Page 86 of Torment Me Knot
“Work stuff that makes your scent spike like that?” Kev's voice is mild, but there's steel underneath.
She doesn't answer. Her jaw does that tightening thing again.
“Sera.” Espie's voice is quiet but firm. “What happened?”
Sera sets down her coffee cup and looks at us. All of us. Her face is composed, but there's weight underneath, weight she's holding carefully in place.
“I don’t want to worry you,” she says.
“But you are worrying us by not telling us,” Lex says.
Sera worries her lips between her teeth before she gives in. “There was a raid last night in another county. Levi thinks its connected to Wallace’s network in Silverpine and Canton City.”
The kitchen goes still. The easy comfort from a moment ago crystallizes into something harder.
“What did they find?” Kev's voice has gone flat.
“There were two omegas. Both in...” She stops and her gaze flicks to Espie and drops back to the table. “They were in the same condition Espie was in. When I found her.”
Espie goes rigid against me. “Are they alive?” Espie asks. Her voice is steady, but she's trembling through our joined hands. “The omegas they found. Did they make it?”
“They're alive. The SWAT team took them to the OHC. That's all I know right now,” Sera says.
“And?” Kev prompts.
“And I need to figure out how all the sites connect to each other.” Sera drifts her hand toward her phone. “I need to get back to work.”
Ezra’s jaw ticks. “Don't shut us out, Sera.”
Sera's gaze burns when she throws her attention on Kev. “I have a job to do and I'm going to do it.” She gathers her phone and stands up. She turns toward the doorway. “Look. I just — I need you all to be safe. That's the whole job. That's all of it.”
She stops. She looks back at Espie and at me. Just for a second. Long enough for me to see her face crumple then firm with a tilt of her chin. There and gone the next. Then she's walking up the stairs and I hear the soft click of her bedroom door.
The kitchen goes quiet in a way it wasn't a minute ago.
I sit there with my hand around my tea and try to put what just happened into some shape I can hold. She walked out on us. On me. The morning after she had her mouth on me. The morning after I said her name out loud in front of everyone in this kitchen and meant it.
Kev crosses his arms and stares at the empty doorway. Lex sets his coffee down carefully. Ezra plows both hands through his hair.
Espie's hand finds mine beneath the table. Her fingers are cold.
Sera's still in the house.
She's just not herewithus, and I have a sick feeling I've asked Espie to trust someone who still doesn't know how to trust herself.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Espie
Aubrey's hand is still wrapped around mine beneath the table, and I don't let go.
Lex's Earl Grey holds steady. Ezra's woodsmoke thickens. Kev's oakwood has gone dry at the edges.
You asked too much.
You pushed her out.
This is what happens when omegas start expecting things from alphas.
