Page 14 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

But really his commands are a knife, and I’m skin. Each one of his barks makes a shallow cut, and I heal over it, the new tissues tougher than what was there before. I’m all scars, and he has to press hard to cut me now.

Thank god he doesn’t know that.

The door opens and Ren enters, pushing a wheelchair, chin tipped down in submission. I hate seeing her this way, hate seeing my sunshine friend so dimmed.

But I’d rather have her dimmed than snuffed out completely.

She stops the chair right next to us, and I drop into it without prompting. The sooner we’re out of here, and away from Ren, the better. I’ll go with him willingly and figure out a way to escape on my own, once I know she’s safe from him.

I tense when my father eyes her like he’s considering whether he should bring her with us. If he does, I will fight him. I will scream bloody murder and make sure that Ren never has to suffer by his hand ever again.

But eventually he sighs, eyes flicking over to me. “I know where she lives, Haven. I know where she works. Where her little sister goes to school. I know where her mother works. Believe me when I tell you I will not hesitate to harm her and her entire family to keep you under control. Am I clear?”

I nod, keeping my gaze lowered like he prefers. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

“Good.” He moves over to Ren and pinches her chin between his fingers, making her meet his eyes. “I know a place for omegas who act out, who need a firm hand. I will not hesitate to send you there if you cause any trouble. Is that clear?” My hands fist at my sides as Ren nods, a look of terror on her face. “Good.You will sit in this room for the next three hours. You will tell no one Haven is gone. You will not tell them I took her. You will not warn the Calloway pack. You will not reach out to the police or any omega assistance groups on Haven’s behalf. You will do nothing for the next three hours but sit here.”

Satisfied, he turns his attention back to me as Ren shuffles over to the bed and settles on the edge, staring blankly at the wall. I keep my eyes focused on her for as long as I can, bending over in the chair to watch as my father wheels me away from her.

I might not be influenced by his commands any longer. He might not be able to use an alpha bark on me, but I’m under his control all the same.

Frederick Bell doesn’t realize it, but he just found a better way to assure my compliance. I won’t risk going against him, sneaking out, working around his commands. Not when he’s made it so blatantly clear that if I do, Florence will be the one to suffer the consequences.

Chapter 5

Wish Me Straight to Hell

I need a fucking break, but I can’t bring myself to take one.

That’s my guilt speaking. Guilt over Haven, over losing Creed.Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.All of this is my fault. If I’d just deleted that stupid scorecard—hell, if I hadn’t gone to update it as soon as I finished fucking my girl—none of this would have happened. She’d be here with us, tucked up safely in her bed, likely on her way to being bonded with us. But instead, she’s with her monster of a father, and we’ve lost Creed.

A hint of anger swells in my stomach at my former pack mate. If he’d allowed us to stay with Haven, stay at the hospital, she never would have been taken by Frederick Bell. No. One of us would have been there. We would have kept her safe, butsince he banished us, ordered us to stay away from her, Bell slipped by the lone alpha and snatched her.

We wouldn’t even know it had happened if Ren hadn’t been nice enough to call Tic and tell him. Or she told us as much as she could while the asshole’s alpha bark tangled her tongue, but she told us the gist of what happened. She didn’t owe us that, not after how we hurt her best friend, but she did. Mostly because she then demanded that we get Haven the fuck away from him. Get her safe.

We’re working on it. But it’s taking some time to get around Creed’s commands. They’re still way too strong, pinning me in place, keeping me from heading over to the Bell estate to demand to see her.

Fuck, I want to see her.

Which is what I’ve been working on since we got Florence’s call.

Justseeingher through a screen. Verifying that she’s okay, at least physically. I’m sure whatever her father has been trying to force her to do hasn’t been good. Though Hale assures Tic and I every day that his alpha command on Haven is holding strong. She’s not able to be influenced by her father that way, not able to be barked into submission.

Of course, that only protects her from him. Brian Coogan is another matter altogether. She never said it, but I have a feeling Bell’s aide was just as heavy-handed with his barks as the senator himself.

Urgency makes my fingers fly over my keyboard, code flowing from my fingers as I try to break into the Bell estate security system. This is something I’m really fucking good at, but I’ve been unable to crack it.

While we were dealing with finding Haven, rushing to the hospital, trying to get to her, her father was updating everything. And I meaneverything. Cameras, alarms, guards, bars on thewindows. We got by him once, snatched Haven out of her room. It won’t be so easy for us to do it again.

“Fuck!” I shout when my screen flashes and a compass rose appears in place of my lines of code. It might as well be Dennis Nedry from Jurassic park wagging a finger and saying “uh uh uh” at me. My hands fist in my hair, tugging hard, the pain grounding me, taking some of my anger at fucking… everything.

Blocked again. I don’t understand how the hell Bell’s security system is so impenetrable. Every system has a way in and I’m very good at finding it normally, but not this time.

The heels of my palms press into my tired eyes. I can’t remember the last time I slept, or had a proper meal, something that wasn’t prepackaged.

To be fair, Tic hasn’t cooked anything for us. He’s been holed up in his lab in the basement, churning out product for our suppliers. He needs to stay busy, but I kind of fucking wish he’d stay busy doing something useful.

We don’t need the money from drugs. We have plenty and I’m still slowly draining Bell’s overseas accounts. Technically, he’s paying for our entire lifestyle right now, and he doesn’t have a clue.

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