Page 46 of Knot Your Possession

Ava immediately got up from Wolf’s lap, cradling the still sleeping Angel to her. Lexie and Maia tried to protest until Max grabbed Maia and kissed her hard. “You’re pregnant, Maia. We’re not trying to exclude you, but your priority is the baby. The device has been off for a long time. What if it malfunctions and explodes when we turn it on?”

Maia paled, and Lexie grabbed her by the hand. “We’ve got her. Ava, you lead the way.”

That baby was going to have some fiercely loving aunts.

“Okay, I’m going, but if you all die, I’m going to find you and kill you again,” Maia warned, a fierce glare in her eyes as she looked at her mates. She came across as a soft omega when she was snuggled into her mates, but she had some backbone, that one. And claws. I liked her more for it. Especially with how protective she and Lexie seemed of Ava.

“I’ll come. We need to make sure the other omegas are away from here as well,” Cary said.

“Me too. I’ll help,” Leif said quickly, his eyes locked on Maia.

Ryder nodded at both of them distractedly as they left the room in pursuit of the three girls, who had already disappeared out of sight. None seemed inclined to wait for their self-appointed bodyguards.

A small part of my tension eased. I hadn’t wanted to send Cary away. I knew he felt conflicted about being an omega and wanted to be treated as a pack mate instead. Yet it went against my alpha nature to have an omega in harm’s way. It was something I was going to have to work on. I was just glad for now that wherever Ava went, Cary seemed to follow. It wouldn’t keep him out of trouble, but it would make it easier for me to protect him without him noticing and fighting me on it.

“Good job, River,” Wolf said from behind me. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the device or about getting Ava and Cary out of the room. I looked over my shoulder as Wolf gripped it firmly. His eyes seemed focused again, and I let out a relieved breath. I’d been a little worried about what Hunter running out on him would do to his emotional state.

Hunter, Damon, and Pala came barreling back into the room. Max explained to them what I had done.

“I don’t think we should all be in here when I turn it. Max has a good point. We don’t know what this will do,” I said.

“River and I will stay. Everyone else, wait outside,” Max demanded.

None of them looked happy. Yet, Damon shuffled them out of the room with a worried frown in Max’s direction. They clearly had a lot of respect for Max.

He adjusted his glasses slightly and looked at me. “Ready?”

“No,” I answered, as I turned the key.

twenty

Istoodquietlybehindthe stone wall leading to the great room with the rest of the guys. We’d gone when Max demanded, but none of us had moved far. We couldn’t. Not when people we cared about were in that room taking a risk for us.

Max was a good friend, and I hated him being in there. Yet the thought of River being in danger had a cold sweat running down my spine. Nobody had mated me into this pack. I’d barely even acknowledged the connection. But the bond between us already felt like a physical thing.

I’d always longed for a version of the intense friendship between Max and his mates, yet I’d never really understood the flip side. Until now. Part of my heart was beating inside that room. I could hardly breathe, even though I’d only met River two days ago.What would it be like if they bit me into the pack, and who would it be?

A metallic clicking noise coming from the room had my heart pounding.

“What’s going on?” Wolf called out gruffly from in front of me. He was standing with Damon just barely beyond the entrance. His leg was twitching as if he was trying to hold himself back from running in there. I put my hand on his back. He nodded, but didn’t look back at me. He’d focused his complete attention on the slice of the formal living room we could see from this angle.

“You’re supposed to be somewhere safe,” River answered, sounding frustrated.

“Just tell us what’s happening,” Damon barked lightly from next to Wolf. “This is as far as anyone’s going.”

“There’s a series of hidden lights on the outer edge of the lock design. Each time he turns the medal in a full circle, one lights up. The first one was green, this one just came up red and it keeps coming up red.”

Wolf growled softly. The tension of River being in danger was making him slip back into his feral state. Cary and Ava being out of sight probably wasn’t helping.

“Try speeding it up,” I called out.

“It can’t hurt,” Max said quietly to River.

I didn’t have an alpha’s hearing, but even I heard River let out a tense breath. The clicking noise came more rapidly and Max called out, “It’s working. It’s come up green. Good job, Nick.”

“How many lights?” Sam called out.

“They’re hard to see when they’re not on. From the spacing, I’d guess twelve.”

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