Page 48 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

The only thing that helps keep my alpha in check is having our omega in the house again, her sweet and spicy scent lingering over everything. Even if she’s not in the room, her scent is there. It soothes him like nothing else, makes it easier to focus on what we need to do.

The low murmur of her husky voice drifts through the halls as she snuggles up with Florence, a daily visitor to our house. It’s the routine now. When Ren is done with rehearsal she comes here, wedges herself between Haven and whoever is sitting next to her on the couch—there’s always at least one of us. They snuggle and watch the truly terribleAlpha Love Getaway. Ren stays for dinner and then leaves an hour or so after that.

It would bother me, having another omega in the house, except that the only time Haven is truly herself, truly happy is when Ren is here.

I fucking love that she has such a loyal and caring friend. One who I know will do anything for our girl.

I just wish she wasn’t here for hours every day. She’s cutting into our time with Haven, with our ability to make things up to her. And she’s been right there with Haven pushing to know when we’re going to take down Bell, what the plans are, what the fallout will be.

Not one of us has said that our plan ends with his death. I suspect that they’re assuming he’s going to wind up destitute and in jail or something benign like that. But no, we fully intend to put him in the ground.

That has always been the intention.

Ruin him. Make him hurt. Put a bullet in his head.

“We have to do something,” Tic says, softly, amber eyes flicking toward the living room where Haven and Ren are curled on the couch together under a mountain of blankets. The four of us are in the kitchen, prepping dinner, though really it’s just Tic doing most of the work.

Ren had all but chased us out of the living room and told us not to come back unless it was to bring snacks or to tell them dinner was ready. So the three of us just linger here, watching the omegas on the couch from a distance.

“What do you mean?” Jude asks, not looking away from the back of Haven’s head. He does this a lot these days, just stares at her, like he’s worried if he looks away she’ll disappear. I understand the fear. We’ve lost her too many times as it is.

“I mean, she’s going to start wondering why we’re not taking steps against her father when we’ve been planning his downfall for fucking years.”

I nod and run a hand down my face. “If we don’t do something, she might change her mind about staying.”

Jude shakes his head, looking at the three of us, before whipping his gaze back to the messy bun just visible over the back of the couch. “But we agreed she’d only stay until he was gone, until she would be safe from him. If we take him down, she might decide-” He cuts off, his voice choked like the words are too hard to say.

But we know what he means. She might leave, might run as far from us as she can if the threat of her father isn’t hanging over her head. I hope like hell that won’t be the case, but I know we aren’t anywhere close to where we need to be in order to ensure it won’t be.

“What if, instead of going after Bell, we go after someone else?”

I turn my attention to Hale, sitting at the island with his laptop in front of him. “Who did you have in mind?”

He pins me with a look like he thinks I should already know the answer.

“Coogan?” Tic asks, forearm flexing as he dices an onion.

Jude grunts out a noise that’s half growl, half delighted laugh. “Oh, fuck yes. Let’s go after the asshole who thought he’d marry our girl.”

My head wobbles back and forth, considering. “It would still hurt Bell if Coogan was gone.”

Hale nods. “We always intended for him to be a part of the plan for just being an insufferable ass, but now that we know he added his own commands on top of Freddy’s, that he was going to force Haven to marry him, that he would have raped her once that happened? I want to make him fucking hurt. Badly.”

I have to blink away the red haze over my eyes at the realization that he’s absolutely right. Brian Coogan would have raped Haven. She wouldn’t have fought him on it, wouldn’t have said no, because he would have barked her into laying there and spreading her legs, into not fighting him, into being quiet while he took and took and took from her. Her body would have allowed him to do all of those things, but her mind would have been screaming.

“Fuck.” Tic growls, knuckles white on the handle of the shaking knife in his hands. “Fuck.”

“Everything okay in there?” Haven’s sweet smoky voice filters through the haze, followed by her scent, which is slightly more acidic than normal, bitter. Fear. She’s afraid right now.

And it only takes a moment to figure out why.

All four of us are pumping out rage pheromones, just imagining what Brian would have done to her. I glance over to the couch to see Haven peeking over the back of it, brows arched over gray eyes. Florence is hunkered down next to her, shakinglike a goddamn leaf. My girl’s stroking a hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her fear. Shit.

I take a deep breath through my nostril and let it out, forcing the haze away. The feral urge to find Brian Coogan and beat him until he’s no longer breathing retreats. I make my mouth curl into a reassuring smile. “Everything’s fine, baby girl.”

Her brows draw together, making a wrinkle form between them. “You sure? Because you’re all… very pheromony right now.”

“That’s not a word, angel.”

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