Page 1 of Knight With Benefits

Prelude

Gwyn

The pain was there, at first.

The burning, desperate, life-altering pain, ripping my chest wide open.

The kind of pain that made you want to let go of everything, because nothing could be worth living through it.

But then the relief swooped in and extinguished the flames. Buffered that hole that had been ripped in my heart. The hole I realized was much smaller than it had seemed, once I was able to take a step back and suck in the first breath of freedom I’d had in years. The hole released the infection that had been building for so long.

He was gone.

My alpha, my mate, the man I had come to hate just as much as the bond forced me to need, wasgone.

Tension and worries I’d carried for more than half my life slipped away, and suddenly there was light in the dark.

Hope.

I could finally have the life I’d dreamed about. I could escape the Purists and their increasingly flagrant disregard of life. I could start over and be an example to my boys and prove I was more than just an omega.

But hope was a dangerous thing. It gave others something to take away. Something to use to get their way. With nothing to lose I hadn’t cared what was done to me, but now…

Now I had something to fight for.

Chapter One

Gwyn

“What are you drinking?”

I slammed the tumbler down on the bar top, tapping so David would pour me another. I was on a mission, and there was no time to waste with pointless questions from strangers.

“Pickle juice.”

“What?”

I hadn’t bothered to look up from the scarred woodgrain beneath my glass, but I could imagine the confusion on the hopeful’s face.

“Pickle juice?”

David snorted as he poured a measure of clear liquor into my glass before topping it off with the offending liquid mentioned. He knew how I wanted it, no fancy glasses or ice to water it down.

“She forgot to mention the vodka.”

I raised my head with a brow arched, pursing my lips as David smirked at me. He was good-looking, if you went for the lean, athletic type, but as a beta, he didn’t have the stature that appealed to my instinctive side.

“That part is boring. It won’t scare him off.”

“Oh, and pickle juice will?” David asked with a laugh.

“Yep, because I’m putting the weird right out there, front and center. Don’t think I don’t drink it straight from the jar at home too.”

David shook his head before sauntering off down the bar to grab a beer for another patron, leaving me with Mr. Hopeful. I wasn’t young enough to have alphas approaching me every time I went out, but it had happened enough lately for me to be bored with it. I was pretty sure I was the only omega my age that wasn’t safely claimed and tucked away with their bonded.

At least, not anymore.

I took a swig of the fresh drink before finally turning my head to inspect the alpha next to me. I hadn’t needed his scent to know his dynamic, the sheer presence of him announced it to anyone with the sense to pay attention, but his massive size was still surprising. Seated on the barstool I was about as tall as I’d be on my feet, but his shoulders were still higher than the top of my head.

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