Page 96 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

But look what I’ve done. Look what’s happened because I couldn’t control myself. Because I let myself want things I shouldn’t want.

The sound of pursuit grows fainter as I weave through the trees, letting instinct guide my path. Stone is bigger, stronger, but I’m more desperate. And I learned things at the Academy—how to be quiet, how to make myself invisible when Widow came around.

Don’t think about that. Don’t think about anything except putting one foot in front of the other.

A root catches my toe and I stumble, going down hard on my hands and knees. The impact drives the air from my lungs in a pained gasp. For a moment, I stay there, trembling, as pieces of the argument I’d fled echo through my mind.

“Did you think about us at all while you had your tongue down her throat?”

“Like you care! Like any of you have cared what I do for months!”

They were shouting so loud it sounded like they were outside and not within the warmth of their home.

Oh god.

“Hailey!” Stone’s voice comes from somewhere to my right, more distant now but still searching. I go completely still. “Please! Let me explain!”

Explain what? How I need to leave and never come back?

A new sound cuts through my spiral—running water. A stream or creek, the sound growing louder as I force myself back to my feet. Water means I’ll be harder to track. Means I might have a chance to hide.

But where? The question pounds in my head with each jolting step. Where am I even going? What am I running to?

The memory of Finn’s kiss flashes through my mind again—the gentle press of his lips, the way his fingers had tangled in my hair, how safe I’d felt in his arms. How right. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? It shouldn’t have felt right. He belongs to someone else. Three someones. And I…I don’t belong anywhere.

The stream appears suddenly through the trees—a ribbon of silver cutting through the forest. Without hesitation, I splash into the shallow water, gasping at the cold. My feet are already bleeding through the bandages, leaving faint red swirls in my wake, but I force myself forward.

The water is only ankle deep, but the current is strong enough to make each step a challenge. Good. Let it hide my trail. Let it carry away the evidence of what I’ve done.

But it can’t wash away the memory of Finn’s touch. Can’t erase the way my body still thrums with something I don’t understand. Can’t change the fact that for one perfect moment, I’d felt like I belonged somewhere. Like I mattered to someone.

“Hailey!” Stone’s voice is more distant now, moving in the wrong direction. “Please come back! You don’t understand what’s happening!”

What’s happening? I want to laugh, but it comes out as more of a sob. What’s happening is that I’m poison. I ruin everything. Pa was right. It’s the reason he sent me away.

The stream bends sharply ahead, disappearing around a thick stand of trees. I follow it, my movements growing slower as exhaustion starts to set in. How long have I been running? Minutes? Hours? Time seems to have lost all meaning.

Just a little further. Just until I can’t hear Stone’s voice anymore. Just until I find somewhere to hide. Until I figure out what’s wrong with me? Until this burning under my skin either consumes me or passes.

A fallen tree spans the stream ahead—massive and ancient, its roots torn from the earth by some long-ago storm. Perfect. I scramble up onto it, ignoring the way the rough bark scrapes my palms. The trunk is wide enough to walk on, though my legs shake with fatigue.

Halfway across, I pause to listen. The forest has gone quiet except for the music of running water. No voices. No footsteps. No sign of pursuit.

I should feel relieved. Instead, something like loss tightens my throat.

The other bank is steeper, rising sharply away from the water. My feet slip on wet leaves as I climb, but somehow I make it to level ground. Only then do I let myself really feel the pain—my bleeding feet, my scratched palms, the other various cuts and scrapes and aggravated wounds.

“What have I done?” I whisper, the words carried away by the sound of running water. “What have I ruined?”

But I already know the answer. I’ve destroyed something beautiful—the bond between an omega and his mates. Made Finn doubt himself, doubt them. Created chaos where there was harmony.

And the worst part? Even now, even knowing how wrong it was, I can’t make myself regret that kiss.

My trembling fingers rise to my lips.

It was my very first. And it had been perfect.

“I’m sorry,” I breathe, though there’s no one to hear it. Sorry for running. Sorry for wanting what isn’t mine. Sorry for being what I am—broken and wrong and ruined.

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