Page 18 of Knot Your Problem

“What about Lexie?” I grated out, feeling panic rising.

What didn’t we know?I felt intensely protective of her and I’d barely spoken to her.

“Are you sure she’s a beta? I saw both of you react to her the moment she spoke, and I was up the back. You fixated on her instantly. You all but abandoned your posts and everyone saw you both growl at your teammate when he showed an interest.”

I tensed. This was going to be bad. I just knew it. The hairs on my arms rose as all my senses went on high alert. Pala was waiting for me to answer, as he watched me carefully. I owed Pala honesty. When the Network gave us two options for our military paths, he’d volunteered to take the darker, lonely path.

“I don’t know. You’re right. We both reacted to her as if she was an omega and we had a scent match, which would make her our true mate. What I felt was more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before. I can only assume it was the same for Sam.” I had known Sam long enough to be confident about his reaction, but I would never presume to speak for him.

“Yet Dave said she’s a beta, and she doesn’t appear to have a scent. Her omega pheromones should have flooded the space with her scent after our alpha pheromones spiked. That’s what the old stories say about scent matches. But it didn’t. I couldn’t detect a thing coming from her. Something’s not adding up. I don’t know what, but I intend to find out.” They weren’t idle words.

Pala was a pro at keeping his reactions contained. He had to be to work undercover. But I noticed his eyes tightened slightly and his jaw subtly tensed. “If she’s an omega, it means she’s been hiding in plain sight for a really long time. She’s also managed to completely suppress her scent, not just mask it or hide it. The Palace is going to want her as soon as they find out. They’ll be desperate to test her.”

He paused, and looked at me earnestly, as if he didn’t want to say what else was on his mind. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. “Dio, this is the endgame. Whoever is controlling the guys at the Palace are the men we’ve all been hunting for too many years to count. Theywillfind out about Lexie as soon as these men report back. The way you and Sam reacted to her just outed her to the Palace. She’s going to be in even more danger than Maia and Ava.”

Pala opened his mouth, and it looked like he was going to say more, but he swallowed hard and stayed silent.

Fuck. I wanted to kill every one of those assholes right now. I could scent chili spiking the air as my wilder scent rose in response to my anger.

Pala’s earthy sage scent had always been quite subtle, which helped him stay unnoticed and blend in. It was currently spiking alongside mine with a hint of pepper creeping through, though.

Interesting. My brain started running wild with possibilities. I watched him closer, but he wasn’t giving anything away right now. He kept himself locked down tight. We’d been apart too long, and he either didn’t trust me currently, or didn’t trust himself. Both options pained me.

I shook out my clenched fists and waited for him to continue.

“On top of all that, Damon just took out Ronan. I get why, I really do. He had Damon’s mate at gunpoint, and everyone knows he’d become unhinged. From what I can tell, though, his dad is a key player in all this. There will be repercussions.”

Fucking, fuckity, fuck.Screaming obscenities out loud would be so much more satisfying right now, but I couldn’t alert anyone to the conversation we were having. We were taking a big enough risk doing this here in the open, but neither of us knew the layout of the farm well enough to take it inside. Plus, I was going to have to get Pala back to the other alphas shortly if we didn’t want to blow his cover.

Pala reached up and ran his hand through his long hair. It had always been a calming gesture for him when we were kids. The familiarity of it gave me a pang of longing. I needed him back in my life.

“I don’t know what the hell Damon did back there. I’ve heard rumors of his dominance, but what he just did, it shouldn’t be possible. Do you think he could force them to not say anything about Lexie?”

I thought about it, but I wasn’t the person to ask. “I only met him an hour ago, so I don’t know what he’s capable of and I get the sense he doesn’t yet either. That bark felt like raw power coming from a place of pure instinct. I don’t know how the hell he controlled it the way he did. It left Sam and I alone, along with all his allies. I felt it slide right over me. I swear I almost heard it whisper as it passed.”

“It felt a hell of a lot different for me. Dropped me to my knees like I no longer had control of my body,” Pala said as a grimace briefly crossed his face.

I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, but Pala remained serious.

“Put all of that together, and it means I need to go back and see what the fallout is from today. I need to figure out if I can do any damage control, especially with Lexie.”

He shook his head in frustration. “Look Dio, I don’t know exactly what caused the Crash, but I have my suspicions that the Palace crew were involved. The only reason I’m with them is because they bugged out quickly when the Crash happened and I delivered a package that day. I knew they’d been planning something big, but they kept information strictly need to know.

“I got the impression the Crash was supposed to happen in the future, though. I don’t think they were prepared for it to happen when or how it did. They seemed panicked when they decamped to the Palace. They grabbed random shit that made no sense. Plus, they didn’t help people on the way. I swear they almost knocked people down who ran out onto the road wanting help as we passed. It was sickening.”

Pala was getting increasingly agitated, gesturing with his hands and his voice was rising, which was unlike him. It made me wonder what was really stirring him up.

“What I know for sure is that they have a secure military communication network that’s outside of the Palace’s servers and the normal military chain of command. It’s how the Palace lab techs and the upper hierarchy of the military communicate. The Palace’s own security is pretty lax, but they have this system locked away somewhere and keep information about it tight. I don’t know where it is, but I need to find it. I think the answers we need are in there.”

Holy fuck.If we could get that intel, it could change everything, but there had to be another way. Pala threw his head back and breathed hard, as if he was trying to calm himself, get his emotions under control. I had to resist the urge to pull him into me again. When he looked back at me, there was determination shining brightly in the dark depths of his eyes.

“Ronan didn’t know how to lead a team, Dio. He was only in charge because of his dad’s influence, which meant I’ve gotten away with a lot so far. But I don’t know who they will send to replace him. We have a really fucking brief window to get this done.”

He glared at me, knowing I was trying to figure out a way to stop him from going back. “Dio, it’s the only way.”

I nodded finally, knowing he was right. He breathed a sigh of relief, but there was also regret in his eyes. “I can’t go into details now. We don’t have time. You need to drag me back in there so we don’t blow my cover. Do you have a stick? I wasn’t able to bring mine with me.”

A stick was our slang for a tiny device containing software developed by the Network that could copy and store information quickly, leaving no trace behind. It was an innocuous name for a powerful piece of tech that was way beyond anything else currently on the market.

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