Page 17 of Knot Enough

“You here alone?” The tallest one asked. He reminded me of a football player who thinks he’s God's gift to the world. Pine and lavender entered my nose. The scent made me want to wrinkle my nose and rub it into one of my alpha’s more pleasant scents. Lydia loved pine and lavender, but I couldn’t stand it. A second scent coming from the man beside him was sage and jasmine, another scent I hated.

“No, I’m not. Just getting a drink.” I said coldly, lifting up the drink in my hand. “I’ll be going now.” I continued quickly, getting up from my seat. I turned to walk back to the table where my other two alphas were sitting. I’m sure Lydia was feeling my nervousness and uneasiness, which I wanted to correct quickly before she got too panicked. A large hand grabbed my arm roughly. The alpha who talked to me had gripped me so tightly that I couldn’t break my arm away even if I wanted to. I also started to feel slightly dizzy and it was getting a little hard to focus.

“Hey, come on now; all we want to do is talk. No need to get all prickly.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I grimace at him.

“Let go. I’ll be as prickly as I want, especially towards alphas who can’t get a hint,” I said firmly. All my alarm bells were ringing now. The man’s eyes grew colder at my rejection.

“It’ll only take a second. Why don’t we take it outside.” He said, all the warmth in his voice was now gone.

“Like I said, I’m not interested,” I growled. There was something off about these guys, and I was not going anywhere with them, especially when Lydia was out of sight.

“Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.” His words sent a shiver of fear down my spine. I winced at how tight his grip was now. The other man who hadn’t spoken took my other arm and pulled me as well. I dug my heels into the floor. That barely stopped their pace though. I was too weak from whatever the hell was in that drink to really protest. I prayed to whatever god that exists that Lydia would notice my panic and get our alphas to find me.

We left the restaurant and headed to a nearby alley, where I saw a black SUV parked. I grew frantic in my attempts to get away from these two men. One of them had thrown their hand against my mouth to keep me from screaming, but it didn’t stop me from trying to bite their hand. My imagination ran with all the terrible things they could or would do to me. With each step towards that car, I got more terrified at my quickly darkening future. We had gotten uncomfortably close to the SUV before one hand on my arm disappeared.

Within seconds, the other one did, too. I heard skin hitting skin, and the thump of bodies falling to the floor. Bubblegum, cotton candy, watermelon, and mint filled my nose. Relief filled my body as I stared at Finn and Sorren standing over both of the men who tried to grab me. I ran to my alphas and wrapped my arms around their necks.

“Thank you,” I said before tears flowed down my face. Two pairs of arms wound around my back and pulled me into their warm bodies. They both moved their heads into my neck, and I could feel their breath as they pulled my scent into their noses to make sure I was safe and there with them. We stayed like that for several seconds before they let go. Their eyes returned to the ground only to find the two men had disappeared. I could see the urge in Finn’s eyes. He was thinking about following them.

“Let’s get back,” I said, putting my hand in one of Finn’s and bringing him back to me. He stared at me for a moment before nodding. All three of us remained where we stood for several more seconds to ensure the men had really left before we returned to the restaurant. We walked back to our table, where Graham and Lydia were waiting. Once he noticed us, Graham moved from his position in front of Lydia and came up to us. His hand brushed my face lightly.

“You okay?” He asked with an intensity in his gaze I hadn’t seen before. There wasn’t a hint of the smile he usually wore. I nodded, unable to say anything because of how surprised I was by the change in his mood.

“I will be,” I said as I tried to see around him and check on Lydia. Graham nodded before moving out of the way for me.

Lydia’s face had tears staining it. Her arms were around her body, making her seem small and fragile. Her hair was messed up, which let me know she’d started pulling it. She began to step towards me but stopped after a couple of steps. I opened my arms to let her know I wanted her to hug me, but she shook her head and covered her nose. There was a heartbroken and remorseful look on her face.

“I can’t. The smell. I just can’t.” She said, practically crying as she spoke. At the sound, Finn moved to stand next to her and rubbed her arms to try and calm her. Confusion filled my mind, along with remorse.Why wouldn’t she want to be near me? What’s wrong with my smell? What could get her to act like this?A lightbulb went off in my head, and I knew.

“Was it them? Were they the ones that tried to take me?” I said hesitantly. She nodded, a sob breaking through. Sorren rushed to her other side and held her to him. I watched him pat her back and whisper comforting words into her ears. I looked down at my shirt. The two men only touched the sleeves. Before I could really think about it, I brought my hands to the bottom of my shirt and pulled it off. Thankfully, whatever I took must have worn off because my hands were steady. The alphas looked at me curiously. I might have teased them about their obvious attraction any other time, but this wasn’t the time. I handed my shirt to Finn and spread my arms to Lydia again.

“Better?” I asked. She released her hand from her nose and smelled the air several times. Her face brightened with relief before running out of Sorren and Finn’s arms and into mine.

“Better.” She replied, nuzzling her face into my neck and taking a deep breath. I tightened my grip around her. We stayed like that for several minutes, basking in each other's warmth and safety.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, pulling away from Lydia slightly to talk to the others. All three of them nodded in agreement.

Graham pulled off his suit jacket and threw it over my shoulders as we headed out to the car. I kept Lydia tucked into my side, not letting her move an inch away. Finn took his motorcycle while the rest of us entered the car. Lydia and I remained close to each other while Graham drove us back to the house. None of us said anything on the drive. The adrenaline from my body was finally leaving me, and I was almost asleep by the time we got back to the house. Finn ended up lifting me from the car. He carried me from the car into the house, setting me down on the couch in the living room. Sorren brought out a plush blanket that he wrapped around Lydia and me. I felt like a burrito bythe time he was done. Sorren filled the last spot on the couch next to me. The others sat in chairs on the opposite side of us. Sorren wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into his chest. We all remained silent for a moment, taking the chance to ground ourselves.

“What happened?’ Finn asked, looking at me. I sat up, pulling away from Sorren.

“Twojerk alphas grabbed me, probably drugging me without permission and trying to take me somewhere I didn’t want to go,” I said; anger swelling inside of me as I recalled the event. A cascade of growls filled the room. I rolled my eyes at the display of alpha aggressiveness.

“They drugged you! Are you okay?” Finn asked, getting up from his seat to check my forehead. I waved him off and continued. “That’s not all, though." My voice darkened as I remembered Lydia and I's conservation. Graham’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean that’s not everything?” Graham asked, the smile on his face tightening. I’m starting to think his man’s facial expression was just forms of different smiles, but there were rare times when he let those smiles slip. I looked at Lydia, gauging her expression. She looked terrified at what I was hinting at. I moved to rub my hand up and down her arm. I let my scent comfort her. We would have to talk about this eventually, but I had hoped they would get more attached to us before we approached this topic. I’m sure Lydia was getting ahead of herself and spiraling at the thought they might reject us because of her past. Packs tended to not want previously rejected omegas, but I hoped this pack wasn’t like the others when they discovered the whole story.

“I’ve mentioned before how I rejected a pack after we were matched.” She said, looking at all the alphas. They nodded. “Well, I wasn’t completely open about who they were to me.” She continued as she tried to move away from me. I pulled her closer to me, not allowing an inch of leeway. She wasn’t going to go through this alone.

“They were my scent matches.” She said after taking a moment to collect herself. Shock clouded the expressions on Sorren, Finn, and Graham’s faces.

“You rejected a scent match,” Sorren said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. I nodded, not trusting myself to confirm his words. It was unbelievable in our society for a scent match to be rejected. It was almost unheard of. Scent matches usually only parted when one died.

“Why would you do something like that?” Sorren asked, looking at Lydia with astonishment.

“Because they weren’t man enough to communicate with Lydia,” I growled. Sorren looked at me in shock. I rarely get angry, and it’s usually only for people I care about.

“I rejected them because they left me for days to go and be with another omega while I was in heat. They were upset that I wouldn't have sex withthem, so they just left me to handle my heat alone.” She said, explaining the situation. Several growls rang out after she finished her sentence. I puffed my chest out, feeling proud of my alphas' need to protect my omega. Lydia stared at them, surprised by their reaction. A part of her thought her scent match’s absence was warranted, but I have done my best to convince her otherwise. Heats were a time when an omega’s emotions were at an all time high. They needed their mates with them to handle the storm of emotions and take care of them. Most of the time that included having lots and lots of sex to curb the pain omegas felt, but with current day medicine heat pains could be managed now. I was thankful my pack was helping her see that my point was valid.

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