Page 123 of Chain Me Knot

Adrian and Cole advance on the senator’s pack. Kylie and Sean close ranks around Evelyn. Kylie moves first, tall and rawboned, swinging a metal baton in a low, wicked arc meant for Cole’s knees. He avoids the swipe by a fraction, pivoting and grabbing the senator by the arm, only for Sean to slam his fist into Cole’s ribs, knocking the air from his lungs.

Kylie rounds on Adrian, twisting around and swinging high with a roundhouse kick. Adrian flinches but keeps his arms up, grabbing her leg and backing her into the wall. Kylie rakes her nails across his cheek, drawing blood, then stomps on his instep. Adrian jabs his elbow into Kylie's wrist. Her baton drops to the floor. With her weapon gone, Kylie swings her fist hard, but Adrian ducks under, grabs her wrist, and twists until the crack of bone is unmistakable. She drops, clutching her arm, and he lands a finishing elbow to her jaw that leaves her dazed on the floor.

Sean pulls a switchblade and swings it at Cole. “That all you got?” Sean feints left before slashing right. Cole grabs Sean’s forearm, twists the knife from his grasp, and knees the alpha hard in the groin. Sean goes down, gasping. Cole follows it up with a brutal punch to the man’s temple, sending him sprawling, then kicks the switchblade away.

Hardwick yanks a gun from Kylie’s holster, grabs Leah by the hair, and hauls the omega up hard against her chest.

“Leah!” I scream. My alphas bring down the last officer and start toward Hardwick.

She presses the barrel against Leah’s head and drags her toward the service door through which the officers arrived. “Stay back! Stay where you are or I’ll blow her brains out! Don’t think for a second I won’t!”

I reach toward Leah, my arms outstretched, fingers clawing at nothing, desperate to close the yawning distance between us. A brutal cramp coils through my abdomen, wrenching a gasp from my lungs. My knees buckle and I hit the cold floor hard, my breath gone. All I see is Leah’s face, her eyes wide, pleading, her lips parted, and then nothing but the dying spark of hope as Hardwick drags her through the door, gun still pressed to her skull.

“No!” The word tears out of me, raw and useless, lost in the chaos.

Ronan’s roar is so deep and furious that ceiling dust shakes loose. Gabriel and Jax whirl to the now-empty doorway. The remaining officers, those not already unconscious or broken, surge at them from all directions. Ronan plows through, throwing men aside like ragdolls, every motion powered by a terrifying strength. Gabriel picks up a fallen baton and swings in a clean arc, sweeping legs from under an officer, sending him sprawling. Jax lifts one by the belt and shoulder, hurling him hard enough that the man cracks the opposite wall and doesn’t rise again, joining the other bodies strewn over the floor.

“Go for her, Ronan. We’ll lock everything down here. Go and get your mate!” Adrian yells, but Pack Hawthorne are already bolting after Leah.

I can only hope they’re fast enough to catch up with Hardwick. If they do, Hardwick won’t stand a chance.

I sob, rage and heartbreak tearing through me as I press my forehead to my knees.

Hardwick has Leah.

I’ve lost her to the jaws of a monster.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Emma

More masked, uniformed officers thunder into the ruined room, boots pounding and weapons raised. Panic flares sharp as lightning. I can’t tell if these are more of the commissioner’s men, or simply fresh monsters. Asher scoops me up, strong arms cradling me tight against his chest, shielding my body with his own before I have a chance to scream. I cling to his collar, my tears soaking the lapel of his suit.

Soren and Phoenix step over to join us, battle-bruised and streaked in blood, but still making themselves a wall of muscle between me and more danger. Phoenix plants himself at my right, chin lifted, gaze glittering with the threat of violence. Soren takes my left, breathing hard, hands clenched intoready fists.

One of the officers rips off his mask. His face is lined, hair silver at the temples, blue eyes sharp and clear as they cut across the chaos. Something in the set of his jaw makes Asher exhale. Soren’s whole stance shifts from taut to guarded trust, and Phoenix's fists loosen just a fraction.

“Dawson,” Asher breathes, relief and exhaustion in the word. He barely spares a heartbeat before turning, strong even while he stands, still holding me as though I weigh nothing.

“I assume you saw everything?” Soren asks.

Dawson gives him a sharp nod and his gaze flicks to the commissioner’s broken body. “I didn’t want to believe it, but the proof is indisputable.”

Phoenix jerks his chin toward the door Hardwick vanished through. “Hardwick took Leah. She’s armed and desperate, and she went through there. Your people need to move.”

“You heard the man!” Asher barks. “Go get her!” Several officers bolt over prone bodies and through the door without a backward glance.

Dawson arches a brow at Asher. “As far as the city’s concerned, you can’t officially order any of us around, Detective.”

Asher bares his teeth in a humorless smile, voice rumbling with defiance. “Then I’m reinstating myself.” His arms tighten around me, his glare daring anyone to challenge him. “This is the beginning of the end.”

Dawson rubs at his brow, but he doesn’t argue. His gaze sweeps the devastation, landing briefly on Skylar, her frail, battered form barely upright. But when he sees Aubrey his eyes don’t leave. The omega kneels with his head low, body curled in on itself. Shadows crater his cheeks, eyes sunken and rimmed with purple, lips split and bloodied. There’s a look to him. Hollowed out, vacant, far beyond fear into a kind of numb emptiness. He blinks at nothing, gaze somewhere far away, adrift in his own pain.

Broken. So broken.

A muscle in Dawson’s jaw jumps. When he speaks, his voice is rough but achingly gentle. “Glad you put an end to it. No alpha should treat an omega—anyone—like this.” His eyes flick to the commissioner’s crumpled bodywith an expression bordering on disgust. “And if you hadn’t done what you did, there’d still be a line of alphas behind him ready to pick up where he left off.”

Asher sets his jaw and shakes his head. “It’s not me you ought to thank. Pack Hawthorne are the ones who stopped him. Leah’s their scent-matched mate. Nothing will stand in their way.”

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