Page 21 of Tangled in Knots

“Let’s clean up the table, find all the blood drops, and then we need to have a family meeting,” Jed growls, his tone telling me there’s no room for argument.

That’s too damn bad, brother.

“I’m not letting her go,” I grunt. The words may as well be gunshots for how still my pack goes. “You do not have to like it, I’m willing to take the heat for whatever happens. I physically cannot handle her being away from me. If she had died, there’s no doubt in my mind that she would have dragged me into the depths of hell with her. The pain was all encompassing.”

“Even if she’s sold,” Kane says slowly, gauging his words. “The emotions of what is happening to her could make Demon insane. I saw the ticks, the grunts, the things happening inside your mind, little brother. You were reacting to her, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I don’t know if distance is going to help.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Jed roars, beginning to clean the table with bleach wipes. “Everyone get to work. I have to think. This is more complicated than knotting and leaving her as a cum dumpster.”

Leaning forward, I give into the need to punch him. Jed’s head snaps back, not even attempting to protect himself.

“Much more complicated,” I grunt, moving away from him to continue to clean.

I need a little space from my know-it-all older brother.

JED

Blowing out a breath as I finish cleaning the kitchen, carpets, and surrounding areas, I sneak a sidelong glance over at my baby brother with concern.

May as well get this over with.

“Damon,” I begin. In my mind, the only thing we can do is give up the omega. He survived what I did when he was younger, and as awful as I feel, I know he’s strong.

He can survive this too. I refuse to lose my brother.

“I veto whatever bullshit is about to come out of your mouth,” he says dryly. “My entire body was wracked with pain from that gunshot. The only reason I’m not still in pain is because she’s floating on a cloud of numbness. For science, Morris, the pain medication is making me a little high. It’s putting me in a great mood, which is the only thing keeping me from beating the shit out of you, Jed.”

The scent of cedar is light and calm, telling me his words are true. Meanwhile, I’m stressed the hell out, and the burnt leather tickles my nose along with the bleach I just scrubbed everything down with.

Tossing the sponge out, I stalk over to the sink to wash my hands.

“You know it’s the only way,” I mutter. “Are you sure you want to cross our father? He can hardly stand the sight of the three of us on a good day. He has a hard-on for making this little omega pay for the sins of her father.”

“I have a feeling she’s a victim of her father’s manipulation,” Damon rasps.

Snarling, I shake my head, pumping soap onto my hands as I aggressively wash them.

“That’s a bunch of hogwash,” I bite out. “You don’t know that. We in fact, don’t know much more about her than the sounds she makes when she comes apart during her heat. I know how tight her cunt is as it’s suffocating my knot too?—”

“Jed!” Morris yells with a wince. “Focus, please. I don’t want to pull a bullet out of you next, because you can’t figure out how to speak to your brother.”

“The little rabbit’s cunt is magnificent,” Kane says slowly, as if agreeing with me. “I think we should keep her. Dad is going to want us to provide him with grandchildren. It won’t be due to his newfound need to nurture the next generation, though.”

Damon snorts, knowing exactly how terrible Dad’s paternal instincts are. When I was sixteen, Dad dropped the three of us in the middle of the woods without a map in the middle of winter. We had to make our way out and survive. Damon was ten and Kane was twelve.

None of us were wearing enough clothing for that night, since they were wearing their pajamas, nor were we prepared for it mentally. It was terrifying to hold their lives in my hands, but I slept with a knife in my pants pocket and a long-sleeved shirt at all times. Dad would wake me up in the middle of the night by bursting in to hit the mattress with a bat where he thought I was sleeping.

I still have a hair trigger instinct, even when I’m sleeping. Morris has learned not to touch me while I’m seemingly dead to the world, because I’ll wake up swinging. Dad’s fucked us all up.

“Do you have a point, Kane?” I ask, turning off the boiling hot water to dry my hands. I’m punishing myself for this morning’s fuck up.

It never should have happened. I didn’t expect her to wake up. I was just going to go downstairs, throw a blanket over her naked body, and hog tie her within the fabric. I’d love to see her get the drop on us then.

Yes, I hold grudges.

Slowly, I turn around as I pat my hands dry with a paper towel, waiting for the mutiny I can see brewing in front of me. Am I going to let it happen?

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