Page 82 of Knot For Keeps

“Yeah, that’s what he wants,” Juniper confirmed.

“So let me get this straight. He’s just kept you hostage, waiting on you to ‘mature’ so you can bond?” Juniper nodded “What’s with all this, then?” I waved my hand around the room.

“He’s obsessed with this idea of the pretty little, docile omega. This room wasn’t my choice at all—far too pink.” She looked around the room with a grimace.“This ishisidea of what an omega wants. I fought him a lot in the beginning, but I quickly learned it wasn’t worth it, he gets angry when I don’t cooperate. But when I behave, I’m fed well, and he treats me like a princess, only I’m not allowed to leave.”

“Oh god,” I muttered, looking around the room again as if a way out would have magically appeared in the last twenty seconds. “We need to get out of here.”

“I’ve tried, trust me the only way out of here is through that heavy, reinforced door. The first year I was here I threw so much at that thing and never even made a dent.”

Pushing my hair away from my face I noticed just how shaky my hands were. I wasn’t cold.Probably the drugs,I surmised. “He—Alec, he’s never forced you… right?” I asked, trying to be tactful, but struggling to get a grip on the right words. Just how badly had this omega suffered? She should have been safe behind the Haven walls, where her biggest concern was who did she fancy chatting to that day and not whether or not she would ever see daylight again.

Juniper shook her head. “No. He’s kissed me a few times, light groping and he sometimes insists on sleeping in the same bed as me—but he always goes on about how our first time will be perfect. He wants it to be when I’m in heat and he would never risk ruining that. He’sobsessedwith the idea of heats. Like it’s the ultimate alpha thing.”

“Oh that’s gross.” I gagged. “Why did he takeme?”

If he had his omega captive in this freak show basement, why did he need me? Gage despised Rouche, that much was obvious, but he had zero clue he had anything to do with Juniper’s disappearance.

“I don’t know, do you have heats? Also how did he find you, you know Kane?”

“Yeah, Kane and his… well, his pack.”

“His pack?!” Juniper asked in a whispered shout. “He formed a pack, with who?!”

“With Gage, Archer and Theo, they’ve been together for a few years, but he’s only just made the decision to officially be a pack member, I think. They’ve been looking for you since you were taken.”

Juniper’s eyes filled with tears and she quickly wiped them away. “I assumed they would have moved on, I don't know how I feel about them still missing me. And you… are you their omega?” Her eyes lit up and she grinned.

“That’s a complicated story. Technically your brother kidnapped me from a Haven a few months ago because they thought I had overheard something that could have stopped them from taking down the man they thought took you. I was just a captive for a while, but we all became close. The pack is amazing—you should know, you grew up with them.

“You sound like you love them.” Juniper smiled softly.

“I do. They’re fantastic people. I haven’t exactly told them how I feel yet. Theydidkidnap me and we’ve never discussed what’s going to happen long term. Plus Kane was pretty convinced that you would be forming a pack with Gage, Theo and Archer. He was trying to keep himself apart from the pack for when you came back. It’s taken him some time to adjust to that.”

Juniper chuckled lightly “Kane is such a martyr—they’re not my pack. Did I have a passing interest in Gage when I was a young girl? Of course I did, you’ve seen those eyes!” She laughed and I nodded, they were pretty stunning eyes. “But now? I couldn’t be less interested, all I want is my freedom, maybe if I’m free I’ll go to a Haven.” She frowned “If I ever get out of here, it’s been so long. You said Kane didn’t even know who took me?”

“They were sure it was an alpha who has been trafficking omegas for a few years now—they assumed that you were one of them because he had expressed interest in you to your parents not long before you were taken.”

“I think I remember who you mean. My parents kept me out of it, but some gangbanger did try to talk to them about me and was quickly shown the door. They honestly never suspected Alec?”

“Not at all, he’s just a beta. I think he only got me because I went outside unaccompanied, otherwise he never would have made it through the security and my alphas. He’s spent the last few years, from what I understand, blaming Gage’s pack for your disappearance, and I’m guessing everyone thought he just missed you terribly. I doubted anyone thought a beta would take an omega, so they never looked into it.”

“That’s what I did—went out alone. I was mad at Kane for being overprotective so I went for a walk alone, to prove I could… well. He was right.”

“He’s going to be so smug, I can see it now,” I chuckled weakly.

“He’s not changed much then, has he?” Juniper’s smile was sad.

“They’ll find us, I’m sure of it. Plus there’s two of us now—and Alec is only a beta, we can overpower him.”

Juniper frowned. “I’m not so sure, he’s strong and he’s usually got drugs on him in some form to make me more… docile. At least that’s how it was in the beginning until I started doing what he wanted. He never feeds me much, he loves the idea of me being smaller than him, like an alpha and omega.” She was tiny, her arms held next to no muscle. My stomach turned when I realised she had been starved regularly over the last few years.

“But… what does he want from me?” I asked, voice croaky.

“I don’t know. Do you need the bathroom? I have one behind that screen, there’s a camera though so he’ll probably be watching.” She shuddered.

“Oh god no,” I blanched. “I’ll hold it.” I didn’t know how long I could do that for, but I wasn’t going to have a pervert watching me take a whizz—that was disgusting.

How many times had he watched Juniper? As terrified as I was, my heart broke for the omega whose privacy had clearly been non-existent for almost half a decade.

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