Page 34 of Knot Your Karma
“Jesus Christ.” Declan resumes pacing, but now his boots hit the floor like hammers. Both hands rake through his damp hair, leaving it disheveled and standing at odd angles. When he speaks again, Boston bleeds through every syllable. “Are you hurt? What the hell happened? Did you do something?—”
“Thought I was a burglar. Dark night, stranger approaching her house.” I settle against the doorframe. “Smart response for a lone omega.”
“Smart?” Reed’s eyebrows climb toward his hairline. “Adrian, there’s reasonable caution and then there’s what sounds suspiciously like omega Special Forces training. Should I be impressed or concerned?”
I nod slowly. Reed’s always been the sharpest at reading the currents beneath surface behavior.
“What happened after?” Declan stops mid-pace, his whole body angled toward me like I might have answers to questions he’s afraid to ask.
“Karma realized who I was. Apologized fifty times like defending herself was inappropriate.” I move to the bed’s edge, facing both of them while I pull a dry shirt from my duffel. “Picked her lock, went inside, talked over coffee.”
“And?” Reed settles against the desk, fingers drumming an anxious rhythm against the wood.
“She’s been hurt.” The words come out heavier than I intended as I pull the dry shirt over my head. “Recently. By someone she trusted completely.”
Reed leans forward, his natural diplomatic instincts sharpening his focus. “How recently are we talking? Still-bleeding-wounds recent, or scars-that-ache-when-it-rains recent?”
“Recent enough that she lives alone in a house built for a family. Recent enough that she runs a business she loves but can barely afford to keep.” I meet his eyes. “Recent enough that she apologizes for protecting herself.”
Declan stops pacing entirely. His coffee-stained fingers curl around the desk edge until his knuckles go white. “You felt it though. The connection.”
“I felt it.” No point denying what filled the kitchen air between us. “Question is what we do about it, given what she’s survived.”
“What do you mean?” Reed’s fingers still on the desk surface.
“Someone shattered her ability to trust alphas. Her defensive reactions are too practiced, too immediate.” I lean forward, elbows on knees. “And Karma knows something about the compass situation. Something that makes her hands shake when Blake’s name comes up.”
Declan’s breathing goes shallow and controlled, and the cramped room fills with the scent of barely leashed protective fury. “What kind of something?”
“When I mentioned Blake’s name, she went pale. Started asking careful questions about the timeline, about how it disappeared, about Blake specifically.” I pause, watching Declan’s face transform. “Recognition. Anger. Fear.”
Reed goes completely motionless. “You think Karma knows Blake?”
“I think Karma knows something about Blake that she hasn’t told us.” I stand, needing movement as pieces connectin ways that make my chest tight. “We need the real story about how that compass disappeared. Not whatever version Blake fed you.”
Declan resumes pacing, but now his steps eat up the small space like he’s trying to escape his own thoughts. “Blake said someone stole it after he made poor choices?—”
“What if the poor choices involved treating someone badly enough that theft felt like justice?” Reed interrupts. “What if Blake hurt someone so completely that taking something precious seemed fair?”
“How many omegas was Blake seeing before Nova?” I ask, though my gut already knows the answer won’t be simple.
“I don’t know.” Reed’s admission comes out quiet, reluctant. “He’s always been... popular. Said he was searching for his perfect scent match.”
“Reed.” Declan’s voice drops to that dangerous register that means his control is fraying. “Blake doesn’t date. Blake collects. He finds omegas attracted to his alpha energy, strings them along until novelty wears off, then discards them without looking back.”
I straighten from the wall as fury starts building in my chest. “How many do you think he was stringing along simultaneously?”
“I don’t want to know.” But Declan’s voice suggests he’s starting to guess, and he doesn’t like the math.
“Yes, you do. Because if one of those omegas was Karma, if Blake hurt her the way I think he did...” I pull out my phone. “Time to get the truth.”
“He’s still my brother.” The words come out hollow, like Declan’s testing how they sound.
“He’s your brother who potentially destroyed an innocent omega, then manipulated you into cleaning up his mess without explaining what he’d done.” I start dialing. “That’s not family, Declan. That’s exploitation.”
Reed shifts to the desk edge. “Adrian’s right. If Blake hurt Karma, we need to know. Not just for us, but for her.”
Declan stares at the scattered insurance photos for a long moment, then his chin jerks once in agreement.
