Page 158 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

I press my forehead to my knees, overwhelmed. “Why didn’t they tell me?”

“They wanted to give you time. Space. After everything you’ve been through…” He sighs. “They didn’t want you to feel pressured. To think you had to accept the match just because it exists.”

“But I don’t…” I wrap my arms tighter around myself, trying to make sense of it. “If what you’re saying is true, then I suppose the Academy was right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

I take a deep breath. I don’t want to think about that place. About how I ended up here. But focusing on those cold walls is pushing back some of the heat in my veins.

“The master I was being sent to,” I say slowly. “I picked up bits and pieces. He had five omegas already. Widow mentioned once that powerful alphas always had multiple mates.” I swallow hard. “Is that…is that why you say I belong here, too. Me and you?”

I take a deep breath. I remember Stone at that shopping center, heard Jax’s unbridled rage the evening when we returned, saw and felt the power in Ren’s arms when they were around my throat.

“Powerful alphas,” I whisper.

There’s a soft sliding sound—Finn slumping down against the door.

“No,” he says quietly. “That’s more Academy lies. Most alphas are lucky to find even one true mate. Multiple omegas? That’s not normal, Hailey. It’s not right.”

The words pause all thought in my mind, shattering something in my understanding of the world. Everything I thought I knew about pack dynamics, about my place in it all, crumbles.

If what Finn’s saying is true…if alphas don’t normally have multiple omegas…then every whispered conversation I’d overheard at the Academy, every lesson about our “natural place,” every promise about the powerful alpha who would “collect” me…

My mind races back to that day in the shopping center. To Stone’s protective rage when that other alpha had shown interest in me. To Jax’s fury when we returned.

They weren’t acting like alphas who collected omegas. They were acting like I was something precious they needed to guard.

“But then…”

Everything he said before about leaving. About giving me space with his alphas. About stepping aside…

“Oh god.” My voice cracks. “You’re leaving your pack because ofme.”

The heat under my skin grows unbearable, but the pain in my chest is worse. All this time he’s been helping me, comforting me, and I’ve been destroying everything he has.

“Hailey—”

“How can you even stand to look at me?!” The words tear from my throat. “How can you be so kind when I’m ruining everything?”

“You’re not ruining anything,” Finn says firmly. “You’re making it whole. Making them whole. They just don’t know how to tell you.”

I press my forehead against my knees, trying to breathe through another wave of dizziness. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this.”

“I know.” Finn’s voice is gentle. “And that’s okay. You don’t have to understand everything right now. Just…please let me help you? You don’t have to go through this alone.”

Another wave of heat makes me whimper. The ache inside me has grown to something almost unbearable. Every nerve ending feels like it’s burning with lava.

“It hurts,” I admit softly.

“I know, sunshine. That’s why you need to let me help. Will you unlock the door? Please?”

My hand moves toward the lock almost of its own accord. I want to. God, I want to. Want him to hold me again, to kiss me again, to make everything make sense.

But…

“I’m scared,” I whisper.

“Of what?”

---