Page 59 of Knot Your Fated M.U.S.E.

Instead, we live in a world where parents sentence their children to torture, where brothers turn on brothers, where blood ties become weapons to destroy rather than bonds to strengthen.

I touch my damaged ear again, a habit I can't seem to break, touching the single earring I keep forgetting exists there.

The last gift my brother gave me before I put a bullet in his leg and walked away forever.

Sometimes I wonder if he's still out there, hunting and planning his revenge. Other times I hope he found peace.

Found a way back from the darkness that claimed him.

But looking at the data Vale's uncovered, seeing how deep the corruption runs, how families willingly sacrifice their own to places like Ravenscroft...I think I know the truth.

Families work together with the government to submit their children, particularly Omegas that no longer benefit them for some financial gain or package that will give them some closure while losing a being they raised — if you can even call it that.

"The newer submissions have to follow specific criteria," Atlas says, his voice carrying that particular tone he gets when piecing together a puzzle. "Either familial submissions or ethnicities that society has deemed...inconvenient. The ones submitting them must benefit somehow from the transaction."

Vale's fingers pause on his keyboard.

"If that's true, then these four omegas..." He trails off, mind clearly racing ahead. "They might have been chosen specifically for their differences. A diverse portfolio, if you will. Each one meant for a particular market, a particular type of buyer."

The clinical way he says it makes my stomach turn, but the logic is sound.

Even in this hellish equation, diversity adds value.

"Which would make Patient 495 the crown jewel," Atlas concludes, his blindfolded face turning toward Vale's screens as if he could see the data scrolling past. "The most unique, the most valuable, and therefore?—"

"The most expensive," Vale finishes.

Kieran's pacing intensifies, his boots wearing a path on the floor.

"Then how the fuck are we supposed to save them?" His hands shoot up in frustration, gesturing wildly. "Let's be real. Omegas are most valuable when they're packless, right? That's why they're like glimmering diamonds hidden in the depths of a haystack."

He starts moving faster, energy practically crackling off him.

"Not just one haystack, but a whole fucking field of them, all buried in the bottom pits of this asylum that's claiming these haystacks are defective because they don't have enough 'bounce' or some shit."

Vale's typing actually stops completely – a rare occurrence.

"That's…actually a remarkably apt analogy."

Kieran shoots him a look that could strip paint.

"Fuck off," he growls, but there's no real heat in it. He's too caught up in his train of thought. "But think about it…if we go in there and just…temporarily claim them as our Omega in our pack, wouldn't that force them off the bidding table?"

The silence that follows feels charged, like the moment before lightning strikes. We all stare at Kieran as the implications of his words sink in.

Pack status changes everything in our world.

An unclaimed omega is a commodity, something to be bought and sold.

But a claimed omega?

One with pack bonds, even temporary ones?

That's protected property.

To interfere with pack bonds is to invite the kind of retribution that makes even the most hardened alphas think twice.

Atlas stands perfectly still, processing.

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