Page 47 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

Her face goes ghostly white and her voice, when she speaks, is a croak. “You think he’s still doing it? Taking omegas and forcing a bond on them?”

My chest gets tight just thinking about it. “I think it’s something we need to consider. Maybe he took another omega after Janie and he’s kept her alive for all this time, but that doesn’t make it better. Whether it’s been one or twenty. He needs to be stopped.”

Ren takes a deep breath. “What if he hasn’t found one, though? What if he’s… What if he’s actually feral?”

I look at her sharply, and she holds up a hand to stave off my denial. “Wait. Just hear me out, okay?”

I motion for her to continue, and she tucks both sides of her long blond hair behind her ears as she does. “Okay, your dad’s always been an asshole. We know this. You remember him being that way with your mom before she left. But he was never this much of an asshole… right? Like even when you presented as an omega, he let you go to AOA, let you meet packs, let you interact with other alphas. But as time went on…”

“He got more controlling over my life.”

She nods. “We know Feral alphas get crazy about things they view as theirs, whether the thing, or person in this case, does actually belong to them. What if he views you as his-”

She notices the color drain from my face. “I’m not saying like… romantically, causegross. But like you’re his daughter, and that means you’re his. Not his omega in the traditional sense when an alpha says it, but like his daughter, his property.”

I frown. “You think having me around keeps him from going full feral, but he’s on the verge?”

She shrugs and shakes her head. “I don’t know. Maybe? The longer you’re away from him, the more erratic he becomes. It seems as likely as anything else.”

I look away from her and my brows furrows as I consider this new idea. It’s possible. More than possible that it’s true. Maybe having an omega daughter to take care of was enough to keep him from going totally feral. And maybe since I’ve spent months away from him, he’s losing it.

But if that’s the case…

I suck in a sharp breath. “If that’s the case, then he’ll try to find another omega if he can’t get his hands on me. He’ll take one.”

Shit. Shit.Shit.

Ren shakes her head rapidly and grips my arms. Hard. “You don’t know that, and even if that is the case, you cannotput yourself back in his hands and under his control to keep someone else safe. You cannot do that, Haven.”

“But-”

“No! No! You promise me! I can’t stand the thought of you being back with him, locked away from the world. You cannot do that to me. To Ginny. To my mom. We need you. I fucking need you. You can’t risk yourself again.”

Tears prick my eyes at her plea. I know she needs me to promise. And, god, I’d promise her just about anything. But I’m not sure I can promise her this. I can say the words, but I’m not sure I’ll mean them.

“Florence,” I say softly, cupping her cheeks in my palms. “I can’t do that. I don’t want to break a promise to you. If he kidnaps some unsuspecting omega, if he kidnaps you, then I will throw myself at him, put myself between him and whoever he plans to use.”

Ren stares at me hard, tears filling her eyes, then she looks away and huffs a humorless laugh. “I knew you’d say that. It’s part of why I love you so goddamn much. Selfless, brave little you.”

We’re silent for a long minute until I tuck her hair behind her ear. “Wanna eat our weight in Thai food and veg out on Alpha Love Getaway?”

Another laugh from her, this one slightly more genuine. “Yeah babe, I think I do.”

Chapter 16

We Go After Someone Else

Haven is noticing we have taken no steps against her father. Or at least she suspects we haven’t. It might be because every time she asks what we have planned, if there’s anything she can do to help, we gently tell her not to worry about it.

Not that we wouldn’t want her help if there was something for her to do, but there isn’t. The only way Haven factored into our plans was as a tool, a way to embarrass her father, and we sure as hell aren’t doing that anymore, not when it would also ruin our girl’s reputation.

Everything else we can do on our own, and well, we aren’t really planning on doing any of it… Not yet anyway, not until we’ve proven to Haven to stay with us, not necessarily to forgive us, but to at least give us a second chance at being hers.

I want nothing more than to be hers.

I just need her to want it, too.

It grates on my alpha that we haven’t gotten retribution on the man who ruined both of our omegas, hurt them worse than anyone should ever endure. But Hale was right. If Haven will only stay with us until we take care of her father, until he’s behind bars or dead, then we have to hold off on our plans.

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