Page 15 of Knot For Keeps

Grabbing the clothes I decided to grab a shower, the adjoining bathroom had a lock, so I felt comfortable stripping my clothes off and getting under the boiling hot spray. Staring at the tile wall I took a moment to let the last few hours sink in. I had been kidnapped from my home by four strangers. Alpha strangers who smelt so damn good, but also exuded an air of danger I couldn’t miss.

As the reality of the unknown, of my situation, sank in I started to tremble, and in the safety and solitude of the shower I finally let a single tear fall. Then another until I was sobbing, one hand clutched over my mouth in an attempt to reduce any noise I made, praying the sound of the shower would drown it out.

When would I get to go home, to my nest? To Fawn and my friends? I was a lone omega here and while I wanted to trust the alphas—I didn’t know them. In fact I thought I had known one of them, Archer, but the realisation that I had been taken for a schmuck and knew nothing about him only made me sob harder. The alpha I had spent many nights talking to was pure fiction.

I could only act so brave for so long.

ChapterEight

Archer

Iknew I wouldn’t like hearing her cry, what I didn’t realise was that it would hurt like my heart was getting ripped out of my chest. My bathroom and Lavender’s shared a wall, so I sat on the cold tiled floor and listened to the deep wracking sobs on the other side.

It was me who caused this and I hated myself for it.

When we had started speaking it had been a dangerous slope, but I just couldn’t find it in me to pull away. Something about her had just enthralled me. She kept making TV show suggestions and insisted on reading me my horoscope several times—she had guessed I was a virgo. Then there was the way her nose scrunched when she spoke about maths, or the little dance of happiness she did when she tried a new sack she liked. Lavender just radiated a warmth I couldn’t resist . In a short period of time Lavender had become the highlight of my week, and I was too weak to give that up.

I should have let her forget me and move on with her life. Despite her insecurities, I knew there were plenty of packs interested in her, she would have moved on eventually. Risking everything, I had thought with the non-logical part of my brain when I logged on week after week. I was good at covering my tracks, but fucking around in the computer systems of one of the largest government organisations in the country for any longer than necessary was just asking for trouble, but I did it anyway so I could keep talking to Lavender.

Gage didn’t bother to knock. He took one long look at me sitting with my back against the tiled wall and strode in, sitting on the edge of the fancy free-standing bath tub.

“She has quite the swing,” he admitted with a rueful smile. “That shit actually hurt Theo’s thick skull.” He looked at me, and in the silence, picked up on the noise. “Is that? Shit. Is she crying?!” he asked, looking at the adjoining wall, face aghast.

“Yep,” I confirmed. “I’m feeling like the biggest ass ever.”

Gage took a deep breath before moving to sit next to me. “You didn’t know talking to her would lead to this. It was a dumb idea, but you had no way of knowing.”

While he was my pack leader, Gage was also my closest friend since childhood. There had been a time when we would tell each other everything, but as the stress and responsibility of our life choices weighed us down, the chasm between us seemed to only grow larger.

“Surely this situation doesn’t sit right with you? Gage, we’ve spent the last three years saving omegas, and now we’ve got one we kidnapped locked in a spare room! This… it just feels wrong in every sense of the word.”

“Of course, it doesn’t, Arch. But she’s safe here, by keeping her out of the way and unable to talk to anyone we’re one step closer to finding Juniper. You know you mean her no harm and I won’t hurt her either. Kane would rather cut off a limb than let any pain or suffering come to that omega. And I think Theo is head over heels for her… She’ll be fine.”

I snorted. “That concussion was pretty much foreplay to Theo.”

“He’s changed so much. Sometimes I swear he’s the exact same kid who stole my shoes in fifth grade, and other times…”

“He’s improving.” A year ago we had been chasing down a lead, things had gone wrong and sadly Theo had been injured. He had been drowned almost to the point of brain damage. Ever since he had moments where he was just not himself. Before he had been the most caring soul I had ever met. He went to school to heal puppies! Then after his accident it was like a switch flipped and a darker side of him slipped through on occasion.

“He is. I can’t lose him, or any of you for that matter.”

“You won’t,” I said, looking at the wall behind us, still able to make out faint sobs. “We put her in the wrong room. You should have put her in the smaller room.”

“Why?”

“She hasn’t got a nest, somewhere she can hunker down. Omegas tend to like smaller spaces—I’ve seen Lav’s nest. It’s all fairy lights and hippy tapestries, with enough pillows to open a goddamn bedding shop.”

“And here she’s got one comforter and two mediocre pillows.”

“Yeah, if she wasn’t going to be going home soon I would say we need to get her more. As it is I doubt she’ll be comfortable for the next day or two, but there’s not much more we can do.”

“Do you think she believes we’re going to let her go?” Gage asked. “Or do you think she’s scared something far worse is going to happen?”

“Maybe. She’s so fucking smart, Gage. Sharp as a tack. I just wish I could have met her in a different way.”

“She sounds pretty great, everything you’ve said about her seems nice. She sounds a lot like Juniper, or at least how I imagine Juniper would be today.”

I snorted. “In some ways, but in other ways they’re chalk and cheese. Lavender loves stuff like zodiac signs, even though she hardly believes it. She started studying astrology after she got away from her crackpot parents, mainly as a form of rebellion. Also Lavender can talk for hours on how to dispose of a body because she’s watched so many true crime documentaries.”

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