Page 37 of Torment Me Knot
Lex's eyebrows rise. “Fine. I’ll take a stab at their sizes.”
“Already sized our alpha up, have you?” I add rice to the soup. The small grains scatter across the surface, then sink.
Lex clears his throat. “Then we’ll work on a care rotation. Figure out who's doing what. When. How close.”
Kev nods. “Sera takes primary contact for now. She's the one they'll tolerate. The rest of us provide support from a distance.”
“I'll handle medical.” The words come out steady, even though my chest aches with the absurdity of it. Handling medical for mates who won't let me touch them.
Lex leans against the counter. “And when they need something only male alphas can provide? Heats. Ruts. The biological reality of what they are?”
“We cross that bridge when we get there.” Kev's voice is firm. “Right now, we focus on survival. Theirs. Ours. Getting through tonight. Then tomorrow. Then the next day.”
Sera's voice stops in the other room. A moment later, she reappears in the doorway. She looks tired. Bone-tired, the way I feel after a sixteen-hour shift at the hospital.
“Done,” she says. “He’s not happy, but they'll manage. And I don’t care. My omegas take priority over everything.”
“We all agree about that.” Kev pushes off from the counter. “I’m going to get clothes for the omegas. And for you too, Sera.”
Sera blinks. “You don't have to—”
“You're here now. That means you're ours to take care of too,” Kev's voice softens.
She stares at him. For just a second, her composure cracks, something raw underneath. Surprise. Confusion.She's not used to being taken care of.
Kev grabs his keys from the hook by the door and hesitates at the threshold, looking back at us. “We'll figure this out. All of it.”
The front door clicks shut behind him. The scent of chicken soup fills the room, and for a moment it almost feels normal. Like any other night in this kitchen, except nothing is normal anymore. Nothing will ever be normal again.
“He's always like that,” Lex says. “In case you were wondering. The fixer. It's annoying as hell, honestly, but you get used to it.”
Sera's lips twitch. Not quite a smile, but close. “I'm not used to being on the receiving end.”
“Neither was I.” Lex shrugs. “First few months after I joined this pack, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.” He sips his coffee. “Still waiting.”
The soup is ready. I turn off the heat and reach for the bowls in the cabinet above the stove.
“I never thought this would happen.” Sera's voice is quiet. I almost don't catch it.
I turn, and her gaze drifts over us before dropping away. “Omegas. Mates. None of that happens for female alphas.” She pauses, recalibrates. “No one really wants us. Male alphas see rivals. Omegas see confusion. I made peace with being alone years ago.”
Her voice has gone flat. Rehearsed. She's told herself this story so many times the edges have worn smooth, but the hurt underneath hasn't faded.
No one wants a female Alpha.
Something aches behind my ribs. “That's not true.” The words are out before I've thought them through.
Sera looks up, startled. Wary.
“It's strange,” I admit. “You being here. I've never met a female alpha before. My brain keeps trying to categorize you and failing.” I hold her gaze. “But you're welcome here. More than welcome. You'reneeded.”
She stares at me. Doesn't say anything. Her throat works as she swallows.
“You can touch them when we can't. You know things about institutional trauma we haven’t seen. You rescued Espie. You stayed when you could have walked away.” I set down the ladle. “You’re an asset. And welcome.”
Something in her face cracks open, just for a second. Underneath the armor, I catch a glimpse of exhaustion so deep it looks like it goes all the way down. And loneliness. Years of loneliness she's learned to carry quietly.
“I don't know how to do this,” she says quietly.
