Page 111 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

Chapter 28: Say something

Haven has been bordering on catatonic for an hour. Maybe longer. We have no clue how long she spent in the yard, in the rain. No clue what sent her into this state. She won’t talk to us, won’t open her eyes. It’s too similar to how she was after we brought her back from her father’s, when he commanded her to not speak to us.

If I missed her voice then, this is a thousand times worse. At least then she could still communicate with us through writing. But this is… nothing. She’s giving us nothing, and I can’t bury the fear that her father did something to her. Took her from us so completely mentally, while leaving her here with us physically.

We only know she’s aware of us because of that one whine that pulled from her chest and made all of us nearly feral. We’ve watched the security feed multiple times, see that she goes to the basement with a tray of snacks. She sits on the couch, flicks onthe TV, and then eventually reaches for her laptop. Whatever she saw on the screen… that’s what set her off.

In the security feed we can’t see what it was, can’t make it out on the screen. The angle is bad, but she clicks around, her face turning more and more devastated as she does.

And then twenty minutes later, she stumbles up the stairs and out the door to the yard. Where she just… lays down and stays.

Jude broke into her computer, but we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Nothing that would spark this much of a negative reaction.

I shift her little body on my lap, cradling her closer. She’s warm now, her skin back to its normal rosy hue, flushed from the heat of the sauna. But she still hasn’t said a fucking word to us. My purr has been a constant rumble in my chest, trying like hell to soothe her, to bring her back to us. It’s the same for my packmates. If they’re near her, they’re purring.

“Baby girl,” I murmur into her still damp hair. “Please, say something. Anything. Tell us what happened so we can fix it.”

She shifts against me. I feel her lips part against my skin, feel her breath puff over my neck. “Can’t fix it if you broke it,” she whispers. My body tenses at her words. The first ones she’s uttered in hours. But her next words break my heart. “What’s wrong with me, Creed?”

I get the impression that she means more than just at this moment. But I don’t know what she’s talking about. “Nothing, baby girl.” I press my lips into her hair. “You’re perfect.”

A humorless laugh falls from her lips, harsh and bordering on tears. “Sure I am.”

I slide my hand up to cup the back of her head, tangling my fingers in the damp strands and pulling her head back to look at her. Her stormy grey eyes are red rimmed and bloodshot, thelids swollen, but they’re open and they’re looking at me. “What happened, Haven?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“Baby, something happened. I need you to tell me. Please.”

She blows out her breath and shakes her head, eyes falling to my shirt rather than meeting my eyes. “It’s stupid. I shouldn’t have let it bother me so much.”

My thumb nudges her chin, tilting her face back up to mine so I can kiss her lips. First the top one, then the bottom. I don’t miss that she tenses slightly at the contact, but then she relaxes into me. “Nothing you do is stupid, Haven. If something bothers you, we need to know about it.”

Her little hand sweeps over my shirt, fussing over the damp fabric. She’s dressed in soft, dry clothes, but I didn’t bother to change. How could I worry about myself when my omega was so clearly distressed? “My dad emailed.” I tense at her soft voice, at the tremble in it. “He said some awful things to me… and I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but I did.”

“What did he say?” I try to keep my voice steady and calm, while inside I’m a raging inferno and my alpha is demanding that I hunt down her asshole of a father and end him for hurting her.

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Haven, baby girl, it matters if you reacted to it like this.”

“It was the same bullshit he’s been spouting for years, just… more pointed.” She’s not looking at me again. Her brow furrowed as she stares at the wall.

“More pointed how?”

“That a pack like you would never actually want me. That whatever this is, it isn’t going to last and then I’ll just be soiled, used goods. He said-” She bites her lower lip when it trembles and cuts off, blinking against a fresh wave of tears. “He said it’s all a game to you and once you’re done with me, I won’t ever beable to be placed with a pack, let alone a beta or a lone alpha. That my chances were slim before and now they’re nonexistent.”

“Utter bullshit,” I growl at her, even though… even though what he said hits way too close to home. It’s what we were aiming for at the beginning of this. “Haven, you’re perfect. Used goods or not, any pack would be lucky to have you for any amount of time.” It just probably won’t be us. Not once she realizes we’ve been out to destroy her father from the beginning. That we used her.

A flicker of sadness and hurt passes over her face and I have to take a deep breath to keep from storming to the other side of town and shooting Fredrick Bell in the head. Hale has a plan, one that will end with his death eventually, but in the meantime, he’s going to hurt emotionally for what he’s done to his daughter.

Haven looks up at me with those big watery gray eyes of hers, her hand sliding up my chest to cup my cheek. “Is this real, Creed?” She whispers. “Do you want to keep me?”

I swallow down the words that want to bubble up my throat, the ones that claim she’s mine and willalwaysbe fucking mine. I don’t deserve to claim her, don’t deserve to keep her. Not after the shit we’ve pulled, the things we’ve made her do. She won’t want us when she finds out.

I pull her closer, press my lips to her forehead. “We want you for now, baby girl. Isn’t that enough?”

Her chest shudders, and a choked sound pulls from her. Then she’s pushing me back, scrambling off my lap. I try to hold on to her, but she’s fast, backing away from me, feet between us before I’m even standing. “Haven, baby girl.”

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