Page 28 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

It was the exact same handwriting; there was no doubt about that. The symbol at the bottom...that was his symbol.

But the words...

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I finally managed, my voice tight with pain. Outside the house was the howl of a pained wolf, and everything inside of me ached to go towards it.

That was Lilah—I just knew it. She was in pain; she was out there, and she needed to come home so that we could take care of her...

“She played us,” Oliver snapped, snatching the paper from me and pressing it to his chest. I could see how his body recoiled from it; he didn’t want to believe the words written there any more than I did.

But Oliver was a rational, facts-based man, and it didn’t matter that his gut instincts were screaming at him. His mind had decided, and he had made the decision for the rest of us—for thepack—without even blinking.

Fury swelled inside me, and I bared my teeth at him, another first for me. I didn’t challenge Oliver on just about anything, but this was wrong. We could all feel it. We were missing something. We’d been whole for a few weeks while Lilah had lived with us, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Emmett was staring at the ground with a hollow, dejected look, and even Oliver’s eyes held a spark of pain he was valiantly trying to hide.

“I’m going to find her,” I snapped, already turning on my heel to walk out.

“Killian, wait!” Oliver snatched my hand, stopping me in my tracks, and I growled at him until he let go. His eyes were pained but determined. “You can’t do that. I rejected her. It’s fucking done. Going out there to find her will only make things more painful for everyone.”

“I don’t accept that!” I snapped. “You’re fuckingwrongabout her. She told us that she didn’t know who her father was—”

“You read the letter!” Oliver’s voice broke, and he closed his eyes, a long moment passing before he opened them again. “He wants to get to know her. Helovesher. And he fucking murdered Jack, Killian! He slaughtered him in cold blood!”

“I remember!” I pressed my hands over my ears, childish though the gesture was, to block off most of Oliver’s voice. “God, what the fuck is wrong with you, Ollie?”

Images of Jack’s body—bloodied and unmoving, so fuckingstill—flooded my closed eyes, and I let out a tiny whimper that was far more animal than human. The pain of our loss was compounded by the aching, yawning feeling inside of me that was only getting worse with each passing second, and I couldn’t decide which pain I needed to focus on.

“I’m going,” I growled. “I need to find her. I need to make this right. I need to fix your fuckup.” I glared at Oliver and turned on my heel to walk away before he could make more than a tiny sound of protest, and then I was outside.

My shift shredded through my clothes, ruining them, but I didn’t care. I landed on all four paws with a low growl, and everything I felt was so muchmorein this form. My heart beat fast, and the pain of my missing bond was so much that I stuttered to a stop after a few steps, letting out a whine.

After a moment, I managed to get myself under control, and I pressed my nose to the ground, shifting into tracking mode. The pain I felt would ease once I had Lilah back in my arms, and she could explain what was clearly a misunderstanding Oliver was overreacting about.

Even if the letter were true—even if shewasHunter Randall’s daughter—it was possible she’d told us the truth, too. It was possible she hadn’t known who he was and didn’t know what he’d done to us.

I knew Oliver. In his single-minded pigheadedness, he often lost the ability to see nuance when upset. This time, though, he’d gone too far. He’d spoken for all of us when he only had words for himself, and I wasn’t going to fuckingstand for it.

Lilah’s scent, tinged with despair and confusion, was the strongest on the porch. She’d clearly collapsed there for several seconds, probably agonized by the pain of a rejected bond in her chest, before she’d stumbled to her feet and staggered away.

I whimpered again as I continued to follow her scent trail.It’s okay, baby. I promise I’ll fix this.

About a hundred yards from the house, her scent changed. It grew warmer and muskier, more animal, and when I looked up, I saw a similar pile of shredded clothes near a bunch of bushes, indicating that she’d shifted.

The wildness of her scent told me that she hadn’t been able to control her shift. The magic had wracked her body, and her wolf form had overcome her—the form that would make all of her feelings that much easier to deal with in the moment.

I picked up the pace. I needed to find her.

I followed her down the block and moved even faster with each passing second. The distance between us was closing; I could feel it in the ache in my chest, but I had a horrible sense of foreboding that made my feet quick on the ground.

Something bad was happening. I just needed to...

Another howl ripped through the air, not two hundred feet away from me, and it was so pained and ferocious andferalthat I stuttered to a stop, hiding in a bush that was right in front of me.

I peered through the leaves, and my heart sank at the scene that presented to me.

A small, light gray wolf I instinctively knew to be Lilah was backing away from a small circle of handlers who were all dressed in white. They wore thick gloves and boots that would resist animal bites, and each of them had a clear shield mask over their faces, protecting them from any fluids.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” one of them soothed. They approached, and Lilah let out another growl before she darted forward, almost faster than I could see. Her teeth sank into the white-covered arm of the handler who was approaching her, and my stomach sank at the sight.

A quick glance at the van idling on the curb confirmed my worst fears. Emblazoned on the side were the letters SRU—Supernatural Recovery Unit.

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