Page 4 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

But there’s just nothing.

She’s vanished like a whiff of smoke.

I’m about to give up, to turn my car around and head home when a group text comes through from Jude. Two lines, five words that make my heart stutter with fear.

Jude:

Our Lady Grace

Omega Ward.

Chapter 2

Look At What We Did to Her

My heart is thundering as I speed to the hospital, my alpha roaring at me to go faster, move quicker. Tires squeal as I pull into the parking space, throwing the door open before I’ve even turned off the car.

I don’t bother locking it. If someone wants to steal it, I don’t give a fuck. The only thing that matters at this moment is Haven. Finding her, making sure she’s okay. At least now we know where she is, but I won’t be able to rest until I can see her with my own fucking eyes.

I take off at a run, drawing up to let the automatic doors open for me, and then sprinting down the hall, following the signs for the omega ward. People look at me like I’m fucking nuts, but I don’t care. No one approaches me or tells me toslow down. They know better than to get in the way of an alpha looking for his mate. I’m too fucking anxious to wait for the elevator, so I take the stairs up three flights and then burst into the hall.

Creed’s already in the waiting room, slumped in his chair like he’s been here for a while. But that can’t be right. He would have called us, let us know where she was. He wouldn’t have kept this to himself. But then he looks up at me, and I swear I see disappointment in his gaze, resignation. Like he was hoping I wouldn’t show up here, his prime alpha.

I slow to a quick walk, and then stop all together in front of him, taking in the empty coffee cup next to him and the empty chip bag. Evidence that he has been here longer than a few minutes. Which means he was already here when Jude texted that he’d found a record of Haven Bell being admitted here.

I stare down at him, and I know he can see the accusation in my gaze. He stares impassively back at me, unbothered.

Thundering footsteps behind me let me know the rest of my pack has arrived. “You didn’t think to let us know you found her?” I grit out harshly.

He blinks and then turns his attention to the set of double doors that keep omegas separate from the rest of the hospital. Keeps them safe.

Jude and Tic slide to a stop next to us, and if they notice the absolute rage seething off me, my fisted hands, they don’t waste time thinking about it.

“Have you heard anything?” Tic asks Creed, sliding into the chair next to him, chest heaving like mine is. Creed, for his part, looks entirely unperturbed. Devoid of emotion. And I know that means that whatever he’s found out is really fucking bad. He’s shutting down on us, even more than he was before we met Haven.

“I saw Florence. She came out to grab a cup of coffee.”

I almost don’t want to ask. But we need to know what happened to our omega. Need to know the extent of the damage, so we can figure out how to fix her, make her better. “What did she say?”

“At first she said I shouldn’t be here. Haven doesn’t want me here. But I shut that shit down real fast.” I wonder what he’d done to Ren to ‘shut that shit down.’ But he keeps on talking. “Eventually, she told me what happened. How she found her. My girl. My omega.”

“Fucking tell us, man,” Jude demands, agitated, panicking.

Creed lifts his eyes to look at each of us and I stumble back from the pure fuckinghatredin his expression. For us. His pack. But also for himself. The bonds connecting us groan under the weight of this new emotion and my hand presses into my chest like I’ve seen people who have heart attacks do. “She went into heat.”

No.

No.

Oh, fuck no.

Jude staggers and falls into the chair across from Creed. “Did she… were there alphas?”

He can’t bring himself to say it. Not fully. Did someone take advantage of our girl when she was vulnerable? When she would be incapable of saying no, the demands of her body, of her designation forcing her to beg and plead for someone, anyone, to fuck her?

The idea of that makes me both violently angry, wanting to rip apart anyone who would dare to touch her without explicit non heat consent, and violently nauseous. It only grows when Creed stares blankly at us, dragging it out. Not giving us the answer we both dread and need to hear.

It happened. Alphas found her.

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