Page 111 of Knotting the Cowboys

Cole's jaw works like he's grinding words between his teeth. The kitchen light catches the tension in his neck, the careful control he's maintaining, and I want to smooth those lines away with my fingers. Want to ease whatever weight he's carrying.

"Go on," River encourages quietly. "She should know."

"Why would the Mayor specifically target Austin's rodeo participation?" I ask, looking between them.

Austin's expression shifts, losing the gentle humor and settling into something more resigned. "Well, Sarah is his granddaughter, so..."

The name drops into the kitchen like a stone into still water. Everything changes—the air itself seems to thicken, becoming stagnant and heavy with unspoken history. Mavi's hands still completely on his drone. River sets down the apple he'd beenslicing with too much precision. Even Luna seems to sense the shift, her small sounds of waking stopping abruptly.

"Who's Sarah?" I ask, though the way they're all carefully not looking at each other tells me this is something significant. Something that still hurts.

Cole's phone chooses that moment to shrill into the silence. He glances at the screen, and his expression darkens further. "I need to take this," he grunts, already moving toward the door. "It's about tomorrow's lumber shipment."

He disappears into the other room, his voice a low rumble through the walls but words indistinct. I'm left looking at the remaining three, confusion clear on my face.

"Sarah," Austin begins, then stops, seeming to gather himself. River moves closer to him, a subtle show of support that makes my chest tight. "We should explain."

"She was our ex-Omega," River says simply, but there's nothing simple about the way the words hang in the air.

Mavi pushes back from the table, his usual sharp focus turned inward. "Our mistake, more like."

"Don't," Austin says softly, but Mavi shakes his head.

"No, she needs to know. Willa deserves the truth about what she's walking into." His green eyes find mine, holding a mixture of old hurt and new determination. "Sarah played us. All of us. Systematically and brilliantly."

"How?" My voice comes out smaller than intended.

Austin shifts Luna to his shoulder, patting her back in soothing circles that seem to calm him as much as her. "She was... very good at being what each of us needed. Or what we thought we needed. I met her first—we were the same age, both young and trying to figure out our place in the world. She seemed so sweet, so eager to help with the ranch."

"She studied us," River adds, his usual calm cracked enough to show bitterness underneath. "Learned what we each wantedin an Omega and became it. For Austin, she was nurturing and domestic. For Mavi, she was interested in security and protection. For me, she shared a love of animals and nature."

"And for Cole?" I ask, though I'm not sure I want to know.

"For Cole, she was submissive and traditional," Austin says quietly. "Everything he'd been raised to expect in an Omega. She let him lead, deferred to his decisions, made him feel like the Alpha his father always said he should be."

The picture they're painting makes my stomach churn. I know this game—watched other Omegas play it at Iron Ridge, becoming mirrors instead of people, reflecting back what Alphas wanted to see instead of showing their true selves.

"She weaseled her way in," Mavi continues, his hands clenched on the table. "Slowly, carefully. Small gestures of care that seemed genuine. Remembering preferences, anticipating needs. By the time we realized it was calculated, we were already half in love with the image she'd created."

"We thought she was the one," River admits, and the pain in his voice makes me want to reach for him. "Started making plans. Marriage, bonding, building a life together. Cole was ready to propose."

"What happened?" Though I suspect I already know. The performance can only last so long before the mask slips.

"She got comfortable," Austin says. "Started making demands. Nothing huge at first—little things about how we spent money, who made decisions, whose name went on what documents. But it escalated. She wanted control of the ranch finances. Wanted Mavi to use his skills to dig up dirt on business rivals. Wanted River to falsify veterinary records for insurance fraud."

"When we pushed back," Mavi's voice goes hard, "she showed her true colors. The sweet Omega act droppedcompletely. She threatened to leave, to find Alphas who'd appreciate her properly. When that didn't work..."

"She played victim," River finishes. "Went to her grandfather—the Mayor—crying about how we were controlling, abusive, neglectful. How we'd promised her things and reneged. How we'd manipulated her into a relationship she didn't really want."

The implications hit me like cold water. "She lied about abuse?"

"Extensively and creatively," Mavi confirms. "Had stories for every bruise from ranch work, every time one of us had to leave for emergency calls. Painted a picture of four unstable Alphas who couldn't be trusted with an Omega's safety."

"The whole town turned on us overnight," Austin adds, bouncing Luna gently as she fusses. "Businesses we'd worked with for years suddenly found reasons to end contracts. People crossed the street to avoid us. The fire station started scheduling me for every shit shift they could justify."

"It nearly broke us," River says quietly. "The pack, I mean. We started turning on each other, wondering if maybe we had done something wrong, if maybe we were the monsters she painted us as."

"Why didn't you leave town?" I ask, though I think I know the answer.

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