Page 17 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

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FromwhereIwas now seated on a soft velvety loveseat filled with pillows I spotted one in a royal blue color. I snatched it up and hugged it to my chest needing to hold onto something as I waited for their reactions. Nixon smiled and gave a little snort as if I’d done something cute, but I couldn’t evaluate that right now. I was more concerned about what everyone else thought.

The fourth Alpha, I couldn’t remember his name, tapped Spencer’s shoulder, then signed with his hands. While I didn’t know what he was saying, I’d seen others use this sort of communication before. Did that mean he was deaf? Wait no one had been signing to him, ah maybe he could possibly read lips.

“Her father,” Spencer answered, his gaze flicking to me. “Oscar is asking who hurt you. That bastard beat her on top of locking her away for the past two years, then tried to sell her. I’ll warn you though, Cambrie’s no wilting flower she’s braver than any of us. That woman jumped out of a car on the highway to get away. Not sure I would have the balls to do that.”

“What?” Marius bit out as he shot to his feet.

Seeing the anger flash through him I curled up behind the pillow and tried to sink into the couch. Marius noticed and instantly sagged in defeat. Spencer reached out and squeezed his hand reassuringly nudging him to do something. Nodding Marius started to approach me but stopped a few feet away and sat on the floor looking up at me.

“Cambrie, I’m sorry,” Marius said, then paused as if conflicted about what to say next. “Not many people know this…I once had a sister, her name was Kimberly. She and I were so close, born only eighteen months apart, we were inseparable. When her designation revealed itself we assumed she would be a Beta, but turns out she was an Omega. While my family was well off and moved in the upper class circles we had to follow the same rules as everyone else. She was sent away to a government facility.”

The pain I heard before in his voice was back and so thick it almost made it hard for him to speak. I sat up a little straighter, watching as his scent got stronger, more overpowering, as he struggled to continue.

“They failed my sister, I failed her, everyone failed Kimberly” he snarled, lifting his eyes to meet mine. “They were transporting her to a new secure location when they were attacked and she was stolen never to be seen or heard from no matter how hard we looked. Then two years later after we’d done everything we could, even hiring a private investigator to find her. Then she was discovered, beaten, raped, and dead on the banks of the Wynboro Canal. While I’ve always wanted to be a politician, one of the driving forces of that is to ensure nothing like what happened to my sister happens to anyone again.”

A single tear rolled down his cheek that he brushed away angrily, it was almost as if I could see the horrors of that day replayed in his mind.

“When I saw you standing there covered in bruises, scared, clearly malnourished, and your feet all bandaged, it brought me back to seeing my sister’s lifeless body.” Taking a few long deep, controlled breaths, I could feel his dominance shrinking. “A flaw that I have is when my emotions get the better of me, which only happens when it comes to my sister or the sight of abuse, I lose control over my Alpha nature. I’m incredibly aware that I’m far more dominant than many other Alphas, I know it can be too much for some people, especially Omegas.”

Marius scooted closer and slowly placed a hand on my knee that peeked out from the pillow. Hearing his story and seeing how he reacted telling it, I came to the decision to give him a chance, a small one.

“Cambrie, you have no reason to believe me or any of us in this room, but please hear me when I tell you this. There will never be a second, a blip in time, that I would ever dream of letting myself, any member of my pack, or the government hurt you. If you will let us, I’d like to consider you now under our protection.”

Having no idea what to say to everything I heard, the only thing I could think of was to nod my head. My heart wanted to believe that these were good men, that I didn’t just walk myself into a new hell. On the other hand, my brain wasn’t nearly as easily convinced, time would tell if I’d made the right choice — I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

Marius shifted so his back was leaning on the edge of the loveseat in front of where I sat as if to guard me. His powerful scent coiled around me once more but with the combination of Rafael’s it was comforting.

“Spencer,” Rafael spoke, his tone sharp. “Why didn’t you warn Marius about Cambrie? None of this would have needed to happen if he’d been made aware of the real situation.”

The Beta in question sat up straight and met Rafael’s challenge head on. “I appreciate you are an expert in the human mind and behavior, but you are not an expert in Marius's behavior. He is my partner, a man I love deeply, that I know inside and out. If he knew all about Cambrie when I asked him to come home it would have been much worse for her.” Spencer pointed at his partner calmly sitting before me with a raised brow. “He would have driven straight to the shelter to address the matter himself. That would have caused far too much of a stir. If you thought her reaction to him here in our home was bad? I can promise you the state she was in back when I was supposed to call him, it would have been a disaster. Her being with us isn’t going to escape notice, but I was damn well going to do all I could for her safety.”

Part of me wanted to run to Spencer to tell him not to argue with an Alpha, to just admit he was wrong and maybe they wouldn’t punish him. Rule number one is never anger someone stronger or more dominant than you. It will only end in pain. I’d learned that my whole life experiencing and seeing it first hand. I swallowed trying to combat my dry throat knowing I needed to defend Spencer. I fisted Rafael’s shirt and tugged once.

He looked down at me questioningly. “What is it Little One?”

“Please don’t be mad at Spencer,” I pleaded, my voice a little raspy so I tried again pushing to be stronger. Having spoken more now than I had in two years, my voice was getting rough. “I know he didn’t do as you instructed him and it’s your right as an Alpha to punish him, but don’t do it. He did what he did because of me, I should be the one in trouble, not him. Please don’t hurt him because he was looking out for me.”

The room went silent, no one moved but to breathe, all eyes fixated on me. Everything in me wanted to crumble under their weight but Spencer was kind and he had stood up for me more than once. I could do the same for him.

“Cambrie, you lovely dove.” Spencer sighed as he walked over to us and motioned for Rafael to get up. To my shock the Alpha did as asked but stood nearby arms crossed watching the situation.

“Now listen to me, look me in the eyes as I say this alright?” He paused waiting for me to do just that, when I did, he continued.

“I’m not in trouble, Rafael, would neverever hurt me or anyone else no matter how upset he got. Not only because Marius and Nixon would never allow it, but because that’s not how you treat people. Rafael and I might not see eye to eye on how this should have been handled, and that’s okay, it happens all the time.” Spencer glanced over at the looming Alpha and pretended to whisper hiding behind his hand. “If we’re being honest, he’s not a good gauge to go off right now on how to behave properly. His Alpha instincts are in overdrive right now when it comes to you.”

My brows scrunched up at this. “What do you mean? Why do I have anything to do with how he’s behaving? You’re the one who keeps upsetting him.” Everyone in the room laughed, making it clear I’d missed something.

“Clara mentioned you didn’t graduate high school yet. How close were you to graduating?” Spencer asked, his tone careful as if he didn’t want to offend me.

“Two years ago I was working toward getting my GED, but then my designation appeared. Before that Father pulled me out of school when I was ten, I think,” I answered trying to remember back that far. “It was the same time we moved out of our old neighborhood, social services were called on him by the school. He was too drunk to remember not to hit me where people could see.”

The atmosphere in the room went cold and growls erupted from all angles. Flinching I hid behind the pillow as Spencer reached out to stroke my hair. “Ignore them, it’s a side effect of them being Alphas in the presence of an Omega that has been mistreated.”

Peeking out from the pillow I noticed no one had moved even though their expressions were unhappy ones. “Does every Alpha react that way to an Omega?”

“Ah…” Spencer started, but stopped. “I believe that is a question that an Alpha should answer for themselves.”

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