Page 46 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

“Please, little mouse,” he whispers in my ear. “Let us take care of you.”

Giving in, I lean back against him and part my lips.

And let me tell you, it’s never felt so good to be taken care of.

Chapter 13: If we go down, we go down together

I’d forgotten what it’s like to have an omega in the house. Forgotten how their sweet scent can linger in a room or on the furniture, how good it is to have it tangled up with my packs. I’d forgotten how my alpha feels more settled with having her here, just down the hall from me. Safe.

Haven issafewhile she’s here, and I am so fucking grateful for it.

I have the distinct impression that she’s not safe at home, that my intuition about her father turning her into a puppet is correct. It’s in the way she hesitates after we ask her if she wants to do something with us, pauses like she’s searching for any commands he might have given her that would prevent it.

It’s in how she’s not the quiet little mouse we thought she was. She laughs and jokes and has outbursts. She isn’t always poised and perfect like she is with her father.

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed it, though.

But I fucking have. The more time I spend with that little omega, the more certain I am that she’s not worthy of the hell we’re going to rain down on her. Not in the slightest.

If only the rest of my pack could see the same.

But Hale is dead set on this course, so sure that it’s the only way to get what we want, to make her father hurt. It’s like he doesn’t listen when she talks, when she says things like her happiness at the moment is irrelevant. That she’s never had a fucking nest in her own house.

The idea of that still makes my alpha hot with rage. I’d had to leave the room with that fucking revelation or risk tossing her over my shoulder and carrying her to the nest just down the fucking hall from her bedroom. Where I undoubtedly would have snarled at her to make it her own.

My alpha needed to be the one to provide that for her, and I couldn’t let that happen. If she built a nest over the week she’s here, and then has to leave it behind, it would be bad enough. But building one here, knowing she felt safe enough with us to do it, and then following through on this fucked up plan?

That would be catastrophic.

For her and for me.

I’m already struggling enough as it is. I’m really not sure I can go through with this. Not sure I can stand by and let them ruin her this way. The very real alpha urge to bundle her up and drive her far away from my pack is something I fight against every fucking day she’s here.

That coupled with fighting the need to touch her, kiss her, see to her physical and mental comfort? Well, I’m fucking exhausted, and she’s only been here for two full days.

We have five more to get through.

I’m honestly not sure I can make it. But if I don’t, I know my pack will record any sexual encounter Haven and I have. I know they’ll add it to that stupid scoresheet. Even though I toldthem I don’t want to participate. It’s very ‘if we go down, then we do down together.’

They won’t let me escape the fallout from this.

And I hate them for it.

Why are we even a pack? Why am I still here?

Because the idea of being alone isn’t something I can bear.

I’m not cut out for it. No alpha is. It’s why lone alphas go feral if left alone for too long.

Besides, we’ve been through so much shit together. If we could survive that, we can survive this… Only problem is I’m not sure I want to. Not if it means destroying Haven.

We haven’t talked about it, but I know the plan is still on. I can tell by the way the three of them go tight lipped as soon as I enter the room.

It makes my heart hurt, and all of my instincts flare. For her and for me.

Haven’s bright laugh filters to me over open grass, drawing my attention across the field to where she’s been tossing a football back and forth with Jude and Tic. She squeals when Jude tosses her over his shoulder and carries her and the ball down the field, as Tic chases after them.

I honestly don’t know how he can handle the duplicity. Jude is by far the softest of us all. His heart is generally a warm place, a good place. It froze over for a while there, but since spending time with Haven, I’ve seen it thaw, seen that same goodness emerge.

---