Page 97 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

When we reach Tic and Hale, Jude releases me, allowing me to turn to regard them. “What have you figured out?”

Hale shakes his head, reaching over to link his fingers with mine. “Not a lot. We’re trying to figure out where he would have taken her but haven’t had any luck.”

“We called her guard,” Tic adds. “No answer.”

“Not surprising,” I murmur. It’s likely she’s at least severely injured, passed out, if not dead. That thought makes me sway a little and if not for Jude, propping me against his sturdy body, I’m sure I would fall to the ground again. “Ginny and Moira?”

“Safe,” Jude reassures me. “We spoke to both of their guards and them directly. They’re being moved to a safe house.”

My brows arch. “You think he might go after them, too?”

Hale shakes his head. “No, it’s not likely. I’m honestly surprised he went after Florence like this. That he’s there, that he recorded it and sent it to you. All of that is proof we can use against him.”

I shake my head. “He knows I won’t do that, not while he has Ren.” Which means he’s planning on keeping her forever, using her against me over and over and over, just like he said he would months ago at the hospital.

I’ll be back in captivity again, only this time my best friend will be trapped with me.

Fuck that.

And fuck him.

“He’s getting sloppy,” Tic says. “Frantic. This is a hail Mary, if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Feral,” I mutter, my conversation with Ren coming back to me. “He’s going feral without an omega or a pack to keep him grounded.” Withoutmeto keep him grounded.

This is our fault. My fault. If we’d acted sooner, gone for his jugular instead of slowly chipping away at him, he’d be in jail and Ren would be safe. This would be over.

“We should have dealt with him ages ago, without Belinda,” I say, accusation heavy in my tone against them and against me. I don’t miss the look exchanged between the three of them. “You should have just gone after him with what you had when you realized you weren’t going to use me against him.”

I shouldn’t blame them. After all, they’re the reason we’re going to take him down at all, the reason I’m free, but they’re also the reason Ren is where she is right now.

“We didn’t want to risk-”

“Jude!” Hale barks at him, making the other alpha cut off. “Enough.”

I frown, not liking the guilt that’s swamping their sides of the bond. “You didn’t want to risk what?”

Tic runs a hand down his face. “You said you’d stay with us until your father was taken care of. We held off to have more time with you. We didn’t think… He never struck us as the time to do something like this.”

I stare at the three of them, warmth at their declaration that they wanted more time with me and anger at how incredibly careless they were with everyone’s safety warring in my guts. “What about after we found out he straight up murdered my mother? Did it occur to you he might be this type of dangerous, then?”

Another exchanged look. “So yes,” I answer for them. “And yet we’ve spent the last few days fucking in the nest while Ren was just out there-”

“Mouse,” Hale cuts off my tirade, stepping into me and cupping my cheek. “We did everything we could to keep Florence safe. She was under twenty-four/seven security detail.”

“It obviously wasn’t enough,” I whisper the memory of the snap of her bone, the odd angle of her knee, the scream that ripped from her chest, making my voice rough. “It wasn’t enough, Hale.”

He nods and presses his forehead to mine. “I know. And I know you’re angry and we’ll deal with that later, after Florence is safe. Okay? Right now, we need to focus on her.”

I swallow and nod, guilt swelling in my gut. I’m wasting time being angry at them, wasting time standing here blaming them, when what I need to be doing is figuring out where my father’s keeping Ren, so I can get her out.

I need to get her the fuck out before he hurts her anymore.

I jerk my chin at my cell phone resting on the top of his desk as Creed comes in looking like some kind of futuristic soldier in all black with cargo pants, a long-sleeved shirt and two holsters strapped on his chest. “Did he send anything else?”

Another look exchanged between Jude, Tic and Hale, before the prime sighs and nods. “He sent a text that demands that Haven go to him alone.”

“Where?”

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