Page 23 of Knot So Broken

Theo gives me a final smile before turning back around and putting the car into drive. The rest of the car trip is silent yet again. My eyes don’t leave Theo’s face for one moment.

Was I too quick in jumping the gun and believing that he was a spy my father had put in my life?

Was he generally just trying to get to know me?

His words gave me no indication that he was lying. It just seems surreal to have these three Alphas so interested in me. I feel like I have been overlooked my entire life. Pushed to the side and discarded. Never good enough for anyone.

Even though my life has, quite frankly, been a shit show up until now, I can’t help but wish for hope.

Hope that this is it. This is my chance at escaping my life. Of getting away from my father and the damnation that will follow me if I stay there any longer. If that means putting my faith into these Alphas, allowing them to take control from me, I'll do it.

Anything to escape my prison.

Chapter Eight

The property we pull up to reminds me of a vampire's mansion.

Everything is black.

It's the ultimate goth’s dream.

I like it.

Pebbles crunch under the tires of the SUV as we make our way up the curved driveway. I take in every detail of the Manor. At least it feels like a manor to me. Calling it a mansion doesn’t feel like it does it justice.

Intricate metal trim lines the roof, with smaller designs frame the windows giving it a Victorian Era feel.

Theo pulls up in front of a grand staircase that leads to an even grander front door. Each new place I look, I seem to find a new detail. Another difference in trim design. A new slope that elongates the Manor.

“Welcome to Duran Manor, beautiful,” Theo says as he walks up behind me. Damn, I didn’t even realize I had gotten out of the car in the first place.

“What do you think?” Ledger asks as he comes to stand beside me, placing his hand on the small of my back.

“It's… I… have no words.”

I’ve never really taken much interest in things like architecture before. Books are where I have found my home. Immersing myself into a fiction world to escape reality. At least the hurt in books doesn’t leave physical scars.

Ledger puts a bit of pressure on my back and leads me up the steps to the front entrance.

If I thought the outside of the house was something to gawk at, it has nothing on the inside of the house.

The dark gothic theme carries through the interior of the house. We step into a grand foyer. A staircase leading up to the second level is the centrepiece to the room. A chandelier that looks as big as a small car hangs from the ceiling. The crystals reflect around the room from the sun shining through a window above the doorway. It's beautiful and completely unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Ledger leads us to the left into a living room. A chandelier similar to the one in the foyer - just in a much smaller scale - hangs from the ceiling. Three black sofas surround a mahogany coffee table. Compared to my father’s one in his office, I know that this one is real, not some cheap knock-off. The entire room screams comfort.

I feel like I come to life at the sight before me. That before me is everything I have ever wished for. Not only does the room smell like a mixture of Theo, Ledger and Jax; I feel safe. Like I would be able to bewhat my designation demands of me here. To be able to nest for the first time since Emerging.

I stare at the couch covered in soft blankets and pillows long enough that one of the guys clears their throat in an attempt to get my attention.

But I have a one-track mind and it is screaming at me to do one thing, and one thing only. I make a direct beeline for the couch. Jumping, I land on the soft cushion that immediately swallows up my body. I giggle as I collect the blankets and pillows, making this little nest as comfortable as I can.

Once fully satisfied, I look up at the Alphas standing in front of me. The realisation of what I had just done to their couch dawns on me.

Before I get a chance to utter my embarrassment, Jax snorts, “That was the cutest fucking thing I have ever witnessed, Little Omega.”

He takes a step closer and looks down at the space beside the miniature nest I built. Without him having to say a word, I already know what he is asking: if he can sit beside me, or more to the point, beside my nest.

The intention sends a warm feeling through my system.

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