Page 122 of Chain Me Knot

The commissioner glances down at the shuddering omegas at his feet. “You’ve provided us with the perfect opportunity to get rid of the heat dogging our heels. It’s the perfect headline. Just what the world needs to tighten the leash on omega rights. And who else can ensure the rules around omegas are strict enough to keep them safe but the people in power who took down the nasty, mean alphas? Isn’t that right, mongrel?”

Aubrey shakes so hard the chain rattles. His breath whistles from between his teeth. His lips move and I realize he’s speaking, the words no more than impressions on his breath. “One, four, six, five. One, oh, three, seven—”

“Shut the fuck up!” The commissioner pulls the chain on Aubrey’s lead, the collar digging into the black and purple bruises around his neck. The senator sniggers as Aubrey is yanked so hard he tumbles to his back.

“Get up, you worthless piece of shit and fucking present,” Logan barks.

Mick kicks Aubrey as he struggles back to his knees, unable to overcome his alpha’s bark. Aubrey plants his palms on the ground and lowers his head, ass in the air. The omega Adrian called Skylar begins to tremble but Leah…Leah doesn’t react at all.

“Look at that. Begging for it, the slut.” Mick licks his lips as he stares down at the broken omega at his feet.

The commissioner and Hardwick are more than sick. They’re completely insane.

And unstoppable because they’re not wrong. They do have power on their side and enough money to pay off people to look the other way and accept their lies.

Asher’s growl is low and threatening. “You think we’ll just lay down and let you do that?”

For the first time, the commissioner smiles in genuine delight. “You misunderstand, Detective. Surrender, and they live. Refuse and I make sureyou’re the last thing these little creatures ever see. Give me my story. Be my monsters.”

“Let’s help them decide, shall we?” The commissioner moves his gun to point it at Leah. “You have five seconds before I put a hole in her skull.”

For a moment, I can’t move, can’t breathe.

“You kill that omega, and it will be the nail in your coffin,” Asher growls. “See these body cams? The feed is being live streamed to the head of the department’s Legal Affairs Division as we speak. Everything you’re doing and saying is being witnessed by at least fifty federal agents who, I’m assuming, will be on site soon if they aren’t already here. There will be no doctoring of videos. No fake news. No scapegoats. You’ve been made, Axel. There’s nowhere to turn. Nowhere to run. You know I’m right. We’re the golden boys of the department. You said so yourself.”

The commissioner’s face turns a deep red as he stares at Asher. My alpha doesn’t give an inch. He stands still, gaze locked on the man I hate more than anything. Sweat pops out on the commissioner’s brow as he draws his lips into a tight grimace to reveal clenched teeth. “If I’m going out, then no one in this room gets to live.”

Molasses coats the wheels of time as he points his gun toward Leah. I draw in a breath and scream, “No! Leah!”

Leah startles, lifting her head. Her eyes are slow to focus and when they find me, they flare wide, as if in disbelief, as though she never expected to see me again, let alone with an army of alphas behind me. Her lips part, working soundlessly before she forces out a trembling whisper, “Emma?”

I nod, my body shuddering, tears cutting warm tracks down my cheeks. I want to run to her, to gather her in my arms and promise her this nightmare is almost over, but all I can do is meet her gaze and pray she sees everything I want to say. You’re not alone. I swore I’d find you. And here I am.

Leah’s scent flares, cutting through the stifling air. Sickly and thin, but unmistakable: musky rose struggling up through rain-soaked earth, threaded with bitter medicine and the copper tang of open wounds. Despair weaves throughher, but beneath it, something deeper stirs, raw omega courage, fragile and aching for freedom.

Jax inhales, eyes darkening, Gabriel’s jaw tightens, and Ronan goes rigid as her scent hits him. The word rips from his chest, primal and fierce: “Mate.”

Pack Hawthorne moves almost too fast to track. Jax barrels into Mick, and the gun clatters harmlessly to the floor. Gabriel knocks Kylie flat with one explosive punch that sends her rolling. Ronan is on the commissioner, a thunderous growl tearing from his throat, eyes black with feral rage. Ronan seizes the commissioner by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

“You dare harm my omega?” Ronan twists. Bone and sinew snap in his hands and the commissioner’s head lolls. His body crumples, his eyes wide and empty. Ronan lets the large alpha crumple to the floor.

The senator screams. “Guards! Get in here now!”

Another door leading into the room bursts open as hard-faced alphas dressed in police uniforms stream into the room.

Asher plants himself directly in front of me, legs wide, chest heaving, his body a shield. “Stay behind us, Emma!”

An officer barrels toward us, teeth bared, but Asher meets him with a brutal uppercut then turns, grabs the next with both fists, and slams the man’s head into the wall so hard the plaster cracks. His body drops to the floor.

Phoenix ducks a wild punch, twists low, and sweeps the attacker’s legs out from under him in one swift, dirty kick. The alpha hits the floor, and Phoenix drives his elbow down hard onto his throat. The alpha wheezes, clutching his broken windpipe and gasping for breath.

An officer swings a baton at my head, but Phoenix intercepts the strike, taking the blow with his forearm. A hiss escapes his clenched teeth before he smashes his fist into the alpha’s gut. He snatches the baton and swings it at his opponent’s temple. The wet thud echoes off the walls. The alpha spins and goes down hard.

Another cop rushes toward us, arm swinging. Soren snatches the man’s wrist mid-air, twists until there’s the sharp pop of bone dislocating, then shoves theman away. The man cries out, tucking his arm to his chest. Asher rams his elbow into the man’s temple, knocking him out.

Another tries to charge, and Soren drops to one knee, grabbing ankles and yanking the cop flat to the floor. The back of his head clunks with an explosion of blood.

In the next breath, Phoenix has his knee in another’s back, pinning him down before driving his fist into the man’s temple. The alpha goes limp, but Phoenix is up and colliding with the alpha Asher is trying to bring down.

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