Page 105 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

Stone won’t meet my gaze at all, and Ren’s jaw is so tight it looks like solid rock. His eyes remain fixed somewhere over my shoulder, and I realize he’s glaring at Stone. Even Jax’s usual confidence wavers, something uncertain flickering across his face.

“Omegas aren’t scent matches to other omegas.” My voice cracks. “You don’t have to pretend to include me in this. I already know what all this means.”

Jax goes still. “What do you mean ‘pretend to include you’, Finn? You’re our omega. You’re already included. You’re part of this pack.”

“Hardly,” I whisper. I see the pain reflected in his eyes a moment before I look away. But I can’t take it back. Instead, I stiffen my shoulders, sitting up straighter. “Omegas don’t scent match with other omegas. A scent match in itself is already a rare thing between alphas and omegas. Let’s not sugarcoat what’s happening here.”

Jax turns into solid rock. His jaw may be rigid, but the look in his eyes is ripping me apart. “What do you mean, Finn?”

I swallow hard. “What I mean is that,I’mnot your scent match.”

Ren takes a step forward. Without even looking his way, I can feel the hostility radiating off him. “You’re stillours.”

I hate that tears spring into my eyes almost immediately. These fucking useless tears. I lift a hand, stopping him from coming closer. It takes me a moment to gulp away the sobs that threaten.

“Let’s not pretend that my reaction to Hailey isn’t simply because I haven’t been touched in months. That I haven’t been held. That I haven’t felt wanted. Or needed.” My throat closes up and Ren makes a sound in his throat as he steps closer once more.

“Stop.” My jaw clenches as my watery gaze slides to him. “I don’t need your pity right now.”

“Pity?” I can hear his disbelief, but it’s the pain in his voice that almost releases the torrent I’m trying to hold back.

Taking a deep breath, I lean back into the couch. Closing my eyes to push back the tears. “Does she know?”

None of them answer. When moments of silence pass, I finally pop my eyes open.

They’re all watching me with identical tortured looks on their faces. And all I want to do, all that my heart’s telling me to do is rush into their arms, to let it all out, to feel safe again.

Instead, I put some steel into my voice. “Does she know?”

Stone releases a breath, throat working. He looks away from me. “I doubt it. From what we heard in the kitchen…I don’t think she knows much about alpha and omega dynamics at all. Let alone something like this.”

Something like this. An omega mated to three alphas. Their true destined mate. Their scent match. The impossibility of it makes my head hurt.

“We need to be careful how we handle this,” Jax says, releasing a breath of his own. That pained gaze is still fixed on me. Still he manages to push through, his voice more level than I thought itwould be. But that’s Jax for you. Our rock. Our leader. “She’s traumatized, scared. If we push too hard…”

“You’ll lose her,” I finish quietly. The thought makes something in my chest clench painfully. My heart, I realize.

Ren makes a sound of frustration. “So what?” When my gaze slides to him, his fury is directed at Jax and Stone. “Can’t you see what this is doing to Finn? She’s here. Fuck me if she’s not in our lives now. And you want us to just pretend we don’t know? Act like we can’t smell it every time she?—”

“Yes,” Jax cuts him off firmly. “That’s exactly what we do. Until she’s ready. Until she feels safe enough to recognize it herself.”

“And how long will that take?” Ren demands. “You saw how she looked at us earlier. Like we were going to rip her fucking head off. We don’t have all the time in the world, Jax. Who knows exactly which twisted punk is after her?” His frown deepens as he glares at Jax. “Nothing is worth putting Finn in danger. Not even a fucking scent match.”

“I’m not in danger.” I sit upright once more, facing him. Nothing can hurt me more than I’m already hurt now. But I don’t say that. Can’t say it out loud.

Ren’s jaw clenches again and he turns away from me, pacing once more.

“We wait it out,” Jax says.

Ren makes a frustrated sound in his throat.

Stone interrupts, voice hard. “We’ve already fucked up enough with her. Just like we’ve fucked up with you, Finn.” His gaze catches me and I can’t look away. “I promise you, we’ll do better. We do this right or we don’t do it at all.”

The declaration hangs in the air between us. I study each of their faces in turn—Jax’s careful control, Stone’s guilt, Ren’s frustration. See in each of them the same storm of emotions churning in my chest.

“She’s in pre-heat,” I say finally, the words falling into thesilence like stones into still water. “She was perfuming when we…when I…”

“We know.” Jax’s voice is tight. “It’s part of why we needed to have this conversationnow. Her first heat since escaping that place…it’s going to be intense. Especially with scent matches so close.”

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