Page 36 of Believe it or Knot

“No,” Gray says firmly. “You do not. If you’ll be so kind as to take this from me, you’ll see that you no longer have any claim on Sorrel Forbes.”

Stephen eyes the envelope and then spits out, “Fuck you!”

That seems to be the magic word because the rest of his pack swarms forward. Two men to each one of my alphas, leaving me just standing there for a moment, before I leap into action, heading for Gray, not that I don’t think he can handle two men at once, but out of all of us, he’s the least familiar with hand to hand combat.

His gray eyes flash to me for a second, and if he was any other alpha, and I was any other omega, this is the point where he would order me to step away, to stand down, to keep myself safe.

But I’m Liam fucking Cordova and I’ve been studying different martial arts and street fighting since I was a kid. I can hold my own and fuck anyone who says differently. Gray gives me a small, knowing smile and focuses back on his fight.

I leave Stephen to Gray, prime against prime, and instead go for the second alpha. “Hey,” I say as I slap him with an open palm. “Let’s even things out a bit, shall we?”

He sneers, lip pulling back in a snarl that reveals his teeth. “You’re an omega.”

I slap him again. “Doesn’t mean I can’t kick your fucking ass.”

“I’m not fighting an-” A third slap has him cutting off and lunging for me, just like I wanted. I sidestep his lunge, letting him move right past me, separating him from Gray and Stephen. My fist flies before he has a chance to fully catch his feet, punching him in the kidneys twice, hard and fast. He groans and spins to face me. “Gonna rip your head off, omega.”

I arch my brows and shrug. “You can certainly try. Don’t think you’ll succeed, though.”

Another snarl, another lunge, another shot to his sensitive internal organs.

“Stop playing with him, mi amor,” Rafe calls, before reminding me. “We have somewhere to be.”

Right, Sorrel. We’re supposed to pick her up from the restaurant. And I don’t want to be late.

Time to get serious.

I twist my head until my neck cracks, rolling out my shoulders, and settling myself for a proper fight… or as much of a fight as this dude who clearly depends on his size as an intimidation factor is going to be. Which, sadly, isn’t much.

I’m momentarily distracted from my preparation as Gage laughs, fucking laughs with his head thrown back like he’s enjoying this. It’s beautiful, his smile, the sound of his laughter in the middle of a fight. I watch entranced as he spits a wad of blood and then hits the guy he was facing off with hard in the temple.

He drops to the ground, unconscious, and Gage spins, still grinning like a loon, looking for another fight.

It’s at this point that I realize Sorrel’s alpha is unhinged. More than a little.

He just does a superb job hiding it behind a quiet, growly exterior.

Or maybe he’s only unhinged when it comes to Sorrel and the people who hurt her. I can’t even blame him for that. I feel a little feral about her myself.

Which must be why I laugh too as my fist connects with the guy I’m squaring off with’s cheek. It just bubbles up, even as pain radiates up from my knuckles and blood splatters my skin. He blinks at me, confused that an omega can hit him so fucking hard, and I take advantage and hit him again. And again. “Stay the fuck away from my beta,” I growl at him with each hit.

He takes a sloppy swing at me, but I dodge it easily, ducking under his arm and driving a fist into his stomach. He doubles over and I meet him with a knee to his already bleeding nose. Down he goes, hitting the ground with a grunt.

I have a half-second to celebrate before pain explodes on the side of my head, making my ears ring. The sound of my alphas roaring just barely filters to me through the throbbing in my head. Oh, they are pissed. Sexy.

I spin and find a bulky alpha sneering at me. I lift my fists, readying to fight, when he barks out, “stop.” My muscles lock up as I blink at him. He smirks. “Good omega. No more fighting. You’re going to come with me.”

My foot lifts of its own accord as he jerks his head at me.

This is horrifying, and probably the worst part about being an omega. The inability to fight alpha commands.

Rafe uses his alpha bark on me, usually to keep me safe, to command me to stay away from a fight or, like he did earlier, to protect me from other alpha commands. Gray almost never does. But it never gets any easier feeling the slither of someone else’s will slip over your body, hold you immobile.

Being bonded, though, helps. The command Rafe gave me in the car helps. So I grit my teeth and force my foot back to the ground, my fists back up, ready to fight. “Fuck you,” I snarl.

He only has about three seconds to be surprised that I resisted him before he’s on the ground, curled on his side to protect his internal organs as Gage kicks him repeatedly. “Motherfucker! How dare you use your bark on an omega!” He’s practically roaring now, loud in the ensuing silence. I glance around and find the only people standing are my pack and Gage. The Stillwell pack is all splayed on the ground, bleeding and groaning, or too fucking still.

Fuck. Did we kill some of them? That guy definitely looks dead. No, wait, his chest is moving. Thank god.

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