Page 9 of Knot As It Seems

“Your sister, I presume?”

He nods. “They probably thought having another woman here might help my omega stay calm.”

“Still not an omega!” Moon calls from the stairs inside, where all the guys are waiting. Of course I had to fill them in on what was going on. They immediately jumped right to tearing walls apart like I suggested, but we were able to placate them. Temporarily. I took advantage of the waiting time to run and get some supplies from the car so I can administer some care to the omega if need be.

I give Anderson and his friends a few minutes before I get too impatient to wait any longer, striding towards them, wanting to remain civil because they’re doing us a huge favor. On the other hand, I’m desperate to start looking for the woman.

They introduce themselves as Arbor, Hawthorne, and Dev, the woman is Aster, and that’s about all the pleasantries my pack gives them before they show their cards. Now that I’ve expressed an interest in finding what I know to be a true omega, my pack is second guessing their initial assessments based on Moon’s bizarre prejudice and want to see her for themselves so they can start putting pieces together and figure out where we go from here.

As promised, Anderson’s guys do in fact shift into tiny-ass bees, and it’s weird as hell, but when they are able to flythrough the halls of the house without issue, I know we’ll get it figured out.

The pack is spread out around the house, and after about ten minutes of waiting in silence, Calloway calls out that they found her, and we all convene in a random hallway upstairs, between a guest bathroom and a linen closet. Looking at where the walls end in those rooms, it’s somewhat obvious there’s a hidden room between them, and the guys waste no time in tearing at the drywall with whatever tools they’ve managed to scrounge up in the house.

Calloway has a meat tenderizer, Edric, true to fashion, is kicking at the wall with his steel-toed boots, and Clement has a small axe. The rest of us are waiting a few feet back because there’s only so much room for alphas to shoulder side by side in the small space.

They’re through in seconds, then we’re all pulling the sheetrock and whatever we can get our hands on down, busting through as our alphas take over. There’s still hardly enough room for one of us to squeeze through into the small room, and I can’t even stand up in it when the guys let me get in first to assess her.

What I see in that room breaks my cold, dead heart. This is the most miserable nest I’ve ever seen in my life. No, this is the most miserable nest anyone has ever seen.

She’s been sleeping on a pile of old blankets with a pillow that is closer to paper than a head cushion. Shaking in the corner, there’s only about two feet of foot room between her bed and the secret entrance to the guest bathroom.

I could approach her with all my alpha dominance and bark at her, force her to get out of here and come withme, but that’s not at all what she needs. She’s so scared of us that she can’t even look at me, and the putrid scent of berries and flowers gone bad is overwhelming in the enclosed space.

“It’s okay, Omega. I’m not going to hurt you. We want to help you.”

She can’t scramble any further back from me since she’s in a corner, but she sure tries, turning her head to the side and refusing to breathe in my scent.

A purr surprises the hell out of me when it escapes my chest, my biology reacting to the omega in dire need of affection and care. I watch in awe as my purr slowly stops her tremors and I somehow convince her to block out every single asshole in the hallway calling out questions and making far more noise than is necessary.

I take a spot in front of the bed and pull my knees up, crossing my ankles as I hang my head and let my purr fill the small cavern of her miserable space. The rotten notes of her scent begin to fade a little, but I still wait for her to make the first move towards me.

Maybe I should have kept an eye on her instead of trying to respect her by staring at the floor.

Eight

I may be an omega, but one thing I’ll never allow myself to be again is docile. I have nothing at all to my name anymore, so if these alphas react negatively to my fury, I still won’t regret throwing that pebble I always kept next to my bed at the giant ginger alpha.

Why the hell are all of them so big?

I don’t even care that this orange eucalyptus guy’s scent actually smells incredible and makes me want to lay back and relax, because that’s just biology. I’m stronger than biology. I’msmarterthan biology.

He glances up at me in shock from my attack while a few of the other idiots in the hall continue to try and tell him what he should do to me, to instruct him how he should react to my small act of violence. They go so far as explaining that I need to be responding to their generosity, but they’re surprisingly easy to tune out. They all sound like white noise I don’t need.

“That wasn’t very nice, was it?” His beard and mustachemove with his lips, and maybe I was looking too hard at the myriads of freckles covering his face, but I’ve never seen anyone that looks like him and it’s like being at a museum. Fascinating.

“What isn’tnice,” I reply when I snap out of my stupor, “is breaking into my home and ruining all of my food because you were bored.”

The adrenaline running through me for waking up in such a terrifying way has me shaking, and I know I’m not physically able to take this sitting up much longer, so I lie down and cover myself back up, pretending like I can just go back to sleep. I even give him my back because he needs to know I don’t give a shit what they want.

“Omega. Please, let us take you out of here. I know you’re hurting right now, that you need help, and we’re going to do whatever we can. Ignore what those assholes are saying out there and just focus on me. I’ll take you somewhere just you and me—and Anderson—if you want. The rest of them don’t even have to be involved. They’re my pack but fuck them if you’re uncomfortable. Wait, no—hold up, that came out wrong. I wasn’t telling you to— I’m just going to stop talking for the benefit of everyone.”

I roll over and lean far enough to see the pack that are acting like rabid beasts instead of men, trying not to laugh at this alpha’s blunder while trying to convince myself his behavior is in no way endearing. It’s possible the guys in the hall are far less hostile than I’ve been imagining in my head as I take in all their noise, but I don’t want to lend them any sympathy. To quote the strange alpha in front of me, fuck them.

I know their scents far too well and them being so closein proximity is sending me into a head spin. My body is already bracing itself for the pain that comes every time their scents are given to me. What were we talking about? Oh, right; running away together. “I highly doubt your pack would allow you to run away somewhere with me. I have a better idea though; why don’t you guys just leave my house? Yes. You guys run away, without me, and we can all pretend this was a fever dream.”

The nice one from earlier, Anderson, finally shoulders his way in and my body relaxes. He’s different than the others. I was barely alert enough to look at him properly when he fed me, but his clean cedar leaf and lavender scent holds only safety for me. His hair is messy and a bit wild, which pairs perfectly with his crazed eyes. Is he…worried? Aboutme? Huh.

Maybe I’ll keep him. He fed me. He saved me. “I’ll go with him.”