Page 135 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

I’d fuckingdiefor her.

After making sure the firearms were loaded, I pocketed as much ammo as I could and tucked an extra piece into the back of my jeans.

“Butterfly,” I growled when I spotted her hesitating at the entrance of the hall, torn between my desire to reassure her and the primal need to protect.

Since she was still here, I stalked toward her and pressed a gun into her hands. “Use this if you have to. Don’t hesitate. Do you understand?”

Eyes wide, she nodded, then dropped her gaze to the weapon clutched in her fingers. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her strength. I saw it bloom, her mind pushing her worry to the background so it could focus on the tangible threat.

An innate calm washed over her, and I watched proudly as she examined the gun herself—checking the safety and dropping the mag to make sure it was loaded before popping it back in.

With one last hard, fast kiss, I nudged her down the hall just as we heard a commotion outside the door.

“Go! Now!” I commanded, letting the edge of a bark color my words. “I fuckin’ mean it!”

“I love you, Tommy.”

Goddamn my heart.“I love you too, Butterfly. So damn much.”

I watched her leave, and only when she’d finally fled did I turn back to the living room. Every Alpha instinct I possessed pricked to life, sensing the danger just beyond the front door. Beretta growled viciously, his hackles rising.

Cocking my gun, I took aim, waiting for the inevitable breach.

forty-eight

KITANIA

I held the gun tightly,forehead resting on the barrel, eyes closed like I was in prayer as I hid in the tiny equipment closet in my Alphas’ home gym. The sweat and musk from recent workouts made their signatures stronger here, and I hoped it would be enough to mask my scent. Tucked tightly among mats and spare dumbbells, I waited, barely breathing, just listening—straining to hear anything beyond the silence, which was so thick it choked me.

The sound of the front door splintering sent a shockwave of dread through my already fragile nerves.

My fingers trembled around the cold metal in my hands as I stifled a cry. The noise from deeper in the house escalated: Beretta’s barking, heavy thuds, a loud scuffle, then a guttural shout that had my veins icing over.Tommas.My heart clenched at the thought of him alone out there, fighting to protect me.

Gunshots pierced the air, each one thunderous, making my body go rigid with fear. My mind screamed at me to stay hidden,to wait it out, but my instinct to help my Alpha battled against my terror.

I can’t just sit here while he—

Another shot rang out, then another. I jumped each time as silent tears streamed down my cheeks. I counted them all, my lips moving silently with the numbers. Six. Seven.

Beretta’s pain-filled whine had the tears pouring faster. No! No no no.

Eight. Nine. My body flinched with each bang, every muscle locked in painful anticipation.

I tensed, waiting for the next explosion of violence, but all that came was yet another eerie, terrifying silence.

That chilling quiet was worse than the gunshots. My ears rang from the lack of noise, straining for even the smallest of sounds. Then, one last shot echoed through the penthouse, louder and more resonant, as if the walls themselves had flinched. I couldn’t explain it, but it felt almost…final. My blood ran cold, and my fingers froze on the gun’s safety switch.

Was Tommas alive? Oh God!

I shoved my fist to my mouth to mute the cry that heaved from my chest. It was raw and ragged, nearly silent from the force of how hard the shocking grief hit me.

He couldn’t be.He can’t be.

No. No, no, no. My heart refused to believe he was gone. I had to go out there. To find out. To save him and Beretta. To fuckinghelp. My mind was a hurricane of dread and hope.

I tensed to move, ready to uncoil from my hiding spot, when I heard it.

“Come out, come out, little Omega.”

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