Page 72 of Hot Knot Summer
“I’ve avoided Omegas since my ex, Caitlin, cleaned out my bank account and disappeared a year ago.”
I blink in surprise. Of all the things I expected him to say, this wasn’t it.
“I thought she was it for me,” he continues, a muscle in his jaw clenching. “We were together for nearly a year. She was... everything I thought I wanted. Beautiful, sweet, seemed to understand me better than anyone had before.”
“I’m so sorry,” I murmur.
“Looking back, there were signs I should have seen. The way she never answered my calls but always expected me to answer hers. How she only seemed to call when she wanted something. The way she’d push for things, like a shared bank account to save for our future, but always had excuses for why she wasn’t ready to move in together.”
He laughs, a bitter sound I’ve never heard from him before.
“I was so fucking blind. So desperate to believe I’d found my mate that I ignored every red flag. Then, one day, I came home to find her gone. No note, no explanation. Just empty drawers and years of savings gone.”
“Atlas, that’s horrible,” I whisper, genuinelyhorrified.
He shrugs, but I can see the tension in his shoulders.
“For months, I kept expecting her to come back. To explain that it was all a misunderstanding, that she needed the money for some emergency. Even after I knew better, even after I accepted that she’d played me for a fool, part of me still missed her. How fucked up is that?”
I reach out without thinking, placing my hand on his arm. “It’s not fucked up. You loved her. That doesn’t just disappear because she betrayed you.”
He looks down at my hand on his arm, then back up to my face.
“My point is, I understand being wary. Being afraid to trust again. Being afraid to believe what’s right in front of you because you’ve been burned before.”
The sharpness in his blue eyes makes my breath catch.
“But I don’t think you’re cursed, Emma. I think you’re incredible. Brave and brilliant and so goddamn beautiful that any Alpha who turns his back on you is a fucking idiot who deserves to have his knot shrivel up and fall off.”
The fire in his voice startles a surprised laugh out of me.
“I’m serious,” he continues, eyes flashing. “Those pathetic excuses for Alphas who hurt you? Those worthless pieces of shit who made you doubt yourself? I want names. Addresses. I’ll find everylast one of those cocksuckers and make them regret the day they made you feel less than the incredible Omega you are.”
“Wow,” I say, both alarmed and oddly touched by his ferocity. “I’m quite liking this side of you.”
Something shifts between us then, the air suddenly heavy. My heart beats faster, and I know I should step back and put some distance between us before this goes somewhere I’m not ready for.
A sudden movement overhead makes me glance up just as a massive bat swoops low over the balcony. I let out a small shriek, not my finest moment, and instinctively leap forward. My hands land flat against Atlas’s chest, his arms coming around me automatically, holding me steady against him.
For a moment, we’re both frozen, staring at each other. I sense his heart pounding beneath my fingers, matching the frantic thump of my own.
“Just a bat,” he murmurs, but he doesn’t loosen his hold.
I should step back. I know I should. But the heat of him, the solid strength of his body against mine, makes it impossible to move away.
“Why do I always feel safe around you?” The question slips out.
“I’m a protector.” His hand slides up my back, coming to rest at the nape of my neck. “Haven’t you noticed?”
He slips his other hand under my chin, tilting my face up until our eyes meet. Something molten anddangerous flares in those midnight depths, something that makes my pulse race.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I whisper, even as I sway closer to him.
“That so?” he murmurs, his thumb brushing across my lower lip in a touch so feather-light, it might be my imagination.
“We both know better,” I continue, my voice betraying me by dropping to a husky murmur.
“Speak for yourself,” he counters, his face dipping closer to mine. “I don’t have that kind of willpower where you’re concerned.”
