Page 8 of Knot Unwanted: Part Two

I break off, unable to continue. I’d left them. Again. Failed to protect them. Again.

“We called an ambulance,” someone repeats nearby and I realize it’s because Jax is punching in the emergency number. At the beta’s voice, he shoves his phone back into his pocket, his hand reaching for Finn’s wrist, checking his pulse. Though his voice is steady, I can smell the sharp tang of his fear. “We need to keep him still until it gets here.”

I barely hear him, my thoughts spiraling into darker and darker places. This is my fault. My past catching up with me. My family’s legacy continuing to destroy everything I love.

Off in the distance, the sound of sirens cuts through the air.

Stone freezes, his body going rigid, his nostrils flaring slightly. His face is a mask, devoid of emotion, but the air around him crackles with a silent fury, like a gathering storm. His eyes, usually warm and amber, are now cold, hard, and focused. He doesn’t move, doesn’t breathe, for a heartbeat. Then, a low growl rumbles in his chest, a sound that vibrates through the air around us.

“You got him?” he snarls at Jax, fist clenching slowly.

Jax doesn’t answer, instead he presses two fingers to Finn’s throat, checking his pulse once more. His hands shake. “Go,” he grits out.

Stone is already moving, shoving through the small crowd of onlookers with enough force to send an alpha stumbling. His stride makes omegas press themselves against the wall as he passes.

He’ll find her, the thought whispers in my mind. Stone will find her.

I have to believe it.

Turning my attention back to Finn, I cradle him closer. Then Finn’s blood seeps through my sleeve.

Warm.

Sticky.

The world tilts. Suddenly, I’m not kneeling at the side of this fancy building—I’m crouched on rain-slick asphalt, Finn’s broken body heavy in my arms. His blood looked black back then, too. Same coppery stench. Same terrible stillness.

“Stay with me!” Past-me had begged, pressing shaking hands to the jagged metal spearing Finn’s abdomen. “Look at me, baby, just look at?—”

“Ren!” Jax’s voice yanks me back.

I blink. Present-Finn lies pale but breathing in my arms, his temple wound oozing crimson down his cheek. My fingers convulse around him—too tight, not tight enough—as the ambulance sirens wail closer.

“Finn,” I whisper, leaning close to his ear. “I’m so fucking sorry. I’m so sorry, baby. Please wake up. Please be okay.”

He doesn’t stir, his face unnaturally still, unnaturally pale. Blood continues to seep from the wound at his temple, and I carefully press my handkerchief against it, trying to stem the flow.

The distant wail of sirens grows steadily louder. Help is coming. Finn will be okay. He has to be.

But Hailey…

Sweet, innocent Hailey. A wild, animal panic claws at my insides. Every moment she’s gone is a moment she could be suffering. Every second wasted is a second they take her farther away.

I know who has her. I know what they’ll do to her—what they do to all the omegas they capture.

Training. Breaking.Selling.

The thought of sweet, fragile Hailey in their hands makes me want to tear the world apart. Hailey who forgave me even after I hurt her. Hailey who entered our broken pack and instead of ripping it even wider apart, has single-handedly begun to put it back together again.

OurHailey.

In the distance, flashing lights cut through the darkness as an ambulance pulls up to the entrance. Paramedics pour out, equipment in hand, moving toward us.

The lights paint Finn’s face in garish red and blue. I tighten my arms around him, heart rate increasing.

“Sir, we need to take him now,” the lead paramedic says, reaching for Finn.

A growl rips from my chest before I can stop it. My arms lock like steel bands even when my mind screams to let him go. To let them do their job. The paramedic freezes—smart man—but his partner moves in with a neck brace.

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