Page 37 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

My stomach knots. Guilt tries to rear up, but I force it away. Haven means nothing to me. She is nothing more than a means to an end. I grit my teeth and harden my heart, descending the steps until I’m next to the still kissing couple.

Haven pulls back when she senses me, and Jude growls, bending his head to kiss her again. The omega laughs and swats at his chest even as her cheeks go a delicious shade of rosy pink. “Stop it,” she demands when Jude bends to trail his mouth over her cheek nibble on her ear. “Let me say hello to your pack.”

“And goodbye to me,” Ren calls from where she’s pulling a bag out of the back seat of her car. “I’m all for you guys getting freaky up in here. Just wait until I’m gone, please. I don’t need to see my best friend get mauled by a pack of wild animals.”

Jude laughs and Haven ducks her head against his chest, muttering something I can’t make out. She takes a deep breath and pulls herself away from him, turning toward me. “Hi, Tic,” she says shyly. Her lips are pink and plump from Jude and I find myself staring at them, wanting to taste them for myself. So I do. I pinch her chin between my thumb and forefinger and press a gentle kiss to her mouth, slow and soft and sweet. So sweet. Pineapple and chili dance over my tongue when her lips part to tentatively explore my mouth. She shudders and moans. I swallow that shit down, devouring it like I haven’t eaten in days.

But I don’t want to maul her, not yet. So I pull back. Peck her mouth one more time. “Hey, angel.” I smooth the hair back from her face and smile down at her. “Go greet the rest of the pack. I’ll grab your bag.” I urge her up the stairs toward Hale and Creed, both of them looking ravenous. As she approaches,Hale steps forward and Creed steps back. Jude and I watch his retreat, watch as Haven’s face folds into a confused frown that then melts into the mask we’ve seen far too many times. The one she wears around her father and his supporters. Hiding from us.

Hale folds her into his arms, holding her tight against his chest. “Missed you, mouse,” he murmurs into her hair. I’m surprised by his restraint. I’d half expected him to have his cock out and inside her within the first few minutes of her being here. He’s that dedicated to this path. But he just curls his big body around hers protectively, pressing a kiss to the side of her head as she grips the fabric of his shirt like she doesn’t want to let him go.

“Missed you, too.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” a voice huffs from a few steps behind me. “I’ll just carry this all the way up by myself, shall I?”

I can’t help but chuckle at Ren’s acerbic tone, and I turn to help her with Haven’s bag. She sighs when I take it from her, flexing her hand. “Thank you, Atticus. I’m strong, but like…balletstrong. I’m not built for lugging heavy things around.”

“No,” Haven calls from the top of the stairs where she’s still nestled against Hale’s chest. “You just stand on the literal tips of your toes for hours, break your feet and can leap four feet in the air.”

Ren nods. “That’s right and I look graceful as fuck while doing it.”

I laugh again. I can’t help it. Under any other circumstance, I’d want to get to know Florence Karlin. She’s funny as fuck and dedicated and loyal, with a smartass mouth. I don’t feel the physical pull toward her that I feel toward Haven, despite that she looks like a cartoon princess. But I’d like to be her friend.

The problem is that these are the circumstances in which we’re meeting, and just like Haven can mean nothing to me, Ren needs to be just as meaningless. I need to charm her, get her totrust us too, so she supports Haven’s relationship with us, but I need to keep my own emotions out of it, keep myself locked away.

Florence eyes all five of us and blows out a breath. “Okay, well, I can tell when I’m not wanted, so I’m gonna go.” She stalks up the stairs and all but yanks Haven away from Hale, who glares daggers at the other omega, like he can’t believe she would dare do such a thing, like he wasn’t ready to let Haven go yet.

Hale may not want to admit it, but he’s not as all in on this plan as he thinks he is. No, he’s drawn to Haven Bell just like the rest of us. I glance at Creed, who is standing with a gloomy expression and his arms crossed over his chest. I suspect he’s trying to keep from touching Haven, from holding her the way the rest of us have. He probably won’t go near her in any of the places he knows there are cameras… which is everywhere. There are cameras and microphones in every area of the house, even his bedroom.

But he doesn’t want to take part in the game, so he’ll keep himself out of it. Even if that means shunning Haven.

Hale’s going to hate that.

I fucking admire it.

As Ren and Haven whisper back and forth, I get the distinct impression that Creed is right. We’re going to regret taking this course of action. Maybe not in the next week, but sooner than we’d like to admit. Haven is one hundred percent capable of burrowing her way past our defenses, setting up house in our chests where our hearts should be.

I glance between Creed and Hale, trying to decipher the right course of action. The right way to play this. Should I follow Creed’s lead and stay away from her physically, to better distance myself from the eventual fall out? Or do I stick to the plan?

Maybe there’s a middle road… one where I cannot feel like a total asshole for being with Haven, touching her, kissing her, and eventually fucking her. Maybe I should say I don’t want to play anymore.

Already my alpha is straining against the notion, hating that we’re planning to use an omega in this way, and I’m not even on the board. Though… with that kiss on the front walk, I actually am. If I don’t add my points, Jude or Hale will do it for me.

Hale looks up over the heads of the still hugging omegas and meets my eyes. Shit. He can feel it, feel the confusion, the doubt on my side of the bond. He sends a wave of reassurance, calming me, telling me this is the way.

I blow out a breath and nod, to show him I understand.

It is the way forward.

And just like I thought before, there’s no guarantee we’ll actually use the footage or the game.

No, if it comes down to it, we can always decide to leave her out of it, leave that part of it out of it, at least. But she’ll still know when things go down with her father. She’ll know we were the ones that did it. That we approached her because of him.

And when that happens, well, I know for a fact we’ll all feel like pieces of shit.

Chapter 11: You’re not even on the board

The Calloway house is better than I imagined. Though I didn’t allow myself to imagine much, if I’m honest. I’m already getting swept away in sexual fantasies and imagining them being my pack, that I don’t have a lot of mental bandwidth left for considering what their pack house might be like.

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