Page 24 of Knot Forever

Even my own mother didn’t believe me, but I shove that hurt down as far as I can, storing it away in a box until I have the strength to face it again.

Seth maneuvers us until I’m straddling his lap, facing him. His hands drop to my thighs, rubbing small circles into the skin beneath his t-shirt.

“Whatever you tell me now,” he tells me roughly, “I will believe, Nova. Tell me all, tell me a little, but I swear to you, I believeyou.”

My heart turns over in my chest at his words, at the way he watches me so closely. To have this alpha’s attention solely focused on me… it’s nothing like the Williams pack.

And it’s that which makes me tell him the final part of my time with them.

My fingers tangle in his shirt again, rubbing the material between my fingers as I speak.

“Adam asked me to stay with them, and I went, happily. And it was fine at first. A few of the pack were a little too handsy, but Adam and Julian were sweet, and they kept everyone in line.”

And then everything… changed.

“One day,” I say hoarsely, “I came downstairs and someone had eaten the food I’d set out for breakfast. Julian was soangry. He told me if I couldn’t do what I was supposed to do, then the only thing I was good for…”

I close my eyes, my breath seesawing inside my chest. “The only thing I was good for was taking a knot.”

Seth’s hand freezes on my thigh, his fingers sinking in. “He what?”

I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want to relive that time, those horrible two weeks before I ran from them in bare feet and dirty clothes.

Seth’s hands move from my arms, gathering up my hair and pulling it forwards until we’re hidden behind a dark curtain. “Tell me,” he murmurs. “Trust me, sweetheart, and I’ll make them pay.”

Chapter thirteen – Seth

As I take in the fear coloring Nova’s face in a dark flush, the lines across her forehead as she relives her trauma, one thing becomes clear in my mind.

Whatever distant revenge Asher has planned isn’t enough.

I want violence.

I want to rip Adam William’s spleen from his body, watch him choke on his own blood, see the fear filling his eyes as he gets up close and personal with the karma he deserves for making the omega in my arms so full of pain.

And as for his second… he’ll get his, too. Slower. More.

Violent men deserve violent ends, and I’m just the bastard to give it to them.

Cupping her cheek, I smooth my thumb over the soft skin, a silent ask for her to continue.

Nova shifts, but I stay exactly where I am, my eyes focused on her. “What happened? When he said that to you?”

I’m not going anywhere.

She still drops her eyes, her gaze somewhere far away as she continues.

“He had this bench. He told me I needed to be punished.”

“Punished.” My voice cuts like ice, but my hands continue to smooth up and down her arms as I try my damn hardest to reign in my temper. “Tell me what they did to you, sweetheart.”

“He…,” her voice starts to shake. “He tied me down, and he just… left me.”

My whole body goes cold. “He left you?”

Nova nods, her midnight hair shading her face from me as she looks down, until I push it back. “The first time, it was for a day. They just… carried on around me, like I wasn’t crying, asking them to let me go, to let me go to the bathroom.”

I’ll take their fingernails first. Pry them up, one by one.

---