock and Madam Ophelia work together to feed omegas into her auctions. It doesn’t matter who they are, as long as they won’t be missed. I’m not the only one this has happened to, nor will I be the last. Something has to change.”

The men pick up the thread of conversation, asking me questions to ensure I’m telling the truth. They aren’t super invasive, and I’m able to keep my shit together. A bottle of water is pressed into my hand, pulling my attention to see who is giving it to me.

Relaxing when I see it’s Cian, I watch as he opens it in front of me.

“Hydrate,” he reminds me. “They’ll go at this all night like the long winded bastards they are.”

“Thank you,” I say softly, taking a small sip. I’m paranoid of drinks being handed to me, but he opened it in front of me. I’m still careful until I’m sure it’s not going to adversely affect me.

“Are you going to prove me right and keep the poor girl up all night?” Cian asks. “Get your shit together.”

“We need reassurances that you want to be part of our community, Adira,” Patrick says. “If you hold the leash to Jed Dresmond, that means you will attend any meetings with or in his stead for the Minnesota families.”

Tell Jed these meetings suck and I’m doing him a favor, I whisper through the bond to Damon.

He says he trusts you,Damon whispers back.

Well, then that answers that.

“Done,” I tell him. “Anything else?”

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