Page 129 of Knot Your Problem

Before I could do more than tense up, the sky lit up red as Damon’s signal flare exploded into the night to our right. Winston’s head swiveled toward it, and he started yelling into his radio. He kept clicking it on and off as if he wasn’t getting a response.

I shot off my green flare into the sky, signaling the Honey Badgers to find safety and everyone else that it was go time.

Winston looked up at my second flare, a panicked look on his face. Then he frantically looked right and left, up and down the street in front of him, but the darkness hid us. My heart dropped as he put the radio on the table and pulled a device out of his pocket, flipping open the lid.

“Sam, he has a detonator,” Dio hissed at me in an urgent warning.

But I was already moving as a flash bomb went off inside the pub and chaos erupted.

My beast was now in charge.

forty-three

Myplanshadchangedin an instant the second I’d intercepted one of my friends on the street and she’d collapsed into my arms. She’d whispered to me frantically that the alphas in the pub had taken our friend Olivia so her husband, the Mayor, would do what they wanted.

I’d instantly seen red. Pala had taken one look at my face and known I was going after her. He’d gently extracted my friend from my arms, then handed her off to a Honey Badger before he’d stepped up to me without an inch of hesitation.

“I’ll follow anywhere you need to go, my heart,” he’d whispered as he waited for me to take the lead.

I’d thought fast as I rubbed my hip lightly. We were all radio silent so we couldn’t alert anyone, but there was no way I was letting my friend get caught in any crossfire. I’d felt like we had no choice but to go by ourselves. So I’d grabbed Pala’s hand and turned toward the pub. We’d made it to the back corner before Pala put his hand on my shoulder to halt me. He’d given me a hold signal, then swiftly moved around in front of me.

That’s where we were now, standing just meters from trouble when I’d sworn to Sam I wouldn’t get into any. Pala crouched down low and peeked around the corner, then pulled back swiftly. His head tilted when a strange owl hooted a street away and he tensed up immediately. I didn’t know what was happening and was about to tap him on the shoulder when the same owl hoot came faintly from a few streets past the other side of the pub.

Pala made the stay command, narrowing his eyes at me, before disappearing around the corner. I crept to the edge and listened as hard as I could, but I heard nothing. I almost screamed when Pala appeared back around the corner. He grabbed me and put his hand over my mouth instinctively, and I slumped into him. I was used to working alone, which meant anyone popping out on me was usually unfriendly.

I relaxed into him and he let me go, giving me a brief kiss to replace his hand. He then tugged me around the corner. The two unconscious alphas lying by the back door surprised me. I hadn’t even heard their bodies hit the ground.

We both crouched low and ducked into the kitchen. I thanked every goddess in existence when we found it empty. There was a lot more noise, voices and music than we were expecting coming from the main area of the pub. I pulled the pocket knife I’d stolen from the alpha the other day out of my pocket, but Pala silently shook his head at me as he glared at the knife in my hand.

Was it the knife itself he objected to, or that it had belonged to another alpha?Pala opened a pocket on his pants and passed me a wickedly sharp switchblade. Mine looked like it was for opening boxes. This was a weapon of beauty, made by an artisan.

I tested it quickly, making sure I knew how to open it, before I palmed it and nodded to him with determination. If my friend was here unwillingly, chances were high she was restrained. I only hoped it was with rope or zip ties and not handcuffs.

Pala looked from the door to me quickly, as if he was reconsidering the sanity of what we were doing. I understood his hesitation. I really did. We were completely off script here. We were both used to working alone and making decisions on the fly based on what we came across, but we were part of a pack now and going off half-cocked on our own felt wrong.

I hesitated too. A part of me was telling me this was crazy and we should backtrack and try to find the others. Dio was somewhere nearby, I knew that, but what would happen if we ran in circles trying to find him and she didn’t have that much time?

A sudden blast of reassurance came down the bond from Sam, and I relaxed. He felt nearby, closer than he had been before. I was so grateful to him, to all of them at that moment. Realizing I was no longer alone in this, that I didn’t need to ask for help, they were just there, made my heart feel so full. I grabbed Pala’s hand and sent a wave of the intense emotion I was feeling back towards Sam.

I jerked my head toward the swinging door through to the main pub area and Pala relented, nodding at me and giving me a slow signal. I might be impulsive, but I wasn’t usually reckless. This required stealth, and I respected that. We needed to know what we were up against.

Pala grabbed my hand and dragged me up, then tucked me into his side like we were out on a date. He opened the door, then slipped through with casual confidence, as if we belonged there. Before I could do more than blink, he’d surveyed the room, angled us around, and dropped us down behind a booth.

He gave me the eyes up signal, and I popped my head over the booth quickly. Shit. Olivia was right behind us, tied to the rafters. At least it was rope.Yet there was no way we could get her down with no one noticing. We needed a distraction.

I looked toward Pala as a red glow suddenly washed over his face. His gaze shifted up and over my shoulder. I swiveled and saw a red flare illuminating a modern skylight in the old tin roof.

This was bad. A red flare meant trouble. Something had gone wrong in the North and we were out of time. I could hear someone yelling over the voices and music inside the pub, “Team one status report…, team two status report…, can anyone report?”

We both popped our heads over to see what was happening and a green flare lit up the front window. Shit. That was the go signal and no-one knew we were in here. I needed to let them know and give them an advantage.

I pulled a cylinder from my pocket and Pala’s eyes widened before a flare of heat filled his eyes. I got the impression if we weren’t in the middle of a hostage crisis, he would have kissed me, or maybe thrown me into the booth and fucked me. The look in his eyes made me hot and achy. There was something dark beneath those calm waters and it called to me.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Being so newly mated, everything about these guys turned me on something fierce.So not the time, Lexie.

Pala crouched down, covered his ears, and nodded at me. I loved that he trusted me to do this. I yanked the pin and launched the flashbang into the middle of the room, aiming for maximum chaos. Then covered my ears and ducked back down next to Pala. He leaned over me as I heard muffled bangs and bright flashes burst against my closed eyelids. Even back here.

There was screaming and confusion, then a vicious roar ripped through the air as the front picture window exploded inwards. Everyone around us froze and dropped to their knees as I felt a wave of raw need wrap around me like a sexy, silken caress. I felt cocooned in protection, love and desire as rage washed past and around me, never touching me. Not even ruffling my hair.

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