Page 28 of Knot Excused
My brain doesn’t seem to be working properly. All I can think is a steady dreambeat of:
Find Piper
Protect Piper
Bite Piper
I shook my head to try to clear it, but her scent drove me mad, throbbing through each cell in my body, my muscles aching at being apart from her.
My incisors scraped my bottom lip, and I couldn’t stop picturing myself making the claiming bite on Piper, tasting her under my tongue.
“Don’t you remember your school lessons?” Rook asks as Erain rolls down the window and opens his mouth because he can’t get enough of her scent and wants it on his tongue. I know the fucking feeling.
“Enclaves were placed outside the cities in the forest. They’re protected space where Omegas can go to flee feral Alphas. They’re rarely used but always maintained. And if she makes it there before us, it’ll be impossible to get to her tonight.”
CHAPTER16
Erain
Her scent grows stronger the closer we get to the Enclave, until by the time Rook throws the Jeep into park I’m fucking hyperventilating with how fast I’m trying to suck in her scent.
We hit the ground exactly at the moment I hear the clang of the gates.
The gates are high, strong, and sharp, deliberately designed for Omegas to be able to keep out the much stronger Alphas, hard jagged bars lined with silver, which is the only substance able to check us. Even one touch of silver burns our skin.
“Piper!” Teddy cried as our Omega walks away into the darkness of the Enclave. “Wait! It’s us!”
I’m struck with a wave of her scent as she turns around. Up close, it’s even more magnetic and compelling. I can’t stop my mouth from filling with drool. I wipe it off with the back of my hand and more takes its place, my incisors lengthening, drool streaming down my face.
My Alpha senses are sharpened, her scent tearing away the arrogance I had looked at her with before.
I know deep and shamefully and furiously inside me that this is my mate, the Omega who belongs to me.
“I can see it’s you,” Piper said.
But she doesn’t make a move toward the gates.
With my Alpha senses opened up now, I can recognize that there’s a unique timber to her voice, low and throaty, rich and decadent.
I can’t stop swallowing, trying to practice my apology. But the words aren’t coming out.
The way Piper holds her head up as high as a queen, even as I shamefully remember how boorishly we behaved. I’ve always been raised to be a conscious of my position and confident in who I am because of my family. But Piper’s confidence is backed by no family.
She’s out here in this Enclave in the forest and afraid of nothing and nobody.
Rook is at the gate, standing as close as he can without touching the bars. “Piper, we are here to beg for forgiveness,” he said, his voice low and rumbly. “What happened was my fault. I take all the responsibility, and I want to humbly ask you for another chance. Please open the gate for us.”
She flicked her eyes from Rook to Teddy to me, and as I felt her gaze hit me I began to tremble almost uncontrollably, my whole body shaking like a leaf.
“Another chance?” she repeated incredulously. “I saw you three assholes. I know what you did. You can turn right around and go back to your little girlfriends, because I’m not interested.”
“Please,” I croaked, my voice cracking, and she looked over at me like she couldn’t believe I had spoken. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyes were so blue. I had never properly looked at them before, a deep startling blue with a green ring around her pupils.
I stepped closer to the gate, feeling the bars vibrating with the silver, smelling the singe and burn, but unable to stop myself.
“Save your breath, Erain. I won’t believe anything you say.”
