Page 98 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

My legs shake as I push myself to stand, but I force them to hold my weight. Everything hurts—my feet especially—but I deserve that pain. Welcome it, even. Let it be a reminder of my cowardice, of what running away costs.

The house lies somewhere behind me, through the trees that all look the same now. But I remember the stream. If I follow it back…

Fear closes my throat at the thought of what awaits me there. Stone’s fury. Jax’s cold disappointment. Ren’s…whatever Ren will do. They have every right to punish me for what I’ve done. For disrupting their pack. For kissing their omega. For making him doubt their bond.

But Finn…Finn doesn’t deserve to face their anger alone. Not when it was my fault. My weakness. My inability to control myself. After all that training at the Academy, the least I should have been able to do iscontrolmyself.

“I can be brave,” I whisper, though my voice trembles. “I can do this. For him.”

The first step is the hardest—both physically and mentally. My feet scream in protest as I put weight on them, and every instinct screams at me to run the other way. But I force myself forward, back toward the fallen tree I’d used to cross the stream.

Each step is an argument with myself:

They’ll hurt you.

No, Finn said they weren’t like that.

They’ll throw you out.

Maybe, but at least I’ll have faced the consequences of my actions.

They’ll make you watch while they punish him.

No. No, I won’t let that happen. I’ll take the blame. All of it.

I’ve been whipped before. Slapped. Pinched. Starved.

I can bear it.

The stream comes into view through the trees, water still flowing silver-bright in the afternoon sun. Nothing has changed here in the hours I’ve been unconscious, but everything feels different. I’m not running away this time. I’m walking toward something. Choosing to face what comes instead of hiding from it.

Is this what bravery feels like? This sick, trembling feeling in my stomach? This certainty that I’m walking toward pain but doing it, anyway?

My feet find the fallen tree again, bark rough under my abraded soles. Halfway across, I pause. The house lies in that direction, through the trees. Still time to turn back. Still time to run.

“No,” I say it out loud this time, letting the word carry over the sound of running water. “I won’t run anymore.”

Not from this. Not from them. Not from myself.

The thought stops me for a moment. From myself? But…yes. That’s what I’ve been doing, isn’t it? Running from these feelings I don’t understand. From the way Finn makes me feel safe and wanted and…something else. Something I don’t have words for.

The heat under my skin hasn’t faded—if anything, it’s worse. Every step makes me aware of the slickness between my thighs, the ache that seems to pulse in time with my heartbeat.

The forest looks different from this direction, but I force myself to move carefully. Methodically. Looking for signs of my earlier passage—broken twigs, disturbed leaves, places where blood from my feet has dried on stones.

Time stretches. The sun moves overhead, shadows shifting through the trees. Every sound makes me jump—a squirrel chattering,leaves rustling in the breeze. But no voices call my name now. No one searches for me.

Why would they?A bitter voice whispers in my head. Why would they waste time looking for the omega who ruins everything she touches?

But that’s not true. Finn said it wasn’t true. And maybe…maybe if I’m brave enough to go back, to face what I’ve done…maybe I can prove it’s not true.

The trees begin to thin ahead, and my heart kicks into a higher gear. I know these woods now—recognize this part of the forest from my headlong flight. The house can’t be far.

Fear rises in my throat, threatening to choke me. My steps falter as every instinct screams at me to turn back. To run. To hide. But Finn’s face flashes through my mind again—not the passion of the kiss, but the moment after. The tenderness in his eyes. The way he’d looked at me like I was something precious.

He believed in me. Saw something in me worth saving. Worth protecting.

Now it’s my turn to protect him.

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