Page 19 of Knot That Delicate

Once the door was locked, I looked around the bathroom. It was a fairly simple cabin bathroom, with a freestanding bathtub that was big enough to swim in. The small inner omega part of me danced at the sight of that tub—it looked like the best place to relax. On the other side of the wall, there was a gigantic window that looked straight out into the forest. If I was confident this place was safe, I would have loved soaking in a bubbly tub, watching the wilderness out the window. Unfortunately, I wasn’t 100% sure where I was, so I grabbed the shower curtain that was pulled to one side and spun it so the entire tub was enclosed.

Looking around, the shower curtain provided a good amount of coverage, and the only place I could see was the ceiling, which was clear, solid wood. There were no cameras in here, so with a smile, I opened the curtain again and started turning on the faucet.How are they able to get hot water in such an isolated place?I wondered, mentally filing that question away for later. As the bath slowly filled, I padded around the room, looking in the cupboards.

They had a shocking amount of bath products, including some lavender-scented bath oil. I assumed it was left by one of the omega siblings that Asher had mentioned, because none of the alphas smelled anything like lavender. I lifted the bottle to my nose, taking a deep inhale. The scent was comforting—lavender always had been—and it reminded me of the omega who had freed me only a few days prior. Nodding to myself, I poured a generous amount of the bath oil under the running water, and it quickly foamed up, creating large bubbles.

After I’d put enough in, I took a step back, stashing the bottle back in the cupboard and turning to my body. I had severalbandages on still, and my clothes were damp and clinging to me, so ever so slowly, I started extracting myself from the fabric. Once I was down to my underwear, I stepped into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain. The water was already up to the middle of my calves, and I pulled the shower curtain so I wouldn’t be visible to any hidden cameras in the bathroom—even though I highly doubted there were any. I shimmied out of my underwear while standing in the half-full bathtub and threw them out of the bath area. There was a towel nearby that I could reach, so for now, I was happily enclosed in the shower curtain’s privacy.

Quickly sitting down, I sighed in happiness as the hot water coated my body. The relief was almost instantaneous. My muscles started to relax, and my entire body sagged. There wasn’t much that could beat a good bathtub, and despite the fact that I had been through the wringer recently, I felt comfortable for the first time in a long time. My stomach was full of hot chocolate, and I was sitting in a warm, lavender-scented bath.

Part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop.Surely, there has to be a catch.Then again, I was thinking like a beta. Alphas wanted to look after omegas. I had very few times heard of an alpha mistreating an omega. I had heard of betas mistreating people—just like Alec had mistreated me. But it was literally engraved into alphas’ DNA to protect omegas. So, maybe, just maybe, I could trust these guys to look after me until I could go home.

As I leaned back and started scrubbing at my skin with a body scrub I had found in one of the cupboards and brought with me, I thought to myself that I would have to tell them what had happened to me. What if Alec was nearby? Sure, I had run for at least a day and I hoped more than anything that Lavender had escaped him as well. But what if Alec came to the cabin? The guys needed to know he was a threat. Well, he was a threattome. He wasn’t a threat to them. Alec was a bully, through and through, and he would not cope well with going up against someone who was a lot bigger than him, and every member of this pack was bigger than him. It would have been immensely satisfying to see any member of this pack—especially Dylan, given his sheer size—pummel Alec into the ground.

But I’d rather not have Alec within twenty miles of me.

Dunking my head under the water, I cleaned every inch of my body. They had clearly given me a quick sponge bath while I was unconscious, but they had been respectful and hadn’t touched any of the more delicate areas. So, I took my time ensuring I was thoroughly clean.

I stayed in the tub until the water turned cold, staring at the ceiling, considering everything that had happened to me.Where is my family now? What are they doing right now?Lavender had told me a bit about Kane, and it was amazing to hear that my brother was doing well, though he’d turned slightly criminal. I hoped she had gotten back to them.

Once I had topped up the water and it had gone cold several times, I finally accepted it was time to get out. Sticking my arm outside of the shower curtain, I grabbed the towel blindly and pulled the plug. Standing up, I dried myself off in the isolated area while the water drained out. Once I was certain I was dry enough, I wrapped the towel around me and jumped out, limping over to the counter where I had left the clothes Asher had given me.

Grabbing them, I darted back to the bathtub, probably looking like a lunatic, but hopefully, no one was watching. I stood in the tub and pulled the shower curtain again, so I could get dressed in peace. I was pleasantly surprised to find the clothing Asher had left were a baggy pair of jeans, that must have belonged to an omega because they were too small to fit anyof the alphas, and a large, long-sleeve black T-shirt that I was practically swimming in. But it felt so comfortable and soft.

I sniffed it, but it mainly smelled of clean laundry detergent. Once I was fully dressed, I hopped out of the bathtub and checked myself in the mirror. My hair was a tangled mess, but thankfully, there was a comb on the side that I used, taking my time to undo every tangle. My hair was long, obnoxiously long now. Alec had never let me cut it. He liked the idea of me having princess hair. I hated it.

With a final glare in the mirror, I pulled one last tangle roughly and made my way back out of the bathroom to find one of the alphas. There was a delicious smell emanating from the kitchen, so, going to find Asher, it was.

Iexpected to see Asher when I rounded the corner into the kitchen, but to my surprise, Carter was standing at the burner, stirring a large pot of something that was letting off the most delicious scent.

“Oh, hi,” I said, quickly looking away from him, unable to meet his eyes.

“Hiya,” he greeted warmly. “How are you feeling? Has the bath helped?”

I jerked my head in a nod. “It helped a lot.”

Carter smiled. “Good. I hope you’re not going to try and make another break for it,” he said, glancing down at the pot and whatever he was mixing before looking back up at me.

“No.” I shook my head. “I realise that was quite a stupid idea.”

That didn’t mean I wouldn’t have the urge to do it again, because the very idea of being trapped was suffocating. But if I had learned one thing during my time with Alec, it was that playing nice was the safest thing for me to do.

Fighting back just led to hurt.

Carter nodded. “I can kind of understand it, though,” he said. “We are in a bit of a unique situation. Truce?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

I nodded again. “I don’t think we have a choice,” I said with a small smile creeping onto my face.

Even if I was stuck again…they were a hell of a lot nicer to look at than Alec.

“That, we don’t,” he agreed.

“I still think you guys are crazy for wanting to stay in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, though.”

Carter chuckled. “We like what we like,” he said with a shrug, turning to me. “Now, do you want some buttered noodles? I think we’re all gonna pile into the family room and watch some TV.”

I cocked my head to the side. “You get a TV signal here?” Surely, that meant they could get a phone signal?

Carter shook his head with a grimace. “Nope, nothing like that here. We download a load of movies and TV shows, the ones with like twenty seasons, and we save them onto hard drives. A lot of the time, we end up doing things like playing board games or reading books, but it’s nice to have some TV every now and then. Asher downloaded all of those superhero movies a while back, and he’s been meaning to watch them. Do you have a preference for what you’d like to see? We’re not exactly up to date on our movie choices, there’s so many things we need to watch.”

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