Page 98 of Knot For A Moment

Closing my eyes, I threw my mind back to the conversation. It hadn’t been a long one. Go figure I would have called him instead of just texting so we could have actual proof.

“Fine,” Craig said. “But it’s going to be less casual this time. Be at—”He’d named the restaurant where we went a couple weeks ago and told me when to be there. We had dinner, went back to his place, and I left. That was it.

“You… said less casual. Which is why we went on those dates.” The concert clearly didn’t count. “I just…”

Panic and confusion combined into nausea. This didn’t make any sense, and it wasn’t going to. I needed to let my instinct to rely on logic go. He was inventing responses from me that I’d never given. But how could he get anything from mysilence?

“I’m sorry, Craig.” The apology burned on my tongue. “I’m sorry you misunderstood what was between us. I’m not sorry for leaving after you disrespected me.” I held out a hand to cut him off before he could protest. “And no, you having arranged a surprise does not make that disrespect better.”

“You fuckingbitch.”

I snapped. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You understand that even if my pack wasn’t in the picture, your behavior would have made things end, right? This is ridiculous. I’ve tried to be gentle, and I’ve tried to be understanding. I haven’t evensaidanything to you since you showed up, uninvited, at my door and you think we’ve had full conversations. I’m done. Leave me the fuck alone.”

Craig growled. “Youagreed, Sloane.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Rage shook me to my core. “When?”

“When Itold you.” He was drawing attention now. Not a lot of people walked around in this neighborhood, but his volume and mine drew the few heads there were. “I told you that if I put energy into this, that you were mine.” He held out his hands wide. “So far I’m the only one holding up my side of the bargain.”

Tears of frustration burned in my eyes. “What are you talking about? You said that. I never agreed to it. The only thing I said was that I would give you money for the concert ticket. I never agreed.”

“You never told me no, Sloane.”

Roman growled, low and deep. A sound that meant death, and right now I wasn’t fucking opposed. “Seriously? I can’t believe I even have to explain this. Not saying ‘no’ is not the same as saying yes. So allow me to correct your absurd assumption.No. I do not want you to ‘give me another chance.’ I don’t want you to put effort in. I don’t want to fuck you. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you ever again. Is that fucking clear enough for you?”

He stared at me in stunned silence.

“Even if you somehow had a claim to me, which youdo not, and someone made me go home with you right this second, why would you want that? Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you? There are tons of other women in the world.” Not that I would wish Craig on them with the power of a thousand suns.

The belt loop wasn’t enough for Roman anymore. He slid his hands around my stomach at the same time Jace took my hand. I got the feeling they both needed to touch me in order to hold themselves back. As it was, they didn’t want me standing here, talking to him.

I didn’t want to be here either.

“If you had owned up to the fact that you were an ass, Craig, we could have moved on and left things between us on good terms. But we were never going to be together. I never viewed you that way, and hopefully,hopefully, you’ll learn something from this, but I doubt it.”

The way he looked at me and then at each of my Alphas gave me chills. Pure, black hatred. He drew himself up to his full height and his face went blank. No emotion, no clue to what he was feeling. It almost seemed like he didn’t care.

It didn’t fool me.

“It’s okay, Sloane. I understand, and I forgive you.” Unlike before, his words were soft and calm and a thousand times more terrifying than the opposite. “You’re a little lost, and that’s fine. Entranced by some dick. You’re not the first Omega it’s happened to.” He shrugged. “I’ll give you time to get it out of your system. But that’s the last chance you get. I let you go the first time. And I put everything on the line for you the second time. You can deny it all you want, but youaremine. Eventually you’ll see that, but I understand if I have to wait. That’s fine. I can be patient. It doesn’t change anything.” His smile made me want to vomit. “You know how to push my buttons, darling. But I forgive you. Later, you’ll need to know that I did.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay. If you want to act like a cartoon villain, whatever. You sound ridiculous. Don’t text me. Don’t call me. Don’t ever contact me again. Got it?”

He smirked. “Got it.”

“Take me home,” I said to my pack.

They didn’t hesitate, sweeping me into the car and pulling away from the curb in seconds. Now that we were away, I melted, folding into Roman’s side and letting him hold me.

“Don’t ever call me darling,” I said.

“Never,” Ash vowed.

In the front, Jace looked over at Gabriel. “Did you record all of that?”

My Alpha met my eyes in the mirror. “Every word.”

At least there was some good news.

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