Page 64 of Knot Your Sugar

"Stop saying this like you already know it's true."

His brows furrow again. "We're trying to help."

"By deciding what I am without asking me? By assuming I don't know my own body?" The words spill out, sharp and fast.

"That's not—"

"I need space," I say, taking a step back as another wave of heat washes over me. "As I said, I have a competition to win tomorrow, and I can't do that if I'm dealing with... this."

"Elena—" He reaches out.

"Don't," I warn, my voice cracking. "Please, just... leave me alone. All of you."

I walk away before he can respond, my legs shaking with each step. I don't stop until I reach a quiet spot behind a vendor stall, where I sink onto a bench, my head in my hands.

They know. They fucking know.

Not the whole truth, sure. But enough. Enough to destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to build.

I press a shaking hand to my chest, trying to force my ragged breathing back under control. The world I’ve so meticulously built around myself. My safe, predictable world is crumbling around me, and I'm not sure what I can do to stop it.

And the worst part is, Cole, James, Dorian, they might just be right.

The pull I feel toward each of them. The way my body responds. The comfort, the unsettling sense of rightness I feel in their presence. Theirscents. God, their scents have been affecting me since the moment I met them. And now that my medication seems to be failing, they're starting to drive me crazy.

Scent matches… Not with one, butthreealphas. What I've been afraid of my entire adult life…

"No," I whisper to the air. "No. I can’t. I can’t do this."

I’ve seen what happens to omegas who bond with alphas. I’ve watched my own mother wither away after my father left, the severed bond destroying her from the inside out. I’ve witnessed friends, smart, ambitious, vibrant women, disappear into their relationships, into their packs, becoming pale, watered-down shadows of their former selves.

I willnotlet that happen to me. I will not let biology dictate my future and destroy my dreams.

I dig my nails into my palms, the sharp pain bringing a sliver of clarity. I need a plan. I need to regain control.

I need to win tomorrow. That much hasn’t changed. That much is still within my grasp.

And to do that, I need to create distance. Real, significant, impenetrable distance between myself and those three alphas. Until I can get more DuoBlocks. Until this festival is over. Until they’re all gone from Lakeview. The less time I spend around them, the less I’m exposed to their scents, the better.

I always knew this was temporary anyway. That’s why I allowed myself to give in in the first place. Because it was safe. Because it had an expiration date. I cling to that reminder now like a drowning woman to driftwood… even as tears prick at my eyes.

But I only allow myself this moment of grief.

I straighten my spine, brush away the moisture from my eyes, and force myself to focus. Time to remember what I'm here to do, and what’s at stake if I don’t.

Chapter thirty-three

Cole

I find Dorian sitting on a bench near the competition area, reviewing notes on a clipboard. He looks up as I approach, a silent question in his eyes.

The grim set of my jaw is apparently answer enough.

"It went that well, I take it?" He sets his clipboard aside as he frowns.

"Catastrophic," I confirm with a sigh. "Where's James?"

Dorian jerks his head toward the competition area. "Still at his station, trying to make the most out of the workshop."

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