Page 14 of Knot Unwanted: Part Two

“It’s not that simple,” he says finally.

“Bullshit.” My voice rises despite my efforts to keep it level. But for too long, I’ve been walking on eggshells, trying to keep this pack from fracturing completely. Always caught between not knowing what to do and not doing enough. “Our omega is out there, Ren. Finn is in the hospital.And you’re still playing your fucking games, still keeping secrets.”

“They’re not games,” he says, his voice dropping to a dangerous register. “And they’re not justmysecrets.”

“Then whose are they?” Stone asks quietly from the driver’s seat.

Ren runs a hand through his hair, leaving it more disheveled than before. For a moment, in the shifting shadows as we pass beneath streetlights, he looks haunted.

“My family’s,” he says finally. “My parents’.”

“Your parents?” I repeat, struggling to keep up. “What do they have to do with Hailey being taken? With the Academy?”

Ren’s laugh is hollow, devoid of humor. “Everything.”

The SUV fills with silence again as we process this. I know bits and pieces of Ren’s family history—old money, powerful connections, traditional values that Ren rejected when he left home. But there’s clearly more. Much more.

“Explain,” Stone says. His tone leaves no room for evasion.

Ren’s gaze shifts between us, measuring, calculating. Then he sighs. His shoulders slump. And suddenly, I see a side of him we rarely see anymore. The alpha behind the mask. The Renthat would let his feelings bleed before immortalizing them on canvas. The Ren I knew when we first formed this pack.

Back then, his rebellion from his parents had been all sharp edges and scorched earth. He’d burned through money, connections, even a few bones in fight rings. But then…something worse happened. Something that made him go scarily quiet. Stopped mentioning them entirely. Just showed up one day with fresh scars and Finn in tow, like he’d traded his past for a future all of us dreamed of.

“My family isn’t just rich,” he begins. “They’re not just powerful. They’re…architects. Of a system designed to control omegas. To train them. To break them.” His voice catches on the last word. “The Academy isn’t just some rogue operation. It’s part of a network. A network my parents helped build.”

What?

That…doesn’t make sense. I stare at him, struggling to reconcile what I know of Ren—ourRen, who treats Finn with such reverence, who would tear apart anyone who harmed him—with what he’s describing.

“You’re saying your parents are involved in…” I can’t even finish the sentence, the horror of it sticking in my throat.

“Omega trafficking,” Ren finishes for me, his voice flat. “Among other things. They call it ‘training.’ Stripping away anything that might make them resist their masters.”

The car swerves slightly before Stone regains control. “Jesus Christ, Ren.”

“I didn’t know,” Ren continues, his eyes fixed on some point in the middle distance. “Not for a long time. They kept that part of their lives separate from me. Until I started asking questions.” A breath shudders from his chest. “Until I found that basement…”

His laugh is bitter this time, sharp enough to cut. “I wasn’t ready. I was never going to be ready for that.”

Silence fills the vehicle. Hard and heavy.

I want to say that he’s lying, but behind Ren’s eyes are ghosts, demons he’s not even bothering to hide.

This isn’t a lie. This is raw, hard truth.

“What was in the basement, Ren?”

He keeps staring ahead before his throat moves.

“What was in the basement, Ren,” I say it again and it hardly comes out as a question.

His gaze drops. He looks battered. Tortured. Bruised.

“Omegas.” His voice is so small I almost don’t hear it. “When I found them, there were only six there, but it was clear there had been more.”

Ice is in my veins. The vehicle itself feels like it’s suddenly in the Arctic. “You’re telling me,” I speak slowly, “your parents run?—”

Ren turns to me, his eyes blazing with a fury that matches my own. “My parents aren’t involved anymore. Not after what I did.”

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