Page 35 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

The sound of an engine reaches my ear, faint at first, but growing louder with each second. Someone is coming. My heart lurches and panic tries to take root, but I’m too tired, too strung out on the drugs my father pumped into me. Too numb from the cold and the wet. Whatever’s coming… it has to be better than this, right? The engine roars closer, tires sliding on the slick cement as it comes to a stop.

A second later, someone shouts my name. Or at least I think they do. Maybe they whisper it and it sounds like a shout. Maybe my ear drums are numb too and they aren’t working correctly. Who knows? Someone slides to a stop next to me, hands grip me, haul me upright, off the ground and into a body that feels too hot. I make a noise, a mewling sound as scorching hands grip my cheeks. “She’s alive,” someone says gruffly. “She’s alive but fucking freezing.”

“Gonna kill those fuckers if I ever find out who they are,” says another deep voice, sounding dangerous as hell, completely at odds with the gentle way warmth cups my numb hands. “Fucking fingers are blue.” The pressure on my wrists release and my shoulders scream as my arms flop to my sides.

“Shh. Shh, baby girl, we’ve got you. We’ve got you.” I’m lifted, floating, and then I’m in a place that’s too hot, just like when they carried me into the sauna. It makes my skin sting, prickle. Tears fill my eyes and overflow. Their warmth feels like knives dragging over my cheeks.

I’m nestled between two hot, hard bodies. One that smells like sea salt and driftwood and one that smells like cedar and oakmoss. “Get her out of those wet clothes,” someone else urges and in seconds, I’m stripped down to nothing but my underwear, skin on skin, as they sandwich me between them.

“You’ve got to stop doing this to us, button,” Jude mutters against my hair. One of his big hands holding both of mine, giving me his warmth.

I want to say I had nothing to do with this, but now that the numbness is wearing off, my teeth won’t stop chattering and I can’t make my tongue work. A soft, dry warm blanket drapes over me, over us, and I keep my eyes closed. Not wanting to face the very real fact that I am with the Calloway pack again. That I am practically naked with Tic and Jude in the back seat of a car. That I nearly died on the cement of an abandoned parking lot.

Okay, that might be a little dramatic, but if they hadn’t found me, if they hadn’t come for me, I would have. I definitely would have.

“How?” I whisper one word and hope that they’ll understand what I want to know.

A hand slides onto my knee and squeezes. “You didn’t think we’d actually leave you with your father and let you marry that asshole, did you?” Hale asks. I barely open my eyes to find him in the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel, the other reaching behind to grip my knee.

“We hired them to take you while we distracted Senator Bell,” Creed says, glancing over his shoulder at me. But only for a second before he looks away, like seeing me wedged between his pack mates is painful for him.

“We should have been there sooner,” Tic murmurs into my hair, arms wrapped tight around me. “But the weather made traffic a nightmare.”

“What the fuck were they thinking, leaving you on the ground like that?” Jude says. I don’t bother answering because it’s a rhetorical question. Or at least I hope it’s rhetorical, and he’s not expecting me to delve into the mind of some psycho who kidnapped me and then left me to die.

“They said they’d get her out, not that she’d be alive when they did.” Hale sounds pissed off as hell about it, too. “Gonna bash their fucking teeth in.”

I shake my head. “Seems like you should have clarified with them what state you wanted me in. If you didn’t, that’s on you.”

Not one of them denies it. They made a deal with a bunch of criminals. They should have been very clear about what they wanted from them. Both Jude and Tic tighten their arms around me for a moment before Tic shifts slightly away. There’s a rattle of pills in a bottle, a familiar sound that now makes me stiffen indread. If I never have to take another pill for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.

“Open your mouth, angel,” Tic urges. “Part those sweet lips of yours for me.”

My mouth moves on instinct more than anything, my body already primed to listen to whoever tells me to do anything. The drugs in my system making me compliant. Tears fill my eyes at how helpless I feel. How out of control.

“Shh,” he soothes, running a big hand down the back of my head. “Shh, I know.” He slides a pill onto my tongue. “Swallow that for me, okay? It’ll help burn out some of what your father gave you.”

I don’t need the explanation of what the pill does. I’m swallowing it before he’s finished. Again, unable to resist whatever he demands of me. It’s like every command is an alpha bark, even though I know Tic isn’t using one on me.

He thumbs my chin, watching to make sure I swallow, then smiles, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Good girl. You’ll feel better soon, angel.”

I huff out a breath. My only reaction, because again, I can’t respond like I normally would. Not that I’m doubting him or anything. I’m sure whatever he gave me will help burn out the drugs my father has been injecting me with for the last two weeks. The pills. The suppressants.

But I’m not sure about it feelingbetter. The only good part of being drugged is that it doesn’t hurt anymore, what these alphas did to me. I’m dreading no longer having the cushion between me and my emotions.

“Ren?” I ask, and he presses his forehead to mine as Jude reaches across my body to pick up my hand.

“She’s fine, button. Right now, she’s creating an alibi for herself, so your father can’t go after her for having any part in this.”

“She wanted to be here,” Hale says from the front seat. “But we convinced her it would be better if she kept her distance for a bit.”

“She’s even going to visit you at your father’s house tomorrow, so long as your abduction hasn’t been leaked to the news.”

That has fear twisting in my belly for the first time in weeks. “No, she can’t go there. He barked at her. He threatened to-”

Tic cuddles me closer. “We know, she told us.”

“As of this afternoon, Ren, Ginny and Moira all have guards trailing them twenty-four seven,” Creed informs me, twisting to meet my gaze, making sure I hear him. “All of them are safe, okay, baby girl? You don’t need to worry about them. We’ll take care of them, the same way we’re going to take care of you.”

---