Page 102 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

“He won’t,” I agree, the words more of a sob than anything else.

She sobs too, and in moments we’re both crying our eyes out. I should stand up, focus on figuring out how to get her out of here, away from the body slowly going cold, away from the nightmare of having her dreams shattered, literally.

But I can’t bring myself to move from that spot. Kneeling on the cement floor, crying with my best friend in the entire world. A mixture of relief and guilt and grief.

We stay like that until the thunder of approaching footsteps filters into our little bubble. Voices calling both of our names. The front door of the restaurant is nearly pulled off its hinges, glass shatters with the impact and then four supremely pissed off alphas flood the room. I can feel them bristling for a fight, expecting some kind of altercation, but there’s just Florence in the chair, me kneeling in front of her and the still body of my father splayed on the floor.

“Fuck,” Jude breathes before he drops to his knees next to me, one hand sliding onto my shoulder hesitantly. “Fuck, button, are you okay?”

“I shot him,” I say, sounding as dazed as Ren did when she said it. “I shot him.”

Jude nods and leans forward to press his forehead to mine. “Yeah, you fucking did. So strong, omega. So fucking strong.”

Ren whimpers, and I yank away from Jude to look up at her. “Are you okay?”

A pained smile curls her lips. “I’ve been better, honestly.”

I nod. “Right, of course, let’s… let’s get you out of here. We need to get you to the hospital.”

Jude helps me stumble to my feet, wrapping his arms around my shoulders as Tic steps up to where Ren hunches in the chair.

“Ad-dick-us,” she pants.

“Florence.” He doesn’t sound emotional, but I can feel the relief flowing through my alpha as he looks down at my best friend. “I’m going to pick you up and it’s going to hurt like hell. It’ll be better if you just pass out.”

Ren nods. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

“Ready?” he asks.

“Ready.” A strangled scream erupts from my friend as Tic hefts her out of the chair, her arms wind around his shoulders as he loops a hand under her butt to support her weight, leaving her legs dangling.

He glances over at me and Jude. “I’ll get her in the car.” And then he’s striding out the door. “Hurry.”

Hale and Creed are standing over the body of my father, staring down at his unmoving form like he’s a bug under a microscope. They both look up when I approach with Jude dogging my heels, carefully keeping my gaze away from the body. Creed reaches for me, pulling me into his body, running his hands over me like he’s checking for injury. “You’re okay?”

I nod and press up to my toes to kiss his jaw. “I’m okay.”

Hale cups my cheek, presses a kiss to my forehead. “You need to go with Jude and Tic to the hospital. Okay, mouse?”

I nod, not wanting to stick around here, anyway. “What about you two?”

Creed sighs and looks down at the floor again. “We’re going to clean this up. Make sure no one can trace it back to you.”

Jude curls his body around mine, sliding his chin onto my shoulder. “I can create a trail that makes it look like he fled the country, if we want it to appear like he’s still alive.”

Hale nods. “Do it.” He looks at me again. “Go. Be with your friend. We’ll handle this, okay, mouse?”

Maybe I should ask how they’re going to handle this, how they’re going to clean up a literal murder scene and keep anyone from knowing what happened here, but I find I don’t really care about the details.

“Okay, alpha,” is all I say and then kiss both Hale and Creed before I let Jude lead me out of the abandoned restaurant.

Chapter 29

I’m Fine.

We’ve been in the waiting room for literally hours. It would have been longer, since Ren’s injury wasn’t life threatening and the doctors wanted to just put her leg in a cast and schedule a surgery to repair the damage later, but Tic had all but barked them into rethinking that strategy.

So Ren is in surgery now, and I can only hope that it’ll be enough to get allow her to dance again. The doctor straight up told me it wasn’t likely, not with the amount of damage done.

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