Page 1 of Knot That Delicate

My legs burned and my chest ached. I could have been moving for hours or days, for all I knew. Everything hurt, and there was nothing but forest surrounding me.

I had been running for so long.

The cold was settling in, chilling me to the core. It had been raining heavily for several days now, and I was shivering violently. I had run away from a psychopath, and I was still running, the fear of him finding me pushing me to keep moving forward.

Alec had been a childhood friend, a beta. He had decided I was his soulmate. He thought I was the perfect little omega for him, so he had decided to keep me—for years—in abasement.

I could never go back.

So, I ran.

With the help of a good friend, I managed to escape. I had only met Lavender recently, but she and I quickly became friends. She had been braver than me and had stabbed Alec so we could get away.

That’s how I found myself struggling through the woodland in the pitch black, trying desperately to find help.

Her friendship had been a reprieve from the last five years of nightmares—a connection to my old life because she knew Kane. My big brother had been my rock before I was taken, and I desperately needed to find him again. Only, I had been running for so long, and I was starting to worry that I would never get home.

Lavender had encouraged me to run towards the city, but at some point, I must have gotten turned around, because after all my running, there was still no city in sight. All that I could see for miles was pitch-black woodland. My heart was pounding in my throat, but I kept moving forward.

Eventually, I had to find civilisation…

Right?

Branches scraped against my arms, and my limbs were on fire from so much exertion. I hadn’t briskly walked somewhere in five years, let alone ran, so my body wasn’t doing well, but, still, I was powering forward. My chest burned, my lungs fit to explode.

My legs finally reached their limit, shaking violently as they gave out. I collapsed at the base of a tree, taking several deep, sobbing breaths. The bark scraped my palms as I clung to the tree trunk. My flimsy, frilly dress—the kind Alec always made me wear—and the delicate school girl shoes did nothing to protect me from the weather. The cold was setting into my very bones, and I started to tremble violently.

I didn’t survive several years living in the basement of a madman just to die from exposure to the elements. Running my hand through my hair, I looked around. Everywhere was dark. There were no sources of light other than…a small glow.

There was a small light.

It was small, but itwasa light. Or possibly a firefly, though I didn’t believe fireflies would come out in the dark while it was raining. Because they’d drown…maybe.

As I crouched at the base of the tree, I ripped off my headband and a few other items, like the top skirt of the stupid frilly dress. Alec was so obsessed with princess-style clothing, he had never thought about whatIwanted. Then again, he was a psychopath who kidnapped girls, so he wasn’t exactly of sound mind.

Leaning against the tree, I took several deep breaths, doing my best to ignore the sting of the rain pelting down on my skin. Each raindrop felt like a stab of ice. I needed to get home. I needed to get up. And I needed to move. If I stayed at the base of that tree, I probably wouldn’t survive the night. My body was already so weak from what I’d endured under Alec's reign. Hell, it had been years since I’d been able to walk more than a few feet in any one direction. I was surprised my body wasn’t going into full shock from this. Hypothermia was a serious risk.

I wanted to sob. To cry for everything that had been ripped from me. The suffering was never-ending. All I wanted was to be warm and comfortable, but it had been so long. If I could just fight for a little longer, I’d make it. I had survived five years of imprisonment; I could survive a few more days now that I was free.

With one last deep breath, I hauled myself to my feet, ignoring the way my legs shook as I took a step towards that glimmering light. Maybe it was a vehicle or a cabin or someone who could help me. My heart pounded uncomfortably. But whatif it was Alec? What if he had caught Lavender and was now coming to find me? There was no guarantee she’d escaped. I hoped like hell that she had managed to escape.

She had seemed like such a sweet and sassy woman. Well-matched to my brother, if they really were together. Lavender had said that my brother was looking for me, and I believed that wholeheartedly.

On weak legs, I slowly made my way towards the source of light I could see in the distance. I made it about halfway towards the light before my legs gave out again, and I hit the ground. My body was caked in mud, and I probably looked a complete state. I sobbed—my body was betraying me. After so long in a basement, it was understandable that I couldn’t do much, but I loathed myself for it. I needed to be free.

“Hello?” a strange voice spoke out from my left.

I jumped.

I didn’t know the voice.

It wasn’t Alec. He had a certain slimy tone when he spoke that was impossible to miss. I turned my head towards the voice and saw an alpha. Tall, a lot taller than me, also a lot better built. His neck was probably as wide as my thigh. Logically, I should have been terrified. This was a complete stranger wandering around in the woods in the middle of the night.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked, but my voice was thin and pathetic. All the strength had been sapped from my body. For all I knew, he was part of a rescue team…or he was a psychopath, living out in the woods, who would strangle me. I’d had enough brushes with psychopaths to last a lifetime, but it would be just my luck that I would end up in the clutches of a second nutter right after fleeing the first.

“Who am I?” he asked with a frown. “I think I should be asking you that. You’re the one wandering around in the middle of the woods, clearly lost, dressed like a freaking princess.”

I glowered at him. That nickname was not one I enjoyed. “I’mnota princess,” I snapped.

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