Page 52 of Knot Broken

I watch with dark satisfaction as Dare’s fist collides brutally with Marcus’s face, shattering his jaw with an audible crunch. Marcus hits the ground with a pitiful groan, blood pooling around his head as he lies defeated.

Breathing hard, adrenaline still coursing through me, I grin wickedly up at Dare and flash him a teasing thumbs-up, despite the blood smeared across my cheek and my disheveled curls.

“Took you boys long enough,” I tease breathlessly, eyes glittering with amusement. But the humor fades quickly as reality crashes down around us. My voice drops, heavy with the weight of Marcus’s earlier taunts. “But we have a bigger problem.”

Jex’s hold on me tightens instinctively, protectiveness radiating from every inch of him. Fox and Kingston immediately step closer, tension vibrating through all of us.

“What problem?” Kingston demands sharply, eyes scanning the corridor warily.

I grit my teeth, anger simmering deep in my chest as I glance back toward the shadowed hallway behind me. “There were only supposed to be a dozen omegas here. But the last omega said something before you arrived—there’s another location. They’re holding at least twice that many, and Marcus isn’t even the one in charge.”

Fox curses sharply under his breath, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. Dare exchanges a dark, tense glance with Kingston, the grim realization clear on their faces. Marcus was just a puppet, expendable and replaceable.

“Fuck,” Fox growls bitterly.

I nod slowly, determination hardening my voice. “Exactly. Whoever’s really pulling the strings is still out there—and they’re bigger, more dangerous, and far more ruthless than we thought.”

Dare curses under his breath. “What are we missing?”

The next words I say feel like acid. “It’s an omega fight ring.”

***

Flames roar hungrily, climbing the walls and swallowing the darkness as we stand in silence, watching the building burn. The heat is intense, licking at our faces and illuminating every line of exhaustion and fury etched into my pack’s expressions.

Beside me, Fox’s eyes reflect the firelight, his jaw set in a fierce, unyielding line. Jex stands close, strong arms crossed over his chest, his usually calm demeanor edged with dangerous satisfaction. Dare rests a gentle hand on the small of my back, quietly grounding me even as the inferno rages before us.

Fallon and her pack linger nearby, Kingston’s arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders. Voss stands rigidly, expression unreadable, while Romano and Jace murmur quietly, checking on the rescued omegas waiting safely in vehicles behind us.

I take a slow, deep breath, inhaling the scent of burning wood, smoke, and destruction. It feels symbolic—cleansing, even. Destroying this building isn’t just about erasing a horrible place; it’s about dismantling everything it represents. No more auctions. No more cages. At least not here.

“We got everything important from the office,” Fallon murmurs quietly, her eyes hard as she watches the flames climb higher, glass windows exploding from the heat. “Names, addresses, financial trails. That stack has enough paperwork to start dismantling their entire network.”

“Good,” I reply softly, my voice fierce despite the exhaustion settling deep in my bones. “It’s a start, at least.”

Fox reaches for my hand, his fingers threading gently through mine, offering comfort without words. I squeeze back tightly, silently thanking him for being my anchor amid the chaos.

After another long, heavy moment, Jex shifts, glancing toward me with a concerned expression. “We should go, Violet. Staying much longer is risky.”

I nod slowly, turning away from the burning building. Dare keeps his hand steady on my back as we walk toward the vehicles, but I pause briefly, glancing back one final time. The building is fully engulfed now, and its destruction is absolute.

“Let’s go home,” I whisper, knowing this isn’t the end. There is a fight coming whether we are ready or not.

Chapter Thirteen

Jex

June 10th

9:23 A.M

The sun’s just starting to spill through the curtains in lazy streaks, casting pale gold across Violet’s curls where her head rests on my chest. She’s awake—I can tell by the way her fingers absently trace slow, soothing circles on my stomach—but neither of us have spoken. Not yet. There’s something nice about the silence. Easy. Real.

I shift slightly to press a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her lemon frosting scent, a little dulled from sleep but no less addictive. She sighs against me, and her leg drapes more firmly across mine like she’s settling in deeper. Mine. Our omega. And we’re finally getting a moment without a crisis breathing down our necks.

“You ever wonder how we ended up here?” I murmur after a while, voice still rough from sleep.

Violet lets out a soft, sleepy laugh. “You mean here as in ‘in my nest,’ or ‘in the middle of dismantling a trafficking empire’?”

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