Page 35 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

“Because no one deserves what was done to you,” I continue quietly. “Because you deserve to be safe.”

She doesn’t respond, but her scent shifts again. Confusion, disbelief, but underneath…the tiniest spark of hope.

I release her hands slowly, making sure she’s steady before moving back. “Try to rest,” I say, rising carefully. “I’ll be back in the morning. The door locks from the inside. Use it.”

Chapter 12

Finn

Iwatch as Stone slips through the back door, tracking muddy footprints across the floor I just cleaned. His hair is damp from the night air, and there’s something about his movements—furtive, careful—that makes me tighten up inside.

Three days.

Three days of missing food containers. Three days of him disappearing for hours. Three days of hope slowly turning into something else.

“Hey,” he says, startled to find me downstairs this late. “I thought everyone was asleep.”

Sure he did. That’s why he’s creeping back so late, isn’t it.

I hate the suspicion that’s taken root in me these past months. Hate how it’s transformed me from a trusting omega to someone who watches shadows and counts minutes. Someone who catalogs every little change in my alphas’ behavior like I’m building a case file.

I gesture to the mop in my hand. “Just cleaning.” It’s a lie. I’ve been waiting, watching the clock tick past midnight, wondering why he’s been gone to his cabin so much lately. What he does when he goes there.

He looks down at the floor immediately. “Oh shit. Sorry, babe.”

Babe.

My heart twists in two.

He hasn’t called me that in a long, long time. He still cares then?

Fuck, I hate how needy that makes me.

Stone leans down before pulling his dirty boots off his feet. I watch him pad to the utility room to put them down before returning.

He takes the mop from me and begins cleaning his own mess with careful, methodical strokes.

“You don’t have to,” I say, but my protest is weak. I love watching him clean. It’s intimate somehow. Domestic. A glimpse of what we used to be.

“Course I do.” He glances up, a shadow of his old grin playing at his lips. But there’s something behind his eyes that I can’t read. As if he’s aware of my attention and he’s putting on a curated show. “Can’t have you cleaning up after me at this hour.”

I lean against the wall, arms crossed over my chest. His curls are wild from the wind, and there’s a leaf caught in them that makes my fingers itch to reach out. To touch. To smooth. To…

Stop it, Finn.

“Jax and Ren?”

I can almost see the way his shoulders stiffen at his own question.

“Asleep.” I lie. Neither of them are sleeping. I hear them tossing and turning every night.

“Oh. Good. Long day at the office tomorrow.”

Uh-huh. Yeah. I already know. Every day has been a long day at the office lately.

“Tea?” I offer, already heading toward the kitchen. It’s our thing.Wasour thing. Late-night conversations over chamomile, his arm around my waist, my head on his shoulder as we listened to some smooth jazz.

He hesitates, a furtive look crossing his features. “I should probably?—”

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