Page 13 of Knot Unwanted: Part Two

Ren slides into the backseat without a word, his movements fluid but tightly controlled. I follow, pulling the door closed behind me with a soft thud that feels deafening in the silence.

The moment the door latches, Stone punches the gas. The SUV lurches forward, tires squealing against asphalt as we peel away from the gala. No one speaks. What is there to say? Every second ticking by is another second Hailey is in their hands.

The Academy’s hands.

Widow’s hands.

Veyra Heath’s hands.

I can’t fucking believe it. I don’t want to. But I heard it from Finn’s own mouth. Can’t ignore the truth when it slaps me in the face.

Veyra Heath. An omega trafficker.

We reach a red light, and Stone brakes hard enough to jolt us all forward. The silence stretches, taut as a wire about to snap, until Stone breaks it.

“Where to?” His voice is low, but violence runs beneath it like an underground river. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak like this before. “Hospital…” His gaze shifts to the rearview mirror, finding Ren’s reflection. “Or somewhere else…Ren?”

The unspoken question hangs between us. Stone isn’t just asking about our destination; he’s asking how far we’re willing to go.

Ren’s jaw ticks once. Twice. His expression hardens into something I’ve only glimpsed before—something cold and calculating that has nothing to do with the Ren I thought I knew.

“Downtown.”

One word. Heavy with implication.

Neither Stone nor I question it. The light turns green, and Stone accelerates smoothly, heading toward the heart of the city.

In these last few weeks, it’s like Ren is someone else. The cabin in the woods. How he disposed of the evidence of the break-in at our house. Things he’d let slip sometimes. Things that didn’t make any sense…or maybe I didn’t want them to.

I thought I’d want to question it more, demand answers, but in this moment, I don’t fucking care. All I want is Hailey and Finn back. Our pack whole again.

“We should split up,” I say into the silence, thinking aloud as Stone navigates through the late-night traffic. “Those warehouses I’ve been trying to get info on—maybe we should each take part of the list, hit them all. Try to find where they’ve taken her.”

Stone nods, probably already mentally dividing the list. “I can start with the ones near the docks. Someone at that gala?—”

“It was Heath.” I cut him off, watching as the words settle, watching as Stone’s gaze locks with mine in the rearview, the road before us forgotten. Someone honks and his gaze flashes back to the road, but in his eyes, his shock turns into slow rage.

“Fuck,” he finally breathes. “FUCK.”

Fuck indeed. “I’ll take midtown,” I continue. “There’s a cluster of abandoned properties that?—”

“No.”

Ren’s voice cuts through our planning. Just that single word, but delivered with such absolute certainty that both Stone and I fall silent.

“You won’t find her at any of those places.”

The surety in his tone puts me on edge. How the hell does he know? “If not there, then where, Ren?”

His jaw ticks again, and it’s evident there’s a lot he wants to say but can’t. Just like before. Just like all those other times it felt like he was keeping us in the dark.

Well, not anymore.

“I think it’s fucking time now,” I say, twisting in my seat to face him fully, “that you tell us everything.”

The silence that follows is thick enough to choke on. Stone’s eyes flick to the rearview mirror again, watching Ren. Waiting.

Ren stares back at me, his expression unreadable. Then he looks away, out the window at the city lights streaking past.

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