Page 18 of Tangled in Knots

“No!”

A burning pain hits my back that I’ve never felt before, throwing me face first into the snow. I can’t move, all I can do is feel the burn that crawls through my body.

Was I shot?

I struggle to breathe as cold surrounds my face. Someone’s hands gently turn me, allowing me to gasp in a breath. It hurts.

“I’m so sorry, I know it hurts,” Morris says softly, tearing off his shirt. “Hold on, Beautiful.”

Jed’s knees hit the ground beside me, his black eyes wide in horror. “I’m taking your goddamned gun from you, Damon,” he snarls as he helps put pressure on the wound.

Worst of all, Demon opens the blocked bond, and I’m flooded with love and sadness. There’s apologies flowing, but I still don’t know how he shot me.

“I keep telling my sister to fill in that goddamned hole in the driveway,” Morris mutters. “Fuck, fuck…”

“This’ll keep you from having to sell me,” I wheeze, my eyelashes fluttering. “Let… me… go.”

“No,” Demon barks as he drops to his knees with Kane behind him. Kane’s eyes are wide, his chest heaving as he looks down at me.

“We’ll get you fixed up, little rabbit,” he rasps, his shaking hand taking mine. His usually dead green eyes have so much emotion in them that I don’t understand.

It’s all too little, too late.

“I didn’t mean to,” Demon whispers as my eyes droop closed. I don’t know what he didn’t mean to do. Did he not mean to kidnap me? Bite me? Shoot me?

Darkness comes for me, cocooning my body as a big alpha lifts me. I smell leather, and I decide I despise the scent. Trouble comes from this.

I don’t want anything to do with it. I barely feel the jostling from their footsteps, and I wonder if they’ll dump me in the snow to die. My head slips off Jed’s shoulder as my blood leaks all over him. Death wasn’t what I asked for, for Christmas either, Santa.

Twenty-two years on this earth is too short and yet more than enough when everyone in my life has betrayed me. I have no room in my life for mafia men with thick cocks and knots, but it sure made for an interesting heat.

Time slips through my fingers as I lose consciousness, and I wonder if I ever want to wake again.

CHAPTER 6

DAMON

“Fuck,” I breathe, stomping into the house with my pack, Adira wrapped in Jed’s arms.

I can’t believe I shot her.My only thought was to stop her, speak some sense into the little omega, but she was running so damn fast that I didn’t see the hole in the driveway. She’s gasping with each breath, the blood running over Jed’s arm as he holds her tightly.

He doesn’t look so detached at the moment.It’s an unkind thought, but I’m close to hyperventilating, my thoughts colliding against each other before going in another direction. For someone who prides themselves on their control, I’m doing a shit job of it.

Everything is slipping through my fingers as I take in the fractured moments of time as we run up the long driveway. Kane’s eyes are wild, pupils blown with worry when he rarely worries about anyone outside of his pack. Morris is muttering about the fucking hole in the pavement, and how the boss isn’t going to be happy.

Fuck, he’s our father. I know better than most. Liabilities are the mistakes you make when you let your guard down, he always enjoys telling us this. I have to say he’s correct.

This is one liability I don’t want to let go of, though.

I’m falling apart as we rush through the house, my eyes following closely as my oldest brother strides into the kitchen. My back and chest feel as if it’s on fire, and I’m struggling to get any oxygen into my lungs. This is what I get for not fighting harder for my little omega. Biology and fate brought her to me, and I was prepared to be my father’s steady soldier and give her up.

I deserve this. If she dies, will I? Stumbling, I crash to my hands and knees, rubbing my chest. Fuck, that hurts.

“Adira!” I roar, wanting to see her, but Jed’s footsteps are taking her away from me.

Kane and Morris grab me under my arms, hoisting me onto my feet.

“Keep it together, Demon,” my brother growls in my ear. “What’s with you?”

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