Page 174 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

“Understood,” I reply, keeping my voice clipped.

“Good. I’ll see you in the morning,” she says firmly, then hangs up.

I lower the phone and turn to Jax, who’s abandoned his trek to the kitchen and is already back at the window, peering out into the darkness.

“She’ll be here in the morning,” I tell him.

His jaw tightens, and he lets out a sharp breath through his nose. “Not soon enough.”

I exhale, nodding as I tuck the phone into my back pocket. “We just need to hold things down tonight.”

He nods, but his gaze doesn’t leave the driveway. “Good. But we still need to secure the house.”

“I know.”

We move in tandem, the silence between us punctuated by thesound of our feet on the hardwood floor and the occasional muffled cry from upstairs. Every time Hailey’s voice breaks, I see Jax’s shoulders tighten, his jaw clenching like he’s physically restraining himself from bolting up there.

I know the feeling all too well.

“Windows first,” Jax says, his tone clipped.

I nod, checking the locks on the ground floor while Jax moves from room to room, double-checking every possible point of entry. All the extra bolts and locks Ren installed suddenly seem integral. His paranoia not so ‘out there’ anymore.

“Back door’s secure,” I call out as I test the deadbolt.

“Front’s good too,” Jax replies from the living room.

I head back to the sitting room, grabbing the tablet linked to the outdoor cameras and the perimeter feed. All looks clear, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched.

“Anything?” Jax asks as he steps back into the room.

I shake my head, scrolling through the different angles. The driveway is empty, the tree line still. “Nothing. But that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear.”

Jax leans against the wall, arms crossed, his eyes locked on the screen. “They’ll come back,” he says quietly.

I glance at him, frowning. “You sound sure of that.”

“I am.” His voice is low, steady, but there’s an edge to it. “Whoever they were, they weren’t here by accident. And they didn’t just leave because they got spooked. They were testing us. Seeing how far they could get.”

The thought sends a fresh wave of tension through me. He’s right. I felt it too when I saw the car earlier—the calculated way they moved, the way they didn’t linger but didn’t rush either.

“They know about her,” I say, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. “The Academy?”

Jax doesn’t respond, but the look in his eyes says enough. After a few moments, he says the words I knew were coming. Probably because I’ve thought them, too. “We need Ren.”

Fuck.

Another sound from upstairs—a soft, broken whimper—cuts through the silence, and we both freeze.

“Fuck,” Jax mutters, dragging a hand down his face.

“She’s safe,” I remind him, though I’m mostly saying it for my own benefit. “Finn’s got her.”

“For now,” he says, his voice tight. “But we don’t know how long that’ll hold.”

I don’t have an answer for that, so I turn back to the tablet, forcing myself to focus on the feeds.

“Breakfast,” Jax says suddenly, pushing off the wall.

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