Page 42 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

She holds up a hand when I growl and step toward her again. “No. Stop. I get why you’d be angry at him. I’m so sorry that happened to you, so sorry that he did that to you, but I don’t… I still don’t understand what it has to do with me.”

“You’re the monster’s daughter,” Hale says, like it’s reason enough. But it’s not. We all know it’s not.Now.Back then, we didn’t care.

“And you thought what? That I was in on it? That at eleven years old I condoned his actions? That I cheered him on?”

“No-”

“You want to get revenge on him? Fine. I get it. I understand it. I welcome it. He deserves anything you can give him and so much worse. But… what didIdo to deserve what you did tome?”

I flinch at the question and I’m not the only one. Atticus’s eyes drop to the carpet. Creed runs a hand down his face. Only Hale keeps his eyes on her, meets her furious, hurt gaze. “Nothing,” he says in answer, and our girl scoffs. Shakes her head in disappointment.

“I must have donesomething, Hale. If I didn’t, why would you do to me what he did to Janie? If I didnothing, how could you take an innocent omega, drug her, and then coerce her into giving you what you want?” Another scoff when Tic flinches. “Oh, what? You thought I didn’t know about the drugs you slipped into my smoothie every fucking morning? They tested my blood at the hospital. Asked me why I’d been taking a heat inducer if I didn’t have a pack. That was you right? You so lovingly made every meal for me. Plenty of chances to get drugs into my system.” She pulls her attention off of him and looks at the rest of us again. “How could you video every fucking interaction, every blowjob and orgasm and knotting and keep a record of it? How could you make my falling in love with you into a fucking game? So tell me. What. The. Fuck. Did. I. Do?”

Hale shrugs. “You were born, Haven.” She jerks like he hit her, her mouth dropping open. “You were born to the wrong fucking asshole. And we thought… We thought you meant something to him.”

“Hurt me to hurt him, hmm?” Another scoff from her. Her arms drop and her fingers flex at her sides. “What was the prize for winning your fucked up game?”

My heart drops and I look frantically to Hale, to Creed, to Tic. But they’re all focused on her and I can’t fucking sense them anymore. I have no clue how we’re going to handle this.

“There had to be a prize, right?” When we stay quiet she narrows her eyes on us. “Was it just bragging rights? Just to say you won?”

Hale shakes his head slowly. “No, not just bragging rights. The winner of the game… they got to be the one to tell your father.”

Haven’s breath hitches and her voice comes out strained. “About me? Or about everything?”

“Just about you, angel,” Tic answers softly.

“It was always the plan to tell him about Janie together,” I add because apparently we’re doing this.

Another hitch in her chest as she drops her gaze to the floor, head bobbing almost mechanically. “Right. Makes sense.” I’m not sure it does, and I know she doesn’t fully understand, but I’m not sure how to make it clearer when I don’t even completely get how we could do this to her.

With a sigh, she eyes the space between her and the door and I know what she’s going to say before she says it. “I’m leaving.”

Hale stands up, twists his head until his neck cracks, readying for a fight, and he pins her with a look. “You aren’t.”

Haven’s chest rises and falls in a deep breath. “I am. You can’t keep me here.”

Hale’s jaw tightens and releases as he shakes out his arms at his sides. The rest of us follow suit, shifting on our feet, preparing to catch her if she tries for the door. She eyes all of us warily, before settling on Creed, the alpha that has without a doubt been the kindest to her, the softest. “Really?”

He nods grimly. “Really, baby girl. It isn’t safe for you out there.”

“It isn’t safe for me here either.” Another moment where we all flinch. My alpha tells me I fucked up and I need to fix it. There should never be a moment where Haven fears us, where she thinks we might hurt her. She should only feel safe here, in the arms of our pack. But then, we aren’t a pack anymore. We fucked that up, too.

Hale stalks toward her and Haven retreats, taking quick steps backward until she bumps into the wall and he’s towering over her. She looks so tiny next to him, thinner than is healthy. But she still tips her head back and meets his glare with one of her own.

“You can run from us, little mouse, but know we’ll find you and drag you back. I’ll chain you to the fucking bed if I have to. If that’s what it takes to keep you safe, to keep you from falling back into your father’s orbit, under his command.”

“Wow.” A humorless chuckle falls from her mouth as she shakes her head at him. “Just…wow. You’re trying to convince me you aren’t like him. But here you are, making me a prisoner just like he did.”

Hale’s head drops, his forehead presses into hers as one of his hands cups the back of her neck, holding her in place when she would have pulled away. I have a brief flicker of jealousy, hating that he’s the first one who gets to be that close to her, touch her soft skin, soothe her. She’ll probably deny it, but I see the way she relaxes at his touch, the way she leans into it.

“I don’t want to fight with you, mouse,” he says so softly, I almost can’t hear it. “I don’t want you to spend the next few weeks being angry and hurt. I don’t want to make you a prisoner. I don’t want to take away your choice. But if you think for one second, I’ll let you stroll out of here, that any of us will let you put yourself at risk like that, then you’re fucking insane.” His fingers tighten on her neck and she sags against the wall, a low whine coming from her chest. “You are ours to protect, ours to keepsafe, ours to cherish and love. You just have to let us do it.” The tip of his nose nudges hers gently. “Please, let us do it.”

Haven lets out a shuddering breath, her lower lip quivering as tears fill her eyes. “You’re still doing it,” she whispers. “You need to stop.”

“Stop what?” Tic asks, far closer to me than I thought he was. I realize while Hale’s been crowding Haven, we’ve been crowding him, close enough to see every emotion that flickers over her face.

Right now it’s devastation. “Stop lying,” she chokes out. “Stop talking about how I’m yours. It’s a lie. Just like everything else. Its… confusing to me, to my instincts.”

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