Page 56 of Her Knotty Alphas

"Right," she lets out a breath, righting herself, "let's go get our packmate."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit,shit.

I should not have brought Hannah here.

The warehouse, which is not as abandoned as we thought, has a basement level.

A basement decked out as an illegal underground fighting ring.

Where Noah is currently beating the ever loving shit out of some other alpha.

I have Hannah tucked protectively against my side, but she's still an unbonded omega, and this place is crawling with disgusting pricks. The crowd is bloodthirsty, shouting and screaming over each other as they surround the pit dug into the ground that serves as the ring.

"What the fuck is he thinking?" Hannah is panicking, moving her head back and forth to try to keep her mate in her line of sight.

"I…I didn't know it was this bad." My voice is weaker than I'd like. "I thought he was…picking fights at bars or something."

Noah's circling his opponent, in only a pair of shorts that hit mid-thigh. His hands are wrapped, and his hair is pulled back out of his face in a man-bun. At least he removed his eyebrow piercings, because that would scar if someone ripped it out, alpha healing or not.

His opponent is an alpha who's definitely more built than he is, but Noah's faster. Hannah and I watch with bated breath as the blonde alpha charges him, but Noah easily side-steps, grabbing the guy's arm as he passes and twisting it behind his back. Blondie breaks his grip easier than I would have thought, and Hannah lets out a little gasp.

Yeah, it was a really bad idea to bring her here.

In the next moment, Noah and Blondie are rolling on the floor, exchanging punches. But then, Blondie gets him pinned, and starts wailing on him. "No, no, no," Hannah's eyes are wide, and I have to chase after her as she rushes through the crowd. Where Hannah is tiny and can duck and weave, I'm stuck having to brute-force my way through. She makes it up to the metal barrier that separates the crowd from the pit. "Hannah, wait!" I call after her, throwing an elbow or two into the rowdy crowd.

"NOAH JAMESON! YOU BETTER KICK HIS ASS!" Her screamed words shock me to my core, and I watch with horror as Noah's eyes leave his opponent, track up the walls of the pit, and land on me and Hannah.

Have I said, shit?

His expression hardens considerably, and before the next twenty seconds are up, he's flipped so he's back on top and beats into Blondie so hard, he lays a knocked out heap on the floor.

He stands, spitting out some blood, and scowls at me. Where does he get off leaving our omega in the middle of the night, and then being pissed that I helped her track him down?

"We have a winner, folks!" A voice blasts through the speakers I hadn't noticed before. "Next fight up is Killian, the Beta Beater!"

Noah jerks his head towards the gate that leads out of the pit, and I grab Hannah's arm, intending to lead her there. "He won!" She says excitedly, the adrenaline of watching the fight seemingly making her forget about how worried she was not twenty minutes ago. "Noah won the fight!" Then, thoughtfully, she adds, "He didn't look too happy to see me though."

I don't answer—there's no point. She won't be able to hear me over the crowd, and by the time we make it around to where Noah indicated, her nervous energy is back. It should be difficult to scent her in a crowd like this, but now that I've experienced her warm brown sugar and sweet peach signature, singling it out is as easy as picking her out of a crowd.

The slight bitterness in her scent intensifies when we come up to Noah, who looks about ready to murder me. Instead of saying anything, he grabs my free arm, dragging us around to a corner near an emergency exit staircase. It's quieter here, the thick concrete walls separating us somewhat from the loud cacophony of noise surrounding the pit.

Noah and I have never physically fought. I used to protect him from bullies back when he was scrawny, and he never had to thank me for it, but I'm half convinced he's going to take his remaining aggression out on me. "Why the fuck would you bring her here?" He rounds on me, but Hannah steps between us.

"Excuseme, I'm the one who dragged him out of bed to come get you. If you're going to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at me." Her hand is on her hip, and she looks sassy as all hell, staring down the alpha she witnessed beat another alpha to a pulp.

Noah's expression freezes as he looks down at our little omega, his mouth opening and closing once before he looks like he's about to say something else.

"Is this why you come home beat up so much?" I ask, hoping to get a straight answer for once. Is this where he disappeared to the night that we found out about Hannah? To come get the shit beat out of him?

His gaze hardens, his jaw clenched as he looks between us. "Yes," he finally says. "I've been coming here for around five years now. This…it helps keep the demons at bay."

I don't need to ask what demons. I know he sometimes struggles with keeping his alpha under control, but there has to be a better way to do it.

Hannah's voice is so small when she speaks. "Why…I don't understand. When we fell asleep, you were fine. Was it me? Me being in your bed? I'm sorry, I—"

"No," Noah says sharply, making Hannah jump slightly. "No." Softer this time, he takes both of her hands, holding her gaze as if he's trying to figure out just how much he should say.

"You left when I was in your bed, Noah." Her voice, if not for the slight waver in it, nearly seems emotionless. "What else am I supposed to think? What would be bothering you in the middle of the night if it wasn't me—"

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