Page 4 of Tangled in Knots

“Gonna be sick,” I rasp. Cedar alpha shoves me to the side. I land on my knees, so that I can puke, then he tumbles me onto my side out of my vomit, so that they can tie my feet to my wrists.

I’m well and truly fucked, and not just because of my predicament.

As the man with the cedar scent stares at me with the mask and dead green eyes, his black hair peeking out of the bottom of the mask, my mind reels. He hums to himself as he works, tightening the knots until I can’t move.

None of these men are tiny, and he’s incredibly well built with broad shoulders, and a snake tattoo proudly showing on his upper arm. The snake moves with every tensing and release of his muscles.

All of these things should have me freaking out, my mouth feeling even more sour and I feel my stomach heave as he hauls me over his shoulder.

“Don’t puke on me,” the alpha growls.

There’s silence as they hustle through the woods, but my thoughts are loud. The alpha with the intoxicating cedar scent and the bottomless eyes is my scent match.

There will be no romance though, I don’t even think he’s realized it, and I don’t want to attract attention to it. I don’t want him to have any power over me as he carts me away to the auction block like an overpriced sow.

Heat starts to grow in my body as he finally dumps me into the back of an SUV that silently pulls into my driveway. They murmur to the driver, ignoring me completely.

My father always told me I was a late bloomer, and as the scents of the traitorous cedar, delicious strawberry, and dangerous leather meld together with the beta’s spicy flavor, I silently curse my body.

I curse my hormones and genetics, because the gig is up.

My first heat is coming like the bitch she is.

CHAPTER 2

DAMON

The omega is feistier than I thought she’d be. As her father’s perfect, pampered princess, I thought she’d roll over and beg for our mercy. Not that we’d give it to her.

There’s something else too that I don’t get…

“She shrugged off your bark,” I say softly to Jed, leaning forward to talk to him in the car. The omega hasn’t said a word since we closed the doors a few minutes ago.

We’re missing my psycho older brother, who is slinking off to wire the house for explosives. No one will ever live here again, we’ll make sure of it.

“It didn’t escape my attention,” Jed mutters, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror, in the direction of the little omega from where he sits in the passenger seat. His shoulders shift as he stretches his neck, a clear sign he’s feeling a bit stressed.

No shit, we have a rogue omega captured, which spells trouble.

“I’ve never heard of an omega who could refuse to obey an alpha bark,” he says, then sighs. “Jeremiah was pretty worriedabout her before we killed him, but I thought that was typical bullshit behavior. They all beg before they die.”

“They beg for themselves,” our beta and best friend corrects, inclining his head respectfully, his locs slipping over his shoulder. Morris isn’t typically respectful, except on a mission. He runs the optics from the car, ensuring we don’t miss anything.

He’s right though, most of the bastards we kill beg for themselves. Pursing his lips, Jed thinks as we hear the omega whimper. I don’t know why, but the sound makes my brows crinkle in concern.

“Do I need to stuff your mouth with something to shut you up, little omega?” I growl. Jed smirks, and I realize how sexual that sounded. That’s not what I meant, I usually leave the dirty talk to Kane.

Speaking of…

“Incoming,” I grunt as my brother races for the car. Mask missing, wild red hair flying back as he runs full out toward us. His black eyes are sparkling like diamonds as he jumps into the SUV, his strawberry scent reminding me of shortcake.

Damn, he’s going to make me hungry, and I’m not eating the omega.

“She’s gonna blow,” Kane laughs maniacally. “Morris, let’s move!”

Morris stoically throws the car into drive, slamming his foot on the gas, which slams Kane’s still open door, closed behind him. Our little omega yells out questions, but I can’t hear her words over my pounding heart beat and my middle brother’s whooping.

The car is expertly maneuvered as it flies backwards down the driveway. I love the rush of adrenaline as Morris turns the wheel at just the right moment before switching gears tooutrun the explosives. It would be perfect except for the burnt snickerdoodle cookie smell in the car.

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