Page 73 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

I don’t know if that’s possible anymore.

That part of me that should be able to feel…it’s gone. And that’s about to be clear.

I hiss out a breath. Jax and Stone sit while I pace like the caged animal I am. The silence stretches, heavy with questions no one wants to ask.

Finally, Stone speaks. “Tell me exactly what you scented.”

“Vanilla and honey,” Jax says. I can’t even respond. Too busy trying to keep my fists unclenched. “Mixed with Finn’s scent. They were perfuming.”

My laugh comes out like broken glass. “Of course, they were.”

“You want to share what that means?” Stone’s voice is careful. Too careful.

“No.” I keep pacing, five steps one way, turn, five steps back. Like the cages they kept…No. Stop.

“Ren.” Jax’s voice carries warning now. “If you know something about this situation?—”

“I don’t know shit.” The lie burns, but it’s familiar. Practiced. “Just seen it before, that’s all.”

“In your work with troubled omegas?” Stone asks. He’s talking about my parents’ charity. The same one that hosted the gala where we met Finn.

I bare my teeth at him. He has no fucking idea. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

“Bullshit.” Jax stands, blocking my path. “This is more than that. The way you’re acting?—”

“The way I’m acting?” I get in his face, challenge singing in my blood. “How should I be acting, alpha? You want me to sit pretty and play nice while?—”

I cut myself off, chest heaving. Too close. That was too close.

“While what?” Stone pushes.

“Nothing.” I spin away, resuming my pacing. “We need to secure the perimeter. Make sure the cameras are all working. Make sure?—”

“Why?” Jax’s question is sharp. “You expecting trouble?”

Yes. Always. They never stop looking. Never stop hunting…

“She was running from something.” I grit out. “You know that. The way Stone described her was clear.” And I hope they take my strange reaction as just me being, I don’t know, fucking wise or some bullshit. We need some Einstein to parse that this omega was running from some deep shit.

“Didn’t expect you to react so strongly… Didn’t expect you to care at all, Ren.” Stone is watching me, brow furrowed.

“I don’t.” It comes out low and deadly. “I only care about Finn. There are two omegas in our house now, and one of them is already hanging by a goddamn thread!”

Silence falls. I can feel them exchanging looks behind my back. Reading things in my reaction that I can’t afford for them to see.

“He’s right,” Jax says carefully. “We need to think about Finn here. We’re only just starting to find some kind of balance?—”

“You think I don’t know that?” Stone sounds annoyed. “Youthink I don’t realize what this could do to him? But what the fuck are we supposed to do? Throw her back out there?”

“No one’s saying that,” Jax cuts in, his voice low and steady. “But we need to be smart about this. She needs medical attention?—”

“No.” The word comes out like a whip crack. “No doctors. No strangers. Not yet.”

“Ren—”

“I said no!”

“Give us a reason,” Jax demands.

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