Page 49 of Knot Happening

I do know how much Tatum means to him, now. I don’t need to guess just how much she’ll mean to this pack, either.

There’s a lot about my Pretty Gift that I haven’t learned yet, but I will.

And I will enjoy every minute of making her ours. The chase and the catch.

Easton

The knife twirls and flips between my fingers quickly as I watch each of my uncle’s thugs closely.

I might be loyal to the man because he’s family, but the men that work for him are scum. I know how they see Omegas.

What they say about us when they think I can’t hear them. My feet are propped up on the table, crossed at my ankles, and I’m lounging back in the chair. Relaxed. Carefree, to anyone looking at me.

On the inside, I’m poised to kill. Ready to strike out at an unprotected neck at a moment's notice. I’m good at killing. I’ve had to be to survive in what was once my father’s world. But he’s dead.

“There’s been a report from that facility the Hamlin’s just purchased,” one of the thugs says. I call him thug one. We go through so many of them that I stopped bothering to learn their names.

“Already?” Jimmy asks, leaning forward. Jimmy is my cousin. He’s barely got a single brain cell to work with, but his father is our leader. So he gets a free pass, I guess. Not with me. I remind him of his place as his father’s least useful thug every chance I get.

He’s an Alpha and thinks that makes him superior to me. Maybe in a social hierarchy. But not here. Here, I am my uncle’s deadliest weapon.

I snort to myself because that sounds dumb as fuck.

Deadliest weapon. I sound like a wanker. If only I had a British accent to go along with my love for British slang. It just doesn’t sound the same when you say it in a midwestern American accent.

“Yeah. He said she’s young. Twenty-one, and her only family is her mother, who’s a patient at the facility.”

“The facility that has connections to the Hayes brothers?” My tone sounds dull and bored, even to my ears.

“We’re working on cutting them out,” thug one, or maybe three, says.

“Mmm,” is my only response. My uncle sighs.

“Jimmy, I want you following her. What's her name?” My uncle asks, leveling his son with a hard stare. Jimmy jumps up like he’s just won the lottery, not realizing he’s been given this task because he’s expendable. If he’s caught, well, the organization won’t suffer from his loss.

“Tatum Cray.”

“Wait,” I hiss, lifting my head and meeting my uncle’s gaze. I hold eye contact with him, even as his dominance washes over me. I’ve spent a lot of years learning to hold an Alpha’s gaze without flinching. Even one as dominant as my uncle’s.

“Yes?” he asks as I sit up and lean forward.

“I’ve been following her already. She works at Haze. She could be useful. I’ll take this one,” I say simply, not asking permission. My uncle and I disagree on many things, but destroying the Hayes brothers isn’t one of them.

“Very well,” he agrees. I stand and leave because whatever else is said in this meeting isn’t my problem. Especially because Jimmy starts shouting about some dumb shit…

There’s a strange twinge of guilt when I think of Tatum. Hmm. That's new. She was a lovely girl. Seemed lost. Lonely.

Why do I care how this will affect her? Being used by me. Lied to. I was already lying to her. This assignment changes nothing.

Sure, my uncle’s plans for her are clear. Kidnap her. Break her. Sell her.

That has nothing to do with me.

So why do I care?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tatum

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