Page 140 of Knot All is Crystal
“Crystal was his only weakness, you know? I can’t say I blame him. She’s something else.” He sighs wistfully. “I think he started to crack when I slipped her some fizz and let some VIPs take the blame. I knew she’d accept a drink from me, and that those smarmy Alphas would take the blame.”
Puck snarls behind me, and when I spy him out of the corner of my eye, he’s staring Tyler down like he may pounce. Gage moves to block the feral Alpha’s view of the blonde man in front of me.
“From there, I choked his supply of Omegas a little and used some of the stock to bribe the right people.” He laughs hollowly. “And then things were crumbling, and he was going to give me Crystal to fix the problems I created. It was a good plan! She would’ve been thrilled because she knows I will take care of her.”
“You’re the trafficker?” Mav’s voice is tight.
“Ugly word, brother,” Tyler says haughtily. “I saw a gap in the market, and I plugged it. That’s all. There is a lot of demand for pretty Omegas and even some for Betas.” He reaches into the back of his pants and pulls out a gun. “Now, please give me Crystal, and we can all come out of this a happy pack. I don’t want to hurt you because that would hurt her, and I care for her. I’d hate to hurt another of my lovers tonight. But if I have to get rid of you to get her, I’ll have to hope she recovers from the loss.”
A snarl from Puck and a cry from Crystal threaten to derail my attention. I cannot take my eyes off the gun that is pointed at my chest. “Crystal won’t be happy when she finds out what you’ve been doing,” I remind him. “She’s been threatened with her niece being turned over to you for four years.”
“I never would have let that happen!” he shouts. “Never! She knows me better than that!”
“But you let it happen to someone else’s niece! Someone else’s family!” Maverick shouts. “You don’t have the high ground here.”
“Blah blah blah.” Tyler’s careful facade is crumbling. “Shut up and give me my Omega. I have places to be.”
He tries to shoulder past me to Puck, and I react instinctively. I grab the barrel of the gun and twist it, trying to get it out of his hands. He steps back, attempting to yank it from my grip, but I don’t let go.
As long as I have a hold on his gun, I’ve got him stuck here. He won’t let me be in control of his weapon.
“Get out of here!” I yell over my shoulder. “Take Crystal and go!”
Tyler growls and sends a well-placed kick into my kneecap, and I buckle but keep my grip strong. “Let go!” he shouts, trying to get it out of my hands. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to!”
I see the others leading a hazy Crystal and Puck from the room, and I breathe a sigh of relief. They won’t be caught in the crossfire. I’ll catch up to them later.
“Fuck!” Tyler shouts when he sees they’ve gone. He makes one last play to get the gun out of my hands, yanking it with an unexpected strength.
And it goes off.
FIFTY-THREE
“Is Manny behind us?”I shout as I run across the parking lot.
Gage, keeping pace beside me, shakes his head. “He’ll catch up.”
Prism is in chaos, and we didn’t notice it from the pleasure dens. Motorcycles fill the parking lot, and a line of leather-clad men with guns block off the entrance like renegade cops.
Where are the cops, now that I think about it?
Wouldn’t they be called out here?
Unless they were paid to look the other way.
Fuck, is the police force really that corrupt? I knew it wasn’t good in some places, but I, clearly naively, thought Lunarcrest was different.
I guess not.
There’s the faint ‘pop’ of gunshots within the building, and I wince with every single one.
We’ve got to get our Omega out of this.
“You good, Puck?” I call over my shoulder. The massive Alpha grunts, hiking a blanket-wrapped Crystal over his shoulder some more. He seems to be calming down a bit, growing clearer, but she’s definitely in a haze from the fizz and her heat spike.
As if on cue, she whines. “Shh, Crys,” Gage murmurs from beside her, “we’ll get you taken care of real soon.”
“Nest,” she sobs, her first word since she was found standing over a dead body. It breaks my heart in two.
