Page 3 of Tied in Knots
“Indeed,” I murmur. “Anything else you can tell us? Anything at all?”
Matt shakes his head. “She blew me off. Cunt.”
Without warning, without thought, I reach out and clamp my hand around Matt’s throat, squeezing tightly, a deep, possessive growl escaping my lips.
He chokes, his hands scrabbling at mine to get free.
There is no chance. I could break his neck with just the right amount of pressure.
Ben’s steady voice drifts down the stairs. “Sebastian. Let him go. He doesn’t have the capacity to understand why this is so important.”
It’s an insult and Matt takes it badly, scowling furiously, but I let him go. I’m reasonable enough to know that none of this matters to Matt. He is a beta. He can smell her scent, but it doesn’t affect him the way it affects us. It’s not as potent, as alluring, as sinfully delicious as it is to us.
“Then we retrace all of your steps. Find someone who knows her and knows where we can find her.” I take in the other three alphas with a wicked smile. “Gentleman, we just approved our omega. Now all we need to do, is find her.”
ChapterThree
Faith
Three months after I visited Derek, I wake up to the irritating voice of my stepfather droning above me.
“The dishes, Faith. The sink is fucking full. Get up, you lazy cow and get the kitchen cleaned up.”
“If you want it done so bad, do it yourself,” I mumble into my pillow, still half asleep.
The silence that follows, wakes me up.
I gulp.
Did I say that out loud?
It becomes clear that I did, when Pete yanks the duvet cover off my cold body and grabs my arm, hauling me to my feet. I shiver in my soft, white cotton pjs. It’s freezing in this house in the middle of winter. Pete is too skint to put the heating on, so we all have to suffer.
“Get your fat arse downstairs now, girl before I tan it for you,” he growls right in my face, his spit spraying onto my cheeks.
I resist the urge to gag. He is ugly and overweight, but he is still an alpha, even if he is the runt of all alphas. He could kill me with his bare hands if he wanted. Lord knows my mother gets the brunt of his fists on a regular basis.
Lowering my eyes, he sees me submit and he lets me go. I duck around him agilely and scamper off down the stairs, bursting into the kitchen to see my mother about to do the dishes.
“No, Mum. Go sit down,” I murmur, guiding her away from the sink.
She gives me a wan smile, her dirty blonde hair scraped back into a ponytail and her blue eyes, just like mine, tired and sad.
I hate this. I hate Pete for being such a dick. I hate Derek for leaving us with him. I hate my dad for dying…
Tears prick my eyes and I turn to the overflowing sink in the cold, dark kitchen, removing all the dishes so that I can rinse them off first before I wash them. Guilt creeps out of the darkest depths and takes hold of my soul, forcing the tears to break free and roll down my cheeks. I bite my lip hard to stop myself from making a sound. Mum would only feel worse if she knew how much I cried, how much I hate this tiny three bedroomed terrace house with badly decorated, paper thin walls and ragged carpet that has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I mouth silently. “I love you and I wish you were here.”
I miss him so much it aches. He was a wonderful man, a true alpha. We lived in a big house with beautiful gardens in a posh part of town. Derek and I wanted for nothing, but Dad always made sure we earned our treats. We did our chores, but we were happy to help out. It was what families do. Here, I’m just a slave. Someone for Pete to boss about and wash his disgusting, skid-marked Y-fronts. Retching slightly at the thought of the laundry that also needs dealing with, I bite the inside of my lip to prevent the ugly sob that wants to escape.
“Anne!” Pete’s annoying whine filters down the stairs.
The downstairs area of this house is open plan, which offers little privacy or quiet. You can hear everyone’s conversations from all over. Not that I have anyone to really talk to. There’s only my cousin, Rayne. She’s about a year younger than me and my dad’s brother’s daughter. We used to be closer before Dad died, but now we live about half an hour’s drive away and even with phones and texts, we don’t keep in touch as much as we used to. All the other friends I had, stopped calling when we moved about five years ago, and I heard from Rayne that they’re all mated and happy. The new friends I made here aren’t the best calibre of person you have ever met. I prefer my own company most of the time, but they’ll do for the days when I get really lonely, and the loser guys are okay for a quick shag when it becomes too much for me to deal with. I was so excited to visit Derek in his new flat in London. It’s about a hundred miles from here and it seemed so adventurous of me to visit him alone. Hooking up with that beta was literally the highlight of that short trip, which just goes to show you how let down I felt by my brother. Kicking me out and sending me back to this dump three days early without all my stuff was mean and even though he has since apologised a thousand times, he can go get stuck on his own knot for all I care.
“Anne!” Pete bellows as my battered and bruised mother is taking her time going to him up the stairs to their bedroom.
His tone is different. He’s excited about something. Not that I’ll be told what’s so thrilling as to change his mood from the dour pig he is to someone who cracks a smile.
