Page 3 of Seen Knot Heard

“Please,” I rasp out, a tremor in my voice. “I need to leave. You have to help me.”

Her gaze flickers to me, then away. “Sorry, Miss. We have our orders.”

“From Louie?” Desperation sharpens my tone. “I don’t belong to him. He’s holding me here against my will.”

She ducks her head, setting the silver tray on the nightstand, and I flinch at the clatter. “Enjoy your breakfast, Miss.”

She retreats, the door snicking shut again.

Tears trickle down my cheeks, and I curl into myself on the too-soft bed, the sobs I’ve been fighting to contain breaking free.

I am utterly, truly alone.

An hour later, the door swings open again, and Louie stalks inside, his dark-blond hair slicked back and blue eyes glinting. His pheromones fill the air, cloying and sickly sweet, making my stomach clench.

“Chloe.” He draws out my name, voice sticky as cough syrup. “I’m so glad you’re awake. You had me worried, darling.”

Heart pounding, I scramble backward on the mattress to put my back against the wall. “What do you want with me?”

Louietsks, moving closer with predatory grace. “You’re safe here, Chloe. That’s all that matters.”

His gaze rakes over me, lingering on the curve of my hips, and the swell of my breasts beneath the thin silk. “Did my staff not alert you of my visit? Or should I take your current state of dress as an invitation?”

My skin crawls under his scrutiny. “Don’t you dare touch me.”

Darkness fills his low chuckle. “It’s been a few years since our last encounter, so I understand your hesitance. What would you call this in one of your stories? An enemies-to-lovers romance?”

Ice slithers down my spine. He’s read my books. Devoured them, based on how he looks at me now—like he wants to consume me, too.

I draw the blanket over myself. “We’ll never be lovers.”

“Protest all you want.” His nostrils flare as he breathes me in. “It won’t be long before you’re begging for an Alpha’s touch.”

“I’ll never beg for your touch,” I spit out.

“Once your Heat kicks in, the Omega in you will crawl through broken glass to be with me.” He sits on the edge of the bed. “But you already know that, don’t you? You have such a gift,Chloe. An ability to capture emotions, to understand need in a way most can’t. And you’llneedme, just like you did the first time I found you.”

He closes the distance until the warmth of his body presses in on me, the poison that seeps from his pores invading my lungs.

He reaches out to touch my knee. “You were so beautiful in your fragility, nearly expiring from starving yourself, but when I stepped into the room, you reached out to me. I’ll never forget how you chose me over death.”

I tremble as I smack his hand away. “You’re sick. I was a child back then.”

“Which is why I let you run the first time.” His tongue sweeps out over his bottom lip. “An oversight, perhaps. You would have been easier to mold back then, but I wanted a woman by my side. And you’ve bloomed far beyond my expectations.”

Bile surges up my throat, his desire a living, breathing thing swelling between us.

“You’re mine now, Chloe.” He reaches out to brush a knuckle down my cheek, and I jerk away, my head knocking against the wall. “Your mind, your body…all of you belongs to me.”

A dark, triumphant hunger fills his face, and a chilling certainty settles over me. Louie’s possessiveness is a blackness with no end. He’ll do anything, destroy anyone, to keep me in his grasp.

His hand falls away, and he turns to the untouched food on the nightstand. “You should eat. You’ll need your strength for when your Heat comes.”

Disgust shoots through me, and I don’t respond.

He slides off the mattress and strides toward the door. “Dress more appropriately for dinner, unless you want me to take your silky pajamas as an invitation to your bed tonight.”

He pauses at the door and accepts a bag from the guard.

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