Page 79 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

“I was kidding, princess.”

Relaxing marginally, I eyed him. “Why are you all the way back here?” The question was soft, my voice barely carrying over the somber murmur of the crowd.

Enzo’s jaw clenched. “Doesn’t feel right to be up there,” he muttered, his eyes fixed on the gathering around where Nick’s coffin would be lowered into the ground. “Not when it’s my fault that he’s in that box.”

My breath caught. “Enzo, no—”

“Save it. Please,” he cut me off roughly. “If I hadn’t gotten complacent in enemy territory, none of this shit would’ve happened…”

I shook my head as my own guilt bubbled to the surface. “This isn’t on you. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I’m the reason Dimitri sent you both out there in the first place.”

Enzo turned to me then, his dark eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare put that on yourself,” he growled. “Nick knew the risks. We all did. This life—” He broke off, running a hand through his hair. “It isn’t your fault, Kitania. You hear me?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. Enzo’s words eased some of the weight on my chest, even as my heart ached for the pain I’d unwittingly caused.

A prickle of unease ran down my spine, and the fine hair on the back of my neck stood up. I rubbed my palm along my skin, trying to figure out why I felt…watched. It wasn’t the same feeling as the attention I’d received at the church earlier. This time it was more sinister, setting off all my internal alarm bells.

The slightest charred scent wafted on the breeze, and I fucking froze. My gaze darted around, scanning the edges of the cemetery, looking forhim.

It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.

And yet… I inhaled again, and the instinctual fear that always emerged when he clomped down the basement stairs nearly bowled me over.

There—a dark figure lurking in the shadows of a mausoleum. My breath hitched.

“Enzo.” The word was strangled, panic clawing at my throat.

His attention snapped to me sharply, but I couldn’t look at him. Couldn’t tear my eyes from the man looming in the distance. Blessedly, Enzo followed my line of sight.

“I think I see—”

But he was already moving. “Go,” he barked, his voice low and urgent. “Find Dimitri. Now.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. Lonnie took off after Enzo while I ran for my mates. Terror nipped at my heels like a rabid dog as I hurried across the grass, my heart hammering. I twisted and turned through the crowd, thankful that my small stature let me slip through narrow spaces as fluidly as water. Dimitri’s tall form stood out among the throng, and I made a beeline for him.

“Dimitri,” I gasped as I reached him, grabbing his arm, my nails like sharp talons digging into his forearm. “It’s Rocco.” I didn’t hesitate or fumble over the words, because for once in my life, I wasn’t going to question my instincts.

The man may have stood far away, but every fiber of my being knew it was him.

Dimitri’s eyes sharpened, his entire demeanor shifting in an instant. He barked out orders to his brothers, and suddenly I was surrounded by a protective wall of Alphas.

“Where?” he demanded as we moved swiftly toward the car.

I pointed to the spot where I’d seen the figure, but he was gone now. Doubt crept in. “Enzo and Lonnie went after him. I... I’m sure it was him. Maybe I imagined—”

My voice faltered as we reached the vehicle.

There, on the windshield, tucked into a wiper blade, was a note. Scrawled across the white paper in what looked horribly like blood were the words: “Remember who you belong to, pet. If we can’t have you, no one will.”

thirty

KITANIA

I couldn’t breathe.Fear had stolen its way through me, making my entire body tremble as the words on the note played on repeat. Those slashed, red letters branded my eyelids every time I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out what was happening.

This isn’t real…Except I knew it was. I’d seen the threat for myself, had sworn just moments before it appeared that Rocco had been watching me in the distance. The faint scent of Vincent had hung in the air like bad cologne. He’d been there too, placing the note while Rocco distracted us.

My greatest nightmare had come true.

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