Page 81 of Knot For Keeps

“Hey,” a sweet, soft voice said as a soft hand gently touched my forehead. Taking a deep breath I could recognise the sweet strawberry scent. Omega. “Are you okay? Can you try to sit up?”

I had been drugged. Again. Was there a goddamned sign above me that said ‘super druggable omega’? Because it was starting to feel like it. Prying my eyes open I gathered my senses together enough to realise I was lying on a bed covered in possibly the least comfortable bedding I had ever experienced, and there was an omega crouching by the side of my bed, looking me over with wide, worried green eyes.

The omega was tiny compared to me, with masses of dark waves and skin so pale it was downright sickly. She wore a pink and frilly garment with a matching headband. Her face was so emaciated that it made her eyes look comically large.

“Lavender? That’s your name, isn’t it?” she asked in a soft voice.

“Y-yeah,” I confirmed groggily. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Juniper,” she whispered. “Your leg was pretty badly cut, I bandaged it the best I could with an old shirt, but I didn’t really have anything to clean it with. I’m so sorry.”

Despite my foggy head my right thigh burned with a vengeance. It was crudely wrapped in some pink fabric, but spots of blood were visible.

Juniper. That grabbed my attention, sitting up I ignored the pounding in my skull and the desperate need to vomit. I looked at this dainty omega. Those eyes were so familiar—of course they were.

“Are you Kane’s sister?”

Juniper’s eyes widened “You know Kane?! How?”

“Sort of a long story, but we’re… close. He told me about you. Where are we?”

“Home,” Juniper said simply, giving me a sad smile that didn’t reach her eyes. I took a moment to look around the room, horrified. It was as if a six year old, princess obsessed little girl had vomited all over every surface. Everything was pink, frilly, and covered in bows. Even the uncomfortable bedding I was sleeping on was abysmally girly, and it had little dainty pink ribbons all over it.

“Do you know where exactly we are?” I asked again, looking at our surroundings and noting the tea sets, nail polish, and glitter pens. It was a preteen Barbie princess room.

There were no windows, and the artificial light coming from the single bulb on the ceiling and a pink lamp next to the bed. The whole place smelled… wrong. Chemical.

I turned to the frail omega, horrified. “How long have you been here? You’ve been missing for almost five years.”

Juniper bit her lip, tears filling her eyes. “In that case, I’ve been here for five years.”

Shit.

“Who did this? Everyone thought you were kidnapped by a rogue alpha?” I swung my legs over the bed, but the action made my head spin. Juniper reached out, her hand pressing down on my shoulder to make me stay put.

“Stay sitting down, I think he drugged you with something strong.”

I stared at Juniper, what sort of serial killer lair had we been tossed into? I thought about various long term kidnapping victims. Jaycee Lee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, The Fritzl family. None of those stories had a particularly happy ending—and Juniper had been here foryears.

“Was it an alpha that did this?” I asked again as she hadn’t answered.

“No!” Juniper gasped, sitting on the edge of the bed now that I was sitting up as well. Next to me we were almost on eye level. “It was never an alpha—it was Alec all along. He took me, he’s obsessed with omegas.” She looked around briefly. “There’s cameras in this room, but they don’t record sound so he’ll be watching us.”

I subtly observed the room, noticing the CCTV cameras in every corner of the room, the blinking light a taunt, letting me know I was being watched.

“Holy shit… Alec is the cop in charge of your missing persons investigation, and you’ve been with him the entire time?”

“He’s good at covering things up.” Juniper grimaced.

No one deserved this. My face must have shown my horror, because she bit her lip and nodded her head, like she was trying to clear her tears. If anyone had a right to cry it was her.

“He’s neverreallyhurt me. Just a few bruises and injuries when I misbehaved, he’s convinced he’s really an alpha and once my heat hits we’re meant for one another.”

So he was a nut job, good to know. Something rang untrue in Juniper’s words though, and I had the sinking feeling that she had been hurt—a lot. “Once your heat hits?” I asked. “You’re not that much younger than me, surely you’ve had several heats since you came here?” I had experienced at least twelve heats by this point, so it stood to reason she had experienced a similar amount.

Juniper shook her head, gulping. “I’ve never had one at all. I managed to convince Alec it was simply because I wasn’t mature yet—but I think it’s because of fear.”

I nodded, racking my brain to think of various things I’d learned at the Haven. “Yeah, extreme stress or fear can sometimes stop your heat. Omega instincts won’t allow you to be in such a vulnerable situation, not always though because it didn’t work for me.”

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