Page 24 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

“Why would she?” Brian asks, hand tightening painfully on my hip. So tight, I’m sure I’ll have five perfect bruises in an hour or so. Behind me, I can hear the low rumble of my father’s voice as he continues to chat merrily with one of his guests, letting Brian handle the situation. “She’s mine. My fiancée. Myomega. Soon to be my wife. Bonded to me forever.”

Oh god. Nausea swirls in my stomach, and I’m sure my stupid, loved-up face falters for a moment as his words hit. Not just their intended target of the Calloway pack, but me. All of those things are true. I will be his wife. His omega. Bonded to him for the rest of my life.

If I can’t bring myself to care enough to get myself out of this, I will die as Brian Coogan’s wife. A month. I have a month to do it. To come up with something.

“We all know the only reason she’s here is because you ordered her to be,” Hale says low and furious, his pheromones spike with his anger, his rage and that only adds to the itchy, sick feeling that’s braking through the drugs.

“Is that so?” Brian turns and looks down at me, but I don’t meet his eyes, continuing to stare hard at the knot of his tie. A small, pleased chuckle leaves him at whatever he sees in my expression. “Well, you know what they say. The ends justify the means. And at the end of this…. Haven will be mine, and she’ll never speak to you again.”

“Motherfucker,” Jude hisses, but Brian ignores him in favor of leaning just slightly closer to me.

“Kiss me like you mean it.” I know they hear the bark in his voice. I feel them bristle next to me. Creed shifts forward like he’s going to stop me, but Hale slams the back of his hand onto his chest, while Tic mutters something low in his ear, talking him down. Though why they’d have a problem with this, I don’t know.

After all, they did essentially the same thing, only they were sneaky about it. Brian isn’t hiding how much of an asshole he is.

My brain tells me not to do it, to fight, to throw off the command or find a way around it. But that doesn’t stop my body from moving of its own accord, pushing up to my toes as Brian bends toward me, not enough, So I have to strain to reach his mouth, my body plastered to his as I stretch and stretch and stretch to reach his mouth.

He must like that, must like how hard it is for me to reach him, how his bark makes my body determined. I don’t have any other option. I bet he’d really love it if I climbed him like a tree right here and now, wrapped my legs around his waist and really kissed him.

My father, however, would not like that.

I push my brain away. Easily done with the help of the medication they’ve given me. So when I curl my hand around Brian’s tie and tug him down to my lips, it’s almost like I’m watching from outside my body. It’s not me. That’s some other omega pressing her mouth to an alpha she hates. That’s not medarting my tongue out to take in his tobacco taste. It’s not me sliding my hand up around the back of his neck as I kiss him like it means something, likehemeans something to me.

Brian smirks as he pulls back. “As you can see, she’s perfectly happy.”

“I think it’s pretty fucked you have to bark at your fiancée to get her to kiss you,” Jude mutters, sounding nothing like his normal sunshiny self. In fact, he sounds pissed off as hell, and if the pheromones he’s putting out are any indication, that is exactly what he is.

My fiancé bends and presses another kiss to my mouth, before sliding his lips to my ear. In this position I can see the Calloway pack, see their devastated angry faces, and they can absolutely see mine. So I know they see my flash of repulsion and horror when Brian murmurs in my ear, “Mmm, can’t wait for your heat, baby, I’m gonna fuck you through it so fucking good. Keep you chained to my bed naked with your legs spread open so I can fuck you whenever I want. The best part is you’ll want it, because I’llmakeyou want it.”

My fingers flex against his suit with the need to push him away, and my eyes widen in horror. If almost anyone else had said that to me, it might have been a turn on. Mostly because I know any chaining would be temporary. But I’m not sure it would be with Brian. I could see him actually doing that. Chaining me to a bed to be used as a fuck toy whenever he saw fit.

But just like before, all of that repulsion and horror sweeps away in my next breath and I’m numb again.

The Calloway pack watches it happen, watches as my emotions vanish, replaced by the smooth, unruffled look the drugs give me, and then the look of love Brian wants me to wear. I flinch when his teeth scrape over my neck and there’sno stopping the whine that pulls from my chest as my omega instincts battle against everything.

It’s too much. Everything is too fucking much.

The Calloway pack being here posturing like they have a right to, like I belong to them, when I do not. Brian. My father. This stupid engagement party. All of it is too. Fucking. Much.

“Stop pawing at my daughter,” my father says from behind me and I don’t think it’s out of concern for whether or not I’m uncomfortable. No, it’s more to do with how it’s making my omega rear up, fighting, fighting, fighting against everything they’ve done to me. He doesn’t want to risk a scene.

His hand slides over my shoulder and he forcibly yanks me away from Brian until I’m pressed against his side instead. His fingers bite into my flesh, but that I can handle. That is normal. I’m not used to Brian threatening to bond with me right here in front of countless witnesses.

“Ah, I’m so glad you could join us,” he says, finally giving his attention to the Calloway pack. “But you’re holding up the line.”

They want to argue. I can tell, even if I’m not looking at them, I can tell. But they don’t. Instead, they shuffle away after giving me one last lingering look. One that promises they’re going to find me later.

“Jesus, Brian,” my father says when we’re alone again. “We talked about this. There’s no reason to piss all over her. She’s yours. Doing that just makes her omega instincts flare. Save that for when you’re alone.”

Brian runs a hand over his face. “You’re right. I apologize, sir.” Then he digs into his pocket and produces a small pale pink pill. “Open.”My lips part and he tosses the pill into my mouth so that it hits the back of my throat. I nearly choke on it, even though it’s tiny. “Swallow.”

I do.

My drugged up brain can’t focus. It’s frustrating as hell, because I know I’m not focused, can’t make sense of what the hell is going on, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s a wonder none of the people my father spends time with questioned it. But then, the official story is that I’ve been battling an illness for the last few months, so maybe they assume the unfocused, day dreamy state I’m in is a side effect for that.

Or maybe they just don’t care.

Probably the second one.

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