Page 19 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

My hands clench around the antiseptic bottle.

Someone did this to her. Bound her. Blindfolded her. And left her out in the wilderness alone? Miles and miles of wild forest border our property on one side. There are cliffs, mountains, rivers,and not to mention wild animals with fangs and sharp teeth. It’s not the type of place suited for a delicate omega.

A growl builds in my chest before I can stop it and her body tenses even in unconsciousness, responding to the sound. I force myself to calm the fuck down and breathe. My scent will affect her, I know that. Need to keep it steady. Safe.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, though she can’t hear me. “I’ll be gentle. I promise.”

The antiseptic will sting. No way around that. I clean the big gash first, as quickly and carefully as I can. She whimpers in her sleep, the sound hitting me like something physical. Every omega distress signal goes straight to something primal in me, but hers is different.Worse.

Because under the fear scent, under the pain, there’s something about her that makes me unsettled in a way I’ve never been before. Something that makes me want to wrap her in my scent until all trace of her fear is gone.

And that’s so fucking wrong on so many levels.

Get. A. Grip.

I force myself to keep working. Clean the wounds. Apply antibiotic cream. Bandage what needs bandaging. When I remove the rope that bound her hands behind her back, her wrists are so bruised my vision blurs red before I can control it.

What the hell happened to her?Whohad her?Howdid she get here?

Questions for later. If she’ll even talk to me. The way she’d looked at me earlier. Like she’d expected…like she’d thought I would…

Another growl threatens. I swallow it back.

She doesn’t trust me. Though, apart from being a stranger she just met, I shudder to imagine why.

I know omegas who are skittish, meek, but never like this. Or maybe living with Finn for the past three years has clouded my experiences a bit.

No. This is different. Goes far past the bounds of normal omega behavior. I know, without anyone having to tell me, that something very wrong has been happening here. That something very wrong has been happening toher.

My hands hover over her torso, where her torn dress reveals hints of bruising along her ribs. She’s soft there, curvy in ways that make my mouth go dry. Even injured and unconscious, there’s something lush about her, something that makes me want to purr in appreciation. She’s not the typical delicate omega—she’s all generous curves and soft flesh that my hands itch to…

Fuck. I really am a piece of shit. What am Ithinking?!

I haveFinnand in the three years since I bonded with him…I never…I’ve never… Despite the struggles and our pack falling apart, I’veneverlooked at another omega.

So why thefuck…

I freeze. Staring down at the strange omega lying nestled in my cot.

It’s her scent…God, it’s her scent. Honey and vanilla and warm summer rain. Each breath drags it deeper, burning through my blood like lightning, awakening something fierce and hungry. My fingers flex with the need to grab, to pull closer, to bury my face against her throat and breathe her in until nothing else exists. I’ve never had an omega’s scent hit me this hard, tear through my control like tissue paper. Not even…fuck…not even Finn’s.

The realization hits me hard enough to make me stagger back from the cot. No. No, it can’t be. It’s impossible.

But the alpha in me knows. Has known since that first breath of her scent. Since that first whimper that tore through my chest like it was meant for me.

Scent match.

The word echoes in my head like a death knell. Because it can’t be. I already have an omega. Finn is mine—ours. Our bonded omega. The foundation of our pack, fractured as we are.

But I can’t deny what my body, my every instinct is screamingat me. This omega—this broken, terrified, beautiful omega—is our scent match.

Two omegas. One pack?

It’s more than rare. It’s practically mythical. Omegas are so rare it’s always one omega to a pack. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked.

My hands shake as I grip the edge of the medical kit. The implications are staggering. Terrifying. What does this mean for our pack? For Finn? For this omega who clearly carries enough trauma without adding this impossible situation to it?

And fuck—Jax and Ren. If she’s my scent match, she’s theirs too. The pack bond doesn’t lie. Doesn’t choose wrong. But how…? It was the pack bond that chose Finn, too. As far as I know, Finn wouldn’t have been a choice if our true scent match was out there.

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