Page 95 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

“Please.” The word comes out broken, shattered like everything else. “Don’t.”

Don’t tell me I’m right. I…I can’t bear it.

Through the blur of tears, I see Hailey’s face in my mind. The way she’d looked at me with such trust, such innocence. The way she’d trembled under my touch, like something precious and new. And the worst part? Even now, knowing what I know, I can’t find a shred of hatred for her. Not even a spark of resentment. Instead, my traitorous body still aches for her, still wants her, still remembers the perfect way she fit against me.

The irony of it threatens to choke me. Normal pack bonds can be broken—painful but possible. But a scent match? That’s unbreakable. Primal. Written in blood and bone and destiny. This moment marks my expulsion from everything I’ve ever loved, everything I’ve built my life around. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m more broken than I thought possible, because even as my world shatters, even as I face losing the three men who are my everything, I still can’t hate her. The omega who will replace me in their lives, in their nest, in their hearts—and my body betrays me by wanting her too.

“Let me go,” I whisper, and this time there’s no fight in my voice. Just exhaustion.

Just pain.

Chapter 28

Hailey

Iburst through the front door at a dead run, my bare feet hitting wooden steps then gravel with stinging impact. Behind me, voices rise from the house—sharp, angry words that slice through the afternoon air like knives.

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

Stone’s fury makes me stumble, my heart hammering against my ribs. The omega in me wants to curl up, to submit, to beg forgiveness for causing such discord. But a deeper instinct—the one that kept my hope alive at the Academy—screams run run run.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

Finn’s voice, raw and broken in a way that makes my chest ache. Oh god. What have I done? His alphas—his mates—they must be so angry. The memory of Jax’s face when he found us makes me want to vomit. Not rage, like I’d expected, but something else that makes me so uncertain, it can only mean something bad.

My feet carry me across the driveway, each step sending jolts of pain through my soles. The gravel bites into my skin, but I barely notice. Everything in me is focused on getting away, on putting distance between myself and the destruction I’ve caused.

“That’s not fair! We never meant to?—”

Jax’s voice cuts off as I hit the tree line, plunging me into shadow and relative silence. But I can’t stop. Can’t slow down. Can’t let myself think about what’s happening back there. About how I’ve ruined everything.

Branches whip at my face as I run deeper into the forest. My borrowed clothes snag on thorns, but I don’t care. The physical pain is almost welcome—a distraction from the chaos in my head, from the memory of Finn’s lips on mine, from the lingering ache between my legs that won’t go away no matter how far I run.

“Hailey!”

Stone’s voice booms through the trees. He’s following me. My heart kicks into an even higher gear, sending fresh adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Don’t think about what he’ll do when he catches you. Don’t think about punishment or pain or?—

No. They’re not like that. Finn said they weren’t like that. But…but I kissed their omega. Ikissedhim. And I liked it…

A sob tears from my throat as I vault over a fallen log, my bare feet sliding in the leaf litter. The forest floor is damp, slick with decomposing vegetation that squishes between my toes. Every step leaves traces—scent, footprints, broken twigs. I might as well be laying a trail of breadcrumbs.

“Stop! Please!”

Stone’s voice holds something I don’t expect—desperation rather than anger. But I can’t trust it. Can’t trust anything right now. Not when my body still burns with unnatural heat. Not when I can still taste Finn on my tongue. Not when everything I thought I knew about myself has been turned upside down.

A branch catches my cheek, drawing blood. The sting barely registers through the riot of other sensations—my racing pulse, my labored breathing, the fire under my skin that seems to be getting worse instead of better. Is this what going crazy feels like?

“You don’t understand!” Stone calls, and he sounds closer. Too close. “We need to talk about?—”

I veer sharply left, ducking under low-hanging branches. My feet find a deer trail—barely visible but enough to follow. The undergrowth is thinner here, letting me move faster despite my burning muscles.

What don’t I understand? That I’ve destroyed something precious? That I’m exactly what everyone always said—useless, unwanted?—

No! The thought comes with surprising force. Finn said those things weren’t true. Said I wasn’t dirty or wrong or…

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