Page 19 of Knot Unwanted: Part Two

My body remembers what my mind wants to forget. The way he’d hum show tunes while strapping me down. How his breath always smelled of peppermint gum, like he was trying to cover up something rotten inside.

The female beta shoves me forward. “Widow wants her prepped for?—”

“I know what Widow wants.” Peppermint and copper flood my nose as he grips my chin. His thumb digs into the hinge of my jaw—his favorite pressure point. “Missed you, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart. The word on his tongue is a violation. That’s Stone’s word. Jax’s word. Ren’s word. Their word for me, warm and safe andmine. Not this. Nothim.

I spit blood at his boots.

For half a heartbeat, the room freezes. I’m shocked myself. In all those years of “reform,” I never fought back. Not like this.

Then his laugh crawls up my spine, the same one he’d make when adjusting the straps that would pry my legs apart. “Oh-ho. The rabbit grew teeth.” He wipes his boot on my torn dress. “Let’s see how many Widow pulls out.”

Chapter 5

Stone

The alley stinks of piss and rotting garbage. Not the kind of place I’d expect Ren to know, let alone navigate like a second home.

He moves ahead of us, shoulders tense beneath his ruined suit, the bloodstains from Finn’s wounds now dried to rust-brown streaks. Three sharp raps on the unmarked door. Pause. Two more. Pause. One final knock. A code?

What the hell are we doing here?

I glance at Jax. His jaw is clenched tight, but he gives me the slightest nod. Stay cool.

The door creaks open. A mountain of a beta glowers down at us, his nose crooked from too many breaks. His gaze slides past Ren to land on me and Jax.

“They’re with me,” Ren says, voice flat.

The bouncer hesitates, then steps aside just enough to let Ren pass—but blocks us again with an outstretched arm. A growl rumbles in my throat immediately.

Ren turns slowly. There’s something dangerous in the way his eyes glint under the flickering light of the narrow corridor. “I said. They’re. With me.”

The beta’s throat bobs. He drops his arm.

Jax and I exchange another look as we follow Ren inside. Since when does Ren Ironwood make backdoor deals in…what the fuck is this…a strip club?

The air is thick with sweat and pheromones. Strobe lights pulse over writhing bodies—omegas on stages, alphas at private tables, bets changing hands as drinks spill onto sticky floors. It’s a different kind of hunt here, one where the prey pretends to want the chase.

Ren keeps to the edges of the room, heading for a black door at the back. No one stops us. No one even looks at us. Like we’re ghosts.

Or like they know better.

The private room is smaller than I expected. Velvet couches. A mirrored ceiling. The cloying scent of omega arousal still clings to the upholstery.

I’m on Ren the second the door shuts. “What the fuck is this?” My voice comes out too loud in the confined space. “Finn’s alone in the hospital. Hailey’s Goddess-knows-where, and you’re playing fucking games?—”

Ren drops into a chair like his strings have been cut. “We have to wait.”

“Wait for what?” I’m inches from his face now, instincts surging. “Every second we waste?—”

“Stone.” Jax’s hand lands on my shoulder.

I shake him off, but step back. Jax isn’t crowding me—he’s studying Ren, his gaze sharp as a scalpel.

This is all new. This. Everything Ren said on the drive here. I…fuck.

Ren rubs his temples. “It won’t be long.”

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