Page 16 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

So I’ll wake tomorrow and do it all again. Cook meals that might go uneaten. Tend gardens that only I enjoy. Keep our home warm and welcoming, even as they find reasons to stay away. Because that’s what omegas do—we nurture, we care, we hope.

Even when hope feels like swallowing glass.

Chapter 6

Hailey

Darkness cradles me when I wake. For a moment, panic flutters in my chest before memory slots into place—the blindfold must have shifted back over my eyes while I slept. The fabric feels different against my skin now, softer somehow. Less like a punishment and more like a shield.

I’m warm. That’s the next sensation that filters through. Warm and…surprisingly comfortable, considering I’d spent who knows how long running through the forest. The thought of the forest sends a shiver through me, but it’s distant, like a nightmare half-remembered.

That’s when I catch it.Pine. The scent wraps around me, fresh and crisp and so achingly recognizable that for one heart-stopping moment, I think I must have fallen asleep out there among the trees. The sweet scent of pine was my first taste of freedom—that initial breath of air after the crash. But this…this is different. Deeper. Richer. More…

A soft whimper escapes my lips before I can stop it.Safety.Home. The scent speaks of shelter and protection, of strong walls and stronger arms. Of everything I’ve been denied for so long.

I find myself nuzzling deeper into the warmth surrounding me,chasing that scent. Some part of me knows I shouldn’t. Knows that six years of Reform Academy training is screaming at me to stop, to analyze, tothink. But I’m so tired. So very tired of fighting every instinct, every natural response.

Just for a moment, I tell myself. Just one moment to pretend I’m safe. That I’m wanted. That I’m…

The clarity hits like a bucket of ice water. This isn’t pine from trees. This is pine and musk and…

Alpha.

My heart slams against my ribs as I try to bolt upright. Pain explodes through my body—cuts and bruises I’d forgotten making themselves violently known. Something heavy slides off my shoulders as I move, and I’m rolling, falling before I can catch myself.

The impact of the floor steals my breath. Every scratch and gash from my flight through the forest screams awake. My ribs feel like they’re trying to collapse in on themselves. A whimper escapes again before I can swallow it back.

Focus.Think.

The Academy’s mantras beat against my skull: An omega in the presence of an alpha must maintain proper posture. Must keep their eyes downcast. Must speak only when spoken to. Must…

The rest dissolves into static as my fingers scrabble against worn wooden floorboards. A cabin. I’m in a cabin. The memory fights through the panic—finding the building in the dark, breaking in, collapsing…

Something soft brushes my hand. Fabric. I grip the thing, searching for clarity in darkness that’s more than just the blindfold and the dark night. A jacket? It’s the thing that had been keeping me warm. An alpha’s jacket, carrying that devastating pine scent that had lulled my guard down. Which means…

A board creaks outside the room. On the porch.

I hear the slight squeal of a hinge as the door opens.

I freeze, my whole being going still as heavy footsteps enter the room. The alpha’s scent intensifies—pine and strength andsomething else, something that makes my instincts keen with recognition even as my rational mind screams danger.

“Easy.” The voice is deep. So very masculine but gentle in a way that makes it worse somehow. “You’re safe here.”

I press myself against the floor, fighting the dual urges to submit and to run. The Reform Academy never taught us what to do when these instincts warred with each other. The Academy’s cruelty was a blunt force; it left me scarred and broken. But it never prepared me for subtle manipulation. Because this alpha’s voice is silken. The silken voice of an alpha who soundskind.

Even I know, alphas like this are the most dangerous of all.

My pulse races so hard I’m certain he can hear it. Everything in me screams to make myself smaller, to show submission before he can force it. The Academy’s lessons burn in my muscles—proper posture, downcast eyes, hands folded. But I can’t make myself move. Can’t do anything but press against the floor as his footsteps draw closer.

“You’re bleeding.” His voice rumbles through the room. There’s something off about his tone—concern? Confusion? I can’t tell. Can’t think past the way his scent wraps around me, making me want to roll over and bare my throat.

No. No. Can’t submit. It’s the exact thing I was running away from. A fiery pain shoots through my chest. I didn’t even get a chance to try to be properly free before getting caught again. All that hope was fornothing.

I’ve been caught, and now this alpha is going to take me back to whatever master was waiting for me to arrive on that transport. Worse yet, he might bring me back to the Academy, where I’ll definitely be punished for trying to run away.

A whimper slips past my lips, and I sink further into myself, knowing that making any sound at all will result in further punishment. The sound seems to freeze the alpha in place.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He moves again, slower now. Thefloorboards creak under his weight. “But you’re injured. Let me help.”

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