Page 95 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

“So, why do you trust us? Why do you trust Hale? You’ve only known us for a few months, Haven. You don’t know-” He cuts off and shakes his head. A muscles tics in his jaw and I resist the urge to kiss it. “You shouldn’t trust us.”

I shrug. “But I do. You’ve earned it. Everything you’ve shown me, getting me away from my father. Creed… you’ve earned it.”

He opens his mouth like he’s going to deny it, but Hale cuts him off. “Okay, I think we’ve worked it out. We should be able to negate all of your existing commands and any new ones going forward… unless he figures out that another alpha barked at you.”

I sway on my feet. “Did you say any going forward? As in, I won’t-he won’t be able to bark at me anymore?”

Hale grins. “That’s right. We might need to reinforce it every so often to keep it from fading, but it should hold for a while. I’ll keep my control over it on my side. You just need to not fight it.”

Fight it? He has to be joking, right? The idea of fighting a command that would keep me free of my father’s influence is laughable.

But he’s looking at me seriously and so I nod. “I won’t fight it.”

“What’s the command?” Creed demands to know before Hale can open his mouth to bark at me. The alpha behind me is bristling with protective energy. It’s sweet and makes my chest feel all warm and fuzzy, even if it is a little unnecessary at this moment.

Hale’s his pack member, his pack lead. Creed should trust him wholeheartedly.

It’s Jude that answers. “You will disregard any and all commands your father, Frederick Bell, has given or will give you in the future.”

I tip my head back to watch as Creed rolls the phrase over in his mind, searching for loopholes my father’s commands could wiggle through. There aren’t any I can see, unless, like Hale said, my father realizes I’ve been commanded to ignore any new commands given by another alpha.

“Well,” Hale prompts, jaw tight with frustration. “Does it meet your standards?”

Creed glares at him, but eventually he nods, pulling me tight against his body. “Yeah, it’ll work.”

Hale holds Creed’s gaze for a moment longer, and I get the impression that they’re having some kind of conversation… No, more like an argument, a battle of wills. One alpha against another.

Tic clears his throat pointedly, and Hale blinks, dropping his gaze down to me. His expression instantly softens. I can’t help preening just a bit that I have that effect on him. Hales mouth curves into a smile, like he knows what I’m thinking. “Ready, little mouse?”

A giddy feeling thrums through my chest, anticipation singing through my veins. In less than a minute, I’ll be free of my father. In less than a minute, I’ll be in control of my own actions and thoughts. All of them. Everything I do will be because I want to do it. No one else.

“Yes,” I whisper breathlessly.

Hale takes a deep breath in through his nose. Jude and Tic reach out to touch me during this momentous occasion. Hale’s palm slides along my cheek, holding my gaze steady as he repeats the command, “You will disregard any and all commands your father, Frederick Bell, has given or will give you in the future.”

The bark shivers over me, settles on my skin, in my chest and my brain. The migraine that I’d been fighting evaporates, the heaviness, the weight of every single one of my father’s commands lifts. I feel so fucking light I could float away, right up to the clouds, up to the heavens. Because this has to be what that would feel like. Heaven.

Hale’s command is still there. I can feel it, but it’s a million times lighter, barely an ounce of weight on my psyche. I stare up at the alpha who freed me. Love for him swells in my chest. Actual love. True and abiding love. It hits so hard and fast that tears form in my eyes, spill down my cheeks.

“Shit,” Hale growls, swiping his thumbs to capture the moisture. “Did it not work? Did he command you to ignore all other alpha barks?”

I shake my head, still in awe of the feeling of freedom. A tentative smile curls my lips. “It worked, Hale,” I whisper. “It fucking worked. These are happy tears.”

“Happy tears,” Jude echoes.

I nod and laugh. Its wet and full of disbelief. “So fucking happy. I can’t… I can’t even feel them anymore.” Another giggle bubbles up.

Jude laughs along with me, bringing my hand up to his mouth so I feel it rumble across my skin. Creed presses his face into my hair, taking long inhales of my scent, and I wonder if I smell different somehow. If my scent has changed without the overbearing command to be less omega and more beta stifling it.

Tic is studying me, his gaze running over my body, like he’s seeing an actual physical change. And I don’t know, maybe he is. Maybe this new lightness I feel is reflected in the straightening of my spine, the lifting of my shoulders.

“My father, Frederick Bell is a fucking misogynistic asshole who should never be allowed to be in control of anyone’s rights or future,” I say, testing out my freedom from the commands, the one that has kept my tongue tangled in lies. I haven’t been able to voice my real thoughts about him not since I once slipped at a party and said my father’s views on pack life were archaic. “He’s an abusive bastard who has had control over me my entire life. Fuck him.”

Hale’s fingers twitch on my cheeks, and a smile curls his lips.

“Don’t hold back, angel,” Tic chuckles. “Tell us how you really feel.”

I laugh again. I can’t help it. My entire chest is so much lighter.

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