Page 32 of Knot Forever

Except… now that I think about it, only Marcus said no. Asher didn’t actually agree.

Blind panic threatens to overwhelm me, and a tiny, pathetic sound slips out. Asher breaks Adam’s gaze, turning to me and staring at my face.

I can’t read his expression, but his shoulders tighten as he turns around.

“I don’t play little games, Williams.” He sounds bored. “I saw something I wanted, and I took it. This isn’t a negotiation. Go and slink back into your hole and take this as a lesson not to play with politics you don’t understand.”

Adam growls, the sound low and furious. “Bullshit. You bought her because we wanted her. Name your price, King.”

Asher crosses his arms. “You have nothing I want. You’re a barely established pack with a little bit of money in your pocket, and it’s made you cocky, Williams. Accosting us in a parking lot? Should we whip out our dicks and measure them next?”

Julian snarls, but Adam holds him back as he tries to lunge for Asher. “We can take you in a fight, King.”

“No, you could not.” Asher barely blinks as he turns his back on them. His eyes are dark on mine as he gestures towards the car.

“After you.”

“This isn’t over,” Adam calls out as I shuffle towards the car. “Every day you make us wait is another day to make plans, Nova. Such lovely plans.”

Asher’s hand lands on my back as he nudges me. “In. Now.”

His fingers close over my shaking hand as I try to get the door open. When I’m in, he slams the door and turns back to them. I can’t hear through the glass, but Adam takes a step backward, dragging Julian with him before they turn and walk away.

Cool air swoops into the car as Asher slides inside, his face grim. I keep my hands on my lap, hiding the frantic twisting of my fingers in my blanket. “Asher—,”

“Not now.” I shrink back at the tone of his voice, and he turns to look at me with a sigh.

“I am furious with you,” he admits. His hands clench on the steering wheel, his knuckles whitening. “I told you to get in the car, and you disobeyed me.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you—”

“I can take care of myself,” he snaps. “But having you there made things ten times harder, Nova. If they had more men with them, I may not have been able to hold them off. God fucking damn it, I cannotconcentratewhen you willingly put yourself into danger!”

I stare at him. “I know what they are, Asher,” I remind him, my voice shaking. “Better than even you do. And there is no way in hell that I could just sit here and watch you face off with two of them.”

He pinches the skin between his eyebrows. “You know what I’m most angry about?”

I shake my head as he turns away, staring out of the window. “You thought I was going to exchange you.”

My stomach hollows out. “I—,”

“I saw it in your eyes,” he murmurs. “You don’t trust us yet, Nova. You will. But I will not stand for you putting yourself in harm’s way. None of us will.”

He starts the car, and I look down as he drives us back to the house.

The tension builds as I think over his words.

I do trust him. I trusted him to keep me safe from them. Otherwise, I would have run from them the second I saw them coming towards us.

I hesitated when they mentioned the exchange, but all Asher had to do was look at me for me to realize that it was an empty fear.

And maybe he does have a point. I made him split his attention between me and them, and if things had gone differently, that could have made things worse.

The guilt starts to grow in my chest as we get closer to the house, and my throat is thick with tears by the time Asher stops the car. He turns to look at me, but I dart my face away, staring out of the window.

“Nova.” His hand comes into my eyesight, nudging my chin until I turn to him. The tears escape down my face, and he closes his eyes. “Little one. I’m sorry I was angry.”

I shake my head. “I mean, you were, but I get it, Asher. I just… I didn’t want to leave you on your own.”

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