Page 72 of Knot Unwanted: Part Two

“I thought I lost you.” The words fracture against my collarbone. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t?—”

My hand cups the back of her head, holding her steady as her body shakes. “Listen to me.” I wait until her gasping breaths sync with mine. “You walked into a den of vipers because we failed to protect you. That’s on us. Onme.”

Her sob catches—a wet, broken sound—so I press harder:

“You survived. You fought. And you’re here.” My thumb traces the curve of her ear, a silent vow. “That’s all that matters now.”

Somewhere in the woods, an owl cries. The sound pulls her attention upward—just enough for me to see the way her lashes cling together, damp and spiked from tears.

Then her arms lock around my neck again, this time with purpose. Not just clinging.

Claiming.

And just like that, every carefully constructed wall I’ve spent years building collapses into dust.

Because she’s right where she belongs.

Then, as if all the energy leaves her, she sags against me. All the fight bleeds out in one long exhale.

Her skin burns against mine, fever-hot from the heat. The scent of her—God, the scent—makes my head swim and my body respond in ways I can’t control. But I push the reaction down, focusing on what she needs right now.

“I didn’t know what to do.” Her words come out muffled against me. “Th-they, I think they gave me something. The h-heat. I think I’m in heat. It hurts, Ren.”

My arms tighten around her. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”

The endearment slips out again without thought, but it feels right. She feels right in my arms, like she was made to be there. How did I fight this for so long? How did I convince myself that pushing her away was protecting her, when all it did was waste precious time?

“W-what are we going to do?” she asks, pulling back slightly to look at me. Even as she asks, her hips squirm against me, and I have to clench my jaw tight just to force my brain cells to work.

Hailey’s eyes are glazed with heat and fear, but there’s trust there, too. Trust in me to get her through this.

“We’re going home,” I tell her firmly. “Back to the pack. We’ll help you through this, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

A whimper escapes her as another wave of heat crashes through her. I can feel it in the way her body tenses, in the fresh bloom of her scent. She presses herself closer, seeking relief that I could give her—that every instinct is screaming at me to provide.

“Please,” she whispers, her hands fisting in my shirt. “It hurts so much.”

The alpha in me roars to answer her plea, to claim, to mate, to soothe the ache we’re both feeling. But I can’t. Not like this. Not with drugs forcing her body into submission, not with the trauma of everything she’s just endured still raw.

She deserves better. She deserves choice.

“I know it hurts,” I say, brushing her hair back from her face. “And I promise I’ll help you through it. But not here. Not now.”

Her expression crumples, a fresh sob escaping her. “I don’t know if I can stand it much longer.”

I shed my shirt, wrapping it over her bare skin. She whimpers, burrowing into the fibers, even pressing it to her nose as she inhales deeply. It’s not much, but it’s something. “You can,” I assure her. “You’re stronger than you know. You hurt Caldwell.”

A startled laugh bubbles from her throat, watery but real. “I…I bit him.”

I set her down, looking over her, noting the way she can hardly stand. She’s swaying, her eyes glazed with the heat. “He was holding his dick, Hailey…the blood…” My voice trails off as the pieces click into place.She bit him…there?

My fists clench. The thought of what that bastard must have been doing for her to gain access to that spot rises in my mind. But it’s followed by a surge of fierce pride. Fuck him.She should have bitten it clean off.

I lean down, adjusting my shirt over her as I take what feels like my first full breath since this ordeal began. She leans into the contact, her breathing ragged but steadier. “Don’t leave me again,” she pleads. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” The words feel like a vow. I mean them. “I’m not going anywhere.”

For a moment, we just breathe together, foreheads touching, her scent enveloping us both in a cocoon that feels like safety.

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