Page 21 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

I open my mouth to ask what’s too much, but tense when a door farther down the hall opens. I only relax slightly when a woman in her late twenties slips out, smoothing down the tight dress that displays her baby bump. She’s got light brown hair, silver eyes and bright red lipstick.

She pauses when she spots us; me blocking the hall, the exit, and Haven halfway between us. Her eyes flash as her chin tips up. She looks at Haven. “He bothering you?”

“What?” my girl asks, tipping her head to her chest so her hair falls over her face. Hiding, I realize. She doesn’t want to be recognized.

The girl jabs her finger at me. “That alpha there. Is he bothering you?”

“I’m not bothering her,” I growl, offended that she would think that. I don’t give off crazy stalker vibes. Not like some of my pack mates might I know that. I’m more of the loveable golden retriever. “I’m keeping an eye on her.”

She ignores me, moves closer to my girl. “I can help you,” she says, her voice soft but strong. “If you need it.”

I scoff at the idea. She’s an omega. I can tell now that she’s closer, and a pregnant one at that. She wouldn’t be able to stand up to me. But her alphas… well, they’d be another story all together. And if their omega is pregnant, I’m sure at least one of them is somewhere nearby.

“Oh,” Haven gives an uncomfortable laugh, still keeping her head tilted down. “No, he’s fine. He’s just making sure I stay out of trouble. He’s not bothering me.”

“See, I might buy that if you looked at me while you said it.” The omega sounds fierce now, lifting her eyes to glare at me. “Get out of here, right fucking now, or I will have security physically remove you.”

Haven’s head shoots up then and a whine falls from her that she smothers midway, swallowing it back down. “Oh, no, don’t do that. I’m sorry. I didn’t…. He really is fine. I just needed air. It… got to be a little much. You know?”

She hums and stares hard at my girl. “I’ve seen you here before.”

Haven shrinks back and I take a step forward, hating that is her reaction to being recognized, remembered. “You have?”

She nods. “Yeah, my pack owns the place, so I’m here quite a bit.” She holds out her hand. “I’m Sadie Falcone.”

Haven jerks like she’s surprised by the name and, to be honest, I am fucking too. It takes everything in me not to stride forward and grab my girl, to get her away from the omega ofthe Falcone pack, a ruthless group of mafia killers who only recently appeared to go legit. They helped bring the corruption at Apex Pharma to light after Sadie and her two best friends were abducted to be used for research.

I watch the change slither over Haven. From the top of her head all the way down to her toes, she becomes someone else. Haven Bell, the daughter of the senator. She slips the mask on easily enough, so quickly that I blink and gone is the girl who was grinding on my dick and kissing me like I was the air she needed to breathe, and in her place is the doll, the puppet.

“Pleasure,” she says, gripping Sadie’s hand in hers. But she doesn’t offer her name. She meets the other omega’s gaze steadily. “I can assure you he’s not bothering me. Really. I came here with him, to see him. When I first arrived, I had an unpleasant altercation with a drunk alpha and he’s just making sure I don’t have a repeat.”

Sadie looks at me, then back to Haven, humming in the back of her throat. I take a step forward, readying to get my girl out of here, when the same door that Sadie slipped out of yanks open with enough force it slams against the wall and a bristling alpha storms into the narrow space. “Fucking Christ, Vixen, you can’t just-”

I move without thinking, instincts to protect taking over, barreling down the hall to get Haven out of the path of a rampaging alpha. Only it’s the wrong move because the rampaging alpha sees it as me bum-rushing his pregnant omega.

“Luca,” she shouts as he roars, sprinting forward to put himself between me and the omegas.

“Jude!” Haven cries, just as a fist slams into my cheek. I catch her eyes, wide and full of worry. It makes me smile as I fall to the ground. Because, fuck, it feels good to have Haven Bell worry about me.

The smile falls when I turn my attention back to the bristling alpha and the gun he has pointed squarely at my forehead. I taste blood and my ears are ringing, and my vision isn’t all that great either, because the next thing I know I’m staring up at Haven’s back, her constellation like birthmark on her shoulder catching my dazed attention. How did I not notice that before?

But then I realize what she’s saying, her voice finally filtering through my hazy brain. “Please don’t hurt him. He didn’t mean any harm. He was just trying to get to me. I promise, Sadie was never in any danger.”

“Haven,” I say, gruffly, reaching a hand up to pull her back, away from the gun that I realize she stepped in front of. For me. Fear for her makes me dizzy, makes my alpha roar.Protect. Protect. Protect.

“Stay down,” Luca demands, like he’s sensing I was about to get to my feet, push Haven behind me. “I swear to fuck if you move, I will shoot you.”

Haven whimpers again, and her fear burns through her suppressants and the descenter, filling the space with acrid pineapple and burned chili, making my eyes water with the need to sneeze. “Please,” she says, reaching a hand out. “Your omega is fine. She’s safe with your beta. Look. Sadie is fine.”

“Luca put the gun down,” comes another male voice.

“Yeah, stop pointing a gun at my omega, motherfucker.” I hardly recognize my voice, the dangerous tone, the way I claimed Haven as mine.She’s not, I remind myself. This is all for show. Just another way to get her to trust us. I don’t examine why that feels like a lie. “Or I’ll have to rip your goddamn head from your body.”

Haven glances over her shoulder at me, a glare in her eyes that tells me to stop making this worse. But she can’t hide the way her cheeks have flushed and her pupils have dilated. Theacrid tinge in her pineapple scent fades, grows sweeter. Yeah. Me threatening to decapitate another alpha has her aroused.

“Seriously, both of you stop it,” Sadie says, throwing off the arms of her beta and stomping forward to curl her hand around the barrel of the gun and push it to the floor. “I’m fine. I was just checking on-” she cuts off and looks at Haven expectantly, waiting for her to fill in her name, but she doesn’t.

Instead, she drops to her knees to help me into a sitting position, her hand coming up to cup my swollen cheek, hissing slightly when she sees the bruise that is no doubt forming. “Oh, Jude! I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have-”

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