Page 32 of Knot in Their Wildest Dreams: Part 1

“No. No one needs to know. We’re going to pretend like this never happened. The less we get to know her, and the less we are around her, the faster we can get over this.” I said, and he nodded, still looking lost as he sat on the couch. “I’ll go talk to Dante.” I said before I turned to go to our rooms. He was the one I was worried about the most.

Chapter 23

Dante

I wanted to break something. I wanted to curse at the gods for delivering me the most ironic twist of fate. My scent match, the one person in the world who was supposed to be meant for me, was none other than Celeste. The very person I’ve spent years plotting to take down. A cold woman who thrives on manipulation and evil.

I felt like my brain was short-circuiting. I paced around my room like a caged animal, my fists clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to smash something - everything. My room was too neat, too ordered. I needed to release the furious energy surging through me.

She’s an evil sociopath. I’ve seen the damage she’s done, the lives she’s ruined. She’s ruthless, calculating, and her smile could freeze fire. The idea that she’s my fated mate feels like a punch to the gut. Why her? Why the woman who ruined my life?

I paced about my room, my mind racing as I tried to clear my airways of her intoxicating scent. It took me longer than anyone to realize what was happening when she’d let her perfume out. If she hadn’t been begging to leave earlier, I’d swear she planned to do it like that, too.

How am I supposed to face her? I’m supposed to be fated to someone who completes me, someone who makes me better. But she’s a monster. The thought of having to deal with her on any level, let alone as a fated mate, was enough to drive me mad. I was about to go insane with my thoughts when a knock at my door broke me out of a spiral.

Liam opened it and walked inside quietly, assessing me. I knew I must look like shit. He didn’t say anything for a while. Just sat down on a chair and watched me pace.

“There’s nothing I can say that will make this better. I know that this hurts you more than anyone.” He admitted. I felt his pain through the bond - the confusion, anger, betrayal, and worst of all, the desire. His body’s absolutely unrelenting thirst to get to his mate, who happened to be the one person who I hated the most. And I knew he probably felt the same contradictory feelings coming from me through the bond as well.

I didn’t answer at first. I had no words to describe what I was feeling. After the years of torment I had to deal with, we were finally close to victory. We were well on our way to fixing our lives, and close to getting the proof we needed that Celeste was behind so much more than the public knew. And then, just when I thought I might get justice, fate dealt me the worst blow of all.

Even now, I feel myself changing. I cannot get her out of my head. As much as I obsessed over her before, out of necessity and trying to take her down, now I cannot stop thinking of her and that scent. My body wants her. I can’t even picture another woman now, and I hate myself for it.

“I promise Dante, we will get through this. We’re so close. She will be held accountable.” Liam said, his jaw ticking from the frustration he was feeling. He reached over to place a hand on my shoulder for support, but I shrugged him off.

“Just leave me be.” I said in a low voice. I needed to process it on my own. How yet again, Celeste ruined my life.

Liam paused for a moment, like he had more to say. But then he nodded and turned toward my door.

After he left, I went to my desk and reached underneath the drawer, pulling out the scant photos I had hidden there. I rarely looked at them. They were just a painful reminder of all that had changed, and all that I had lost. I sat down at my desk and looked through them one by one.

Two boys, smiling big for the camera, at the age where we were starting to lose our baby teeth. The next one of the whole family, my mom, cousin, aunt and uncle, right before I left the island. And the final one, a somber photo my cousin had sent me of a funeral for one of our uncles. He was there in the photo at the casket, just a teen, far too young to be dealing with the trials life was sending his way. He’d written a message on the photo, something innocuous enough for anyone that read it. But it hid a message.

“Another storm is coming. Stay safe.” It was something we used to say when we needed to speak in an emergency.

I moved to the Eastern Province when I was just a kid. It was hard starting someplace new, but the opportunities were better here than where I was born. My birthplace, Arkala, was a large remote island, almost a small continent, south of the Eastern Province. We were largely ignored by both provinces until it was discovered that we had precious metals in abundance in our land. Harringday Industries had been the first to strike a deal and export for their growing business many years ago. The mining of Arkala over the decades had been what kept our economy flowing, and Harringday had contracts for exclusive rights to the land, due to some unscrupulous deals made by our prior government.

Over time, the majority of the population worked in some capacity around or in the mines.

But it wasn't something we could do for long term growth.

My mom left when she could. We’d tried to get our family to move with us, but they didn’t want to leave. I’d spent my childhood growing up in the Eastern Provinces and only been back once, going to see my cousin after receiving his somber message.

I put the photos back, my stomach retching as I tried not to think of what had become of the place I was born, and all the people there that I loved. I was living in hell. My mind fought against the memory of that omega’s perfume as it hit me for the first time. I would never let the truth cross my lips that I found her artificial scent attractive. But when I smelled her scent with her real omega hormones, my body sang out in response to finding my mate, I stood there in confusion. My thoughts were at war, trying to understand that my mate was nearby, and knowing that the only omega with that scent - her real scent, not the imitation that could never, ever live up to her sweet smell - was Celeste.

And now my body craved her. I’d been hard ever since I smelled the first hit of her real perfume. I was ashamed that I could ever be attracted to such a selfish, horrible person. But I couldn’t deny it. And now, I had to find a way to control the situation. Her being around us was like a ticking time bomb. If we didn’t take her down quickly, she would ruin us.

Just like she ruined Arkala.

Chapter 24

Celeste

The truth had finally come out, and the air in the house was so thick with unspoken tension that I could barely breathe. The pack knew I was their scent match. And even worse, they knew I was aware of it the whole time and kept it from them. We’d been avoiding each other since then. Any time I needed to go to the kitchen or front door, I did so as quickly as possible, and only when I didn’t hear anyone around.

It had been days since the party, and I knew they were probably trying to come to terms with the fact that they were now screwed. They would never find another omega that they wanted as much as me. I would haunt their minds, just as they haunted mine since I found out. The only saving grace was that they, like me, wanted to keep it a secret. No one would ever know.

One morning, hunger got the best of me, and I couldn’t wait for delivery. I dragged myself to the kitchen, determined to make a quick brunch and retreat before anyone else showed up. Moving fast, I pulled out a pan, tossing in some bacon until it sizzled. As I started a pot of coffee, I kept an ear out, hoping to slip away unnoticed.

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