Page 23 of Knot Forever

You want another one, don’t you?

The memories hit me in a surge, and the pathetic whine crawls from my strangled throat.

“Nova?”

There are hands, gentle hands, touching my face, lifting my chin, but all I can see is Julian, his face twisted in delight as he twists his fingers, pushing my legs apart until they burn against leather straps.

So manyeyes.

“No!”

I throw myself backward and I’m falling. Instead of hitting the hard floor, strong arms scoop me up, holding me against a warm chest.

“Enough.” The bark makes me twitch, and I twist until my body is pinned firmly enough that I can’t move.

“Nova. Look at me.”

My fingers curl into soft material, and I take deep gulps of air as my head starts to clear and humiliation begins to set in.

Oh, God.Fuck.

Instead of facing them, I bury my face into Seth’s shirt, breathing in his scent and giving myself a moment to remember that I’m notthereanymore. His hands shift, the iron bands becoming softer as he runs his hands down my back in long, soothing strokes.

Seth stands, and I feel the ground moving beneath us as he carries me out of the kitchen, his footsteps stopping before a door swings open. As he settles us into some kind of couch, I groan into his chest.

“Stop that,” he says quietly.

“I can’t,” I grumble into his shirt. “I just had a meltdown in front of all of you. I can never look at any of you again. Just staying here forever.”

His hand continues stroking my back. “That wasn’t a meltdown, Nova. That was a memory.”

My whole body locks up against him, but Seth doesn’t say anything else, his hands moving over me until I soften again. My ear presses against his chest, and it takes me a moment to pick up the vibration against my skin.

I’ve never heard an alpha purr before. It’s slow, steady, insanely comforting. Lifting my hand, I place it against his chest, the reverberation gentle against my fingers.

When I’m soft and pliant against him, curled up like a cat on his lap, Seth pushes my hair back and away from my face. He ducks down, green eyes boring into mine.

“Tell me.”

His tone isn’t forceful, but my mouth opens anyway, the words falling out.

“I thought… everything was fine at first.”

The words continue to spill out. My story soaks into the space around us, filling the room with my memories as I tell him how I met Adam Williams in a coffee shop downtown, where he bought my coffee, followed me outside and asked for my name. How the gifts started arriving at my house even though I hadn’t told him where I lived, pretty trinkets and candles and soft toys that sent me googly eyed and had me doodling our names in a notebook.

“He wanted you,” Seth murmurs grimly, his green eyes dark.

I nod self-consciously. “I’d had a few packs that showed interest before that, but they all disappeared. Soon he was everywhere I went, him and his pack.”

Seth furrows his brow. “His second – Julian.”

My hand begins to shake where it’s tangled in his shirt, and Asher wraps his fingers over mine, holding me steady. “You don’t have to—,”

“I do,” I interrupt. “I want you to know.”

I wantedeveryoneto know, at first. After I left them, I told as many people as I could, starting with my mother. But everyone looked at me the same way, like what I was telling them couldn’t possibly be true.

“They’re the golden pack,” I whisper. “The pack every alpha wants to be part of, every omega wants to join. They’ve built themselves up into something to aspire to, and nobody wanted to listen to an omega with a grudge. They told everyone I needed help, that they were trying to help me, and everyone believedthem. Not me.”

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