Page 10 of Chain Me Knot

Too close.

Too much.

I twist from the alpha who holds me, desperate to get away. I slap my palm on his chest, heaving out of his arms, surprised when he lets me go. One thing I’ve learned about alphas is that they're hyper-focused, unmovable, and if they don’t want to let their prey go, they do not. My legs give out the moment my feet touch the floor, and I sprawl at the massive alpha’s feet.

The alpha looming so tall reaches for me. I try to scramble away but all I can do is flounder on the floor, coating myself in blood, tears and snot. I hear a terrible sound. A wounded sound. Some animal is being tortured nearby, I’m sure of it, and then I realize the sound comes from me.

Asher crashes to his knees in front of me, but all I see are hands reaching for me. A scream tears from my throat, and I throw my arms over my head. My bladder releases, warm liquid spreading beneath me on the cold tile, but I'm beyond shame. Beyond everything.

Voices shout around me. Running footsteps. The squeak of rubber soles on tile. Someone calling for help, but I'm already retreating, falling back into the safe place in my mind where no one can touch me.

I’m back at my cold, freezing beach. Gray waves crash against dark rocks. Wind whips my hair. I shiver, but it’s better than hands on my body taking what I don’t want to give.

Taking, taking, taking.

Here, I'm alone. Here, I'm safe. Here, nothing can hurt me. I rock back and forth on my frozen shore, letting the sound of waves drown out everything.

Let them do what they want to my body. They can't touch me here.

They can't touch me here.

They can't touch me here...

Chapter Five

Phoenix

“Asher,get back!” I grab my prime's shoulders, hauling him away from our terrified omega as medical staff flood the room. His muscles are iron under my hands, every fiber of him straining toward the broken figure rocking on the floor with her thin arms over her head.

The heap of skin and bones under that hospital gown can’t possibly be a full-grown omega. She’s huddled in a ball, eyes open and staring into space the same way she did when we discovered her in that basement. Awake, but not present. Hiding in the confines of her mind.

The screams she made before she mentally disappeared echo in my head.

In mybones.

I've heard a lot of sounds in my years on the force, but nothing like that. Nothing that raw, that broken. Nothing that spoke so clearly of absolute terror.

“Let mego!” Asher roars, fighting against my grip. Soren grabs his other arm as our prime tries to surge forward again. It takes both of us to hold him back, and even then, it's like trying to restrain a freight train.

“Pull yourself the fuck together, Ash,” I yell, hauling him away. His instincts are working against him. Against us. Everything inside him will be making him want to protect our omega and the best way to do that is let the medical staff give her the attention she needs.

His eyes have turned feral, pupils blown wide with rage. Sweat darkens his hairline as he struggles against us, and the emotions bombing our pack bond nearly bring me to my knees. Guilt and fury and helplessness crash together in waves that threaten to drown us all.

“I have to…” His voice breaks with a note that’s hard to hear.

“You have to let the nurses help her,” Soren grunts, barely maintaining his grip. “Please, brother. She needs their help.”

Some semblance of sanity returns to his face. He sags in our grip and we haul him away from the tight huddle around our omega. She’s so still. So unresponsive despite whatever they’re doing to her.

Pale.

Lifeless.

Broken.

She blinks every so often, but that’s the only response she gives to anything they do to her. Asher vibrates in my hands as he fights his instinct, fights us, fights the despair over his actions. His biceps push the limit of his shirt, the material straining over his shoulders as he wars with himself. A nurse moves after laying our mate on the bed and I catch a glimpse of her face.

Pale. Too pale.

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