Page 93 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

I swallow hard, eyes unable to leave hers as these scandalous thoughts fill my mind. All those times I’ve handled my own pleasure have obviously done nothing to hold back this mountain of sexual tension I’ve been holding back for months. Because I can feel the heat radiating off her. The scent of her slick is growing thicker, sweeter, and it’s driving me insane. I can’t stop now, not when she’s looking at me like that—wide-eyed, needy, and so fucking ready.

I’d start slow, kissing her everywhere. Her neck, her shoulders,trailing lower until I’m on my knees in front of her. Until I have my tongue on her, tasting how wet she is for me. I’d make her come just like that—my mouth on her, my tongue deep inside her, drinking every drop of her going down my throat while she screams my name.

Her fingers dig into my shoulders, her nails biting through the fabric of my shirt as she shudders against me. “Finn…” she breathes, her voice a broken plea.

I take a deep breath, my eyes still locked onto hers. When she’s shaking, when she thinks she can’t take any more, I’d lay her down and fuck her slow. So slow she’d feel every inch of me stretching her, filling her, making her mine.

Oh, my god…what is wrong with me? The thought crashes through my mind like broken glass. No. What is happening to me? I’ve never had thoughts like this before. Not for anyone except my alphas. Yet here I am, with Hailey in my lap, her scent flooding my senses until I can barely think straight.

And, as if she can read my thoughts, Hailey’s lips part, but no sound comes out. Her cheeks are flushed, her pupils blown so wide her eyes look almost black. The sight of her like this—trusting, innocent, wanting—makes something unhinged stir in my chest.

I lean in again, lips meeting hers, and my whole world erupts. I can only focus on the taste of her, the way she’s clinging to me, the way her hips keep tilting toward mine like she’s desperate for contact she doesn’t even understand. Every hesitant movement, every surprised little gasp against my mouth, pulls me to the edge.

This is madness. I need some control. “I should stop,” I whisper, giving her the chance to pull away. “Tell me you don’t want this, Hailey, and I swear I’ll stop.”

But she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she whimpers against my lips. Her answer is clear, and it’s all the permission I need to deepen the kiss, to?—

A deep intake of breath from the doorway shatters the moment.

Jax’s scent hits me first—cedar and lightning, crackling with anemotion I can’t quite name—and I realize he hadn’t moved. He’d watched it all. Hailey goes rigid in my arms, her entire body freezing like prey at the sight of a predator. Because even though he doesn’t come closer, Jax’s presence fills the room like a storm, making the air thick and heavy with tension.

When I finally force myself to meet his eyes, the expression on his face stops my heart. It’s not rage I see there—rage would be easier to handle. No, what I see is worse: confusion, hurt, and something that looks devastatingly like understanding.

“Alpha,” Hailey whimpers, the word barely a breath. She scrambles off my lap so fast she nearly falls, her face flaming red as the reality of what we’ve done crashes over her. The scent of her fear fills the room, so horribly sour, cutting through the lingering sweetness of our combined arousal.

Jax takes a step forward, probably to try to calm her, but it’s the wrong move. Hailey backs away like a cornered animal, her chest heaving with panicked breaths. Her eyes dart between us, wide with horror and shame.

“Hailey, wait—” I start to reach for her, but she’s already moving, darting past Jax and into the hallway. The sound of her footsteps pounding down the hall echoes through the house.

I try to follow, but Jax’s hand shoots out, gripping my arm with enough force to bruise. “Don’t,” he says, his voice low and dangerous. Through our bond, I can feel the storm of his emotions—pain warring with confusion, anger tangled with something else I can’t quite grasp. Though, it doesn’t feel like either of those emotions are directed at meorHailey. They’re directed at himself.

I hear the front door open. Ren’s scent—sandalwood now mixed in with smoke—drifts in, but there’s no sound of him trying to stop her. The door slams shut, the sound as final as a gunshot.

“What thefuck, Ren?” Stone’s voice thunders. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

The raw fury in Stone’s voice makes me flinch. Heavy footsteps pound across the foyer, followed by the door flying openagain only to slam shut even harder than before. Stone’s going after her. The alpha’s normally steady presence is a maelstrom of rage and worry through our bond.

Jax’s grip on my arm tightens fractionally, and I realize I’ve unconsciously moved toward the door. Toward Hailey. The gesture is barely noticeable, but it makes me inhale sharply.

The bond marks on my neck burn with awareness of all three mates, their emotions crashing through me in waves: Stone’s determination, Ren’s quiet resignation, and Jax’s…Jax’s feelings are too complex to name.

I can hear Stone’s boots pounding against the drive as he heads into the woods, and something in me snaps. Red bleeds into the edges of my vision as I wrench away from Jax’s grip.

“Why the fuck didn’t you stop her, Ren?”

My hands are shaking as I move toward the hall, but Jax steps into my path. The sight of him—all broad shoulders, sharp jaw, and eyes that used to look at me like I was everything—makes something crack in my chest.

“Move.” I don’t recognize my own voice, rough and raw and desperate.

“Finn—” Jax reaches for me, and the gentleness in his gesture is worse than when he’d grabbed me. I knock his hand away hard enough to sting.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” The words tear from my throat like they’ve been waiting there wrapped with barbs. “You don’t get to touch me, not after months of—” I choke on the rest, on all the nights I spent alone in our nest while they worked late, all the times I woke to cold sheets and apologetic notes, all the moments of disconnect, of drift, of slow decay that I’ve watched helplessly, unable to stop it or even understand why it was happening.

The familiar scent of our bedroom—our combined scents that used to mean home and safety and love—suddenly feels suffocating. Like a lie we’ve all been telling ourselves.

“That’s not fair.” Jax’s voice hardens, but there’s that pain againunderneath it. “We never meant to shut you out. Things just…happened. We were trying to figure things out, and…”

“Things just…happened?” A harsh laugh escapes me. “Right. You ‘figured things out’ while I was right fucking here, watching you three build your perfect little world without me. And now—” My voice cracks. “Now you want to act like you have the right to stop me from going after her?” I don’t even know what the fuck I’m saying, only that the words are spilling out on their own accord.

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