Page 6 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

I swallow and look away from him. He’s not wrong. We did all of those things and worse. So much fucking worse.

“We stopped,” Tic says, tears streaming from his face. “We fucking stopped. You know we did.”

“Doesn’t matter. I told you from the very fucking beginning we shouldn’t do this to her. Not one of you listened, and thisis the consequence. No more pack. No more omega. No more Haven.Get your asses out of this hospital and don’t you fucking dare come back.”

I grit my teeth against it, against the urge to rise to my feet and stride out of the hospital. Battle against it, but it does no good. Creed’s too dominant and too fucking angry right now. In a few days, I might be able to break through and I won’t be bound to this command, but for right now? I can’t do anything to stop my body from rising, from moving backward, away from Creed. Away from Haven.

Tic and Jude are right there with me, agonized expressions on their faces, tears on their cheeks, pleas on their lips. Creed ignores them, ignores me, gaze focusing on the locked double doors that have our omega behind them. She’s safe for now, in this hospital, with Ren at her side. She’s safe, but how long will that last?

As soon as we set foot outside, the three of us stop moving. We huddle together under the awning, shocked at what just happened. Tic rubs his chest and shakes his head. “I knew he was unhappy with us, with our pack, has been for a while now, but I never thought he’d…” he trails off and my hand lifts to mimic the movement of his.

I know exactly what he means. Never in a million years would I have thought that Creed would leave us, would break our pack bonds. We’re family and family doesn’t do that shit. We stick together.

But we fucked up one too many times, and now we’ve lost our pack mate and our omega.

Jude looks as haggard as I feel. I can’t verify that though, because I can’t feel him anymore. For the first time in twelve years, I’m not bonded to anyone. I can’t feel anyone else. My emotions are strictly my own. It’s disconcerting as hell and lonely. So lonely.

He slides his hands into his hair and grips it, tugging on the blonde strands hard. “This is my fucking fault. Everything. I should have just deleted it. Should have just fucking gotten rid of everything.”

He should have. We told him to do it, and if he’d listened, Haven never would have found the scoresheet, never would have seen the videos and she would be tucked up in the nest of our pack house right now, safe and sound. We’d be with her, readying her for heat or helping her through it. Maybe we would have bonded her, maybe not. But either way, it is Jude’s fault that Haven ran from us.

Tic must feel the same, because he hauls back and punches Jude right on the cheekbone. Jude doesn’t dodge or counterattack, just stands there, arms hanging at his side, when Tic draws back and hits him again. Blood spouts from Jude’s nostrils, spilling over his lips and chin.

When Tic looks like he’s going to hit him again, I step in, looping my fingers around his wrist to stall the punch. Both of them snarl at me, but for different reasons. Tic because his alpha is close to the surface, and he needs to tear something apart, and Jude because he wants to get beaten to a bloody pulp. He thinks he deserves it.

I growl right back at them. “This won’t help anything. It will not make Haven better or erase our major fuck up.”

“It’ll make me feel better,” Tic says, but I can see the fight leaving him. Jude’s already staring off across the parking lot, shoulders slumped, blood dripping down his face.

“We need a new plan,” I tell them.

That has Jude whipping his head in my direction. “You can’t be serious. Haven is in a coma because of us and you want to talk about planning? You want to go forward with revenge on Bell?”

I shake my head and tsk at him. “Come on, man, surely you know me better than that, right? I mean a plan for Haven. For getting her back.”

“And Creed,” Tic says rubbing that spot on his chest again.

Jude shakes his head, moisture lining his lower lashes. “I don’t know. I don’t think he’s going to come back to us. And we won’t be able to force him.”

“We’re not gonna force him. In a few days, we’ll be able to break through the command he put on us. We’ll be able to see Haven. We just have to fucking wait it out, and in the meantime, make a plan for how we’re going to get her back, keep her with us.”

I clap a hand on Jude’s shoulder. He still looks dazed as hell, but he nods. I don’t know if he really understands what he’s agreeing to, but it doesn’t matter. Right now, the three of us are all that’s left of the Calloway pack, even if we don’t have the bonds to prove it. I’m still their prime alpha. I’ll make sure we get through this. Make sure we get Haven back. Make sure Creed comes back, too.

Frederick Bell will have to wait. The three of us have a new mission now.

Chapter 3

Quite Monstrous

My alarm is going off. An annoying beeping that makes me groan with the way the sound stabs at my aching head. I lift my hand to bat it off, but the limb feels heavy, too heavy, weighed down by something.

My eyes are gritty, crusted over with sleep goobers, but I force them open, squinting at the room I’m in, which is…. Definitely not my room. Not the one at my father’s house or the one at the Calloway pack house. Though I suppose neither of those are really mine anymore.

I look around at the light gray walls, the low light, the luxuriously soft blanket over my legs. Where the hell am I?

My lids close again, worn out from that small amount of activity, as I sink further into the plush pillow behind me.

A scrape of a chair over the floor to the side of my bed.

---