Page 157 of Knot All is Crystal
When I showed up this morning, two days after killing Kieran Cobb and leaving her that ominous voicemail, she almost kicked my ass. It took a while for me to calm her down and explain what happened. I couldn’t, or rather, didn’t want to, tell her the whole story. The guilt would eat her alive. Instead, she now believes that I had a second job to pay off my Academy loans faster, and my boss became obsessed with me, had a psychotic break, and was holding me hostage.
It’s not a much better story, but hey, it’s close enough to the truth.
“Does it have anything to do with that pack?” she asks before I can answer, nodding her head towards where my guys are talking to some of the parents of the attendees. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
I laugh, taking a sip of my soda. “Yeah, it’s because of them. Puck,” I point at him, “worked for Kieran and is my scent match. We didn’t realize it all those years we worked together.”
“Oh my God, it’s like a novel. How romantic! You were so close that whole time?” She clutches her heart dramatically.
“That whole time. And then Maverick and I fell into each other’s arms, discovering we were also matches.” The goofy DJ makes a face at Hannah as she slides off the horse, and she falls over in laughter. “Gage is my tattoo artist, and I guess after four years of being pantsless around him, we finally realized we cared about one another.”
The tattooed Beta turns his arm around, pointing out tattoos to one of the dads. My eyes linger on a cherry on his bicep. When did that get there?
“And the other one? The one with the sleepy smile?” she asks, pointing at Emmanuel, who is conversing with Eve’s coworker in Spanish.
“He’s in the gene therapy trial I’m working on.”
“Oh man, doctor and patient is my favorite trope!” she coos. “I’m so happy for you, Crystal. I never thought you’d settle down. They seem like great guys.”
“They are. They encourage me, protect me, and love me. What more could I ask for?”
SIXTY
ONE MONTH LATER
“Sit still,”Trina snaps at me. “God, for a tattoo artist, you’re the worst at sitting for them.”
“It tickles!” I whine.
“Oh well! I’m almost done.”
Crystal and Maverick sit across from me, her legs thrown over his lap, as they watch Trina ink imprints of their teeth into bare spots of skin on my throat—one on each side.
I don’t feel less than for not being able to be bitten in anymore, but I still wanted something that showed I was theirs, especially since both of them already have tattoos that I did decorating their bodies.
I wanted everyone to know that I am claimed by the two beautiful people I can’t take my eyes off of.
I distract myself from the sensation of the needle by staring at the TV. A pretty Asian woman in a red suit fills the screen.
“Hey, that’s Puck’s cousin!” Crystal remarks.
“Oh, cool. Let me turn it up.” Maverick hops up a few times to raise the volume on the television.
Omega births are at an all-time low since The Perfect Omega, Nora Sloane, shared her struggles and trauma with us three years ago. With a more rigid implementation of Design rules, fewer Omegas are being born than ever.
Design Clinic proponents theorize that this is directly correlated with the recent rash of Omega abductions. Omegas are getting ripped off the streets at alarming rates, and if they return, they seem to have no memory of what happened to them while they were gone.
Betas are also disappearing, though at a slower rate, and we have no reports of any of them returning. This issue has personally affected Doctor Icarus Knight, a research physician at Design Clinic.
“Six weeks ago, my sister, Athena Valentine, went missing. We have no leads on her whereabouts. I am begging everyone to take precautions when they are out alone. If you have seen my sister, please report it to the Lunarcrest PD immediately. She is loved, and she is missed.”
This devastating story is not the only one we’ve heard in recent weeks. It begs the question: Where are all these people going? And what is the goal of taking them?
For Lunarcrest1, I’m Rebecca Kahn.
Crystal has her hand over her mouth, and Maverick stares unblinking at the TV when Rebecca finishes her segment. I know it’s hitting her hard after what happened to Atlas.
What is going on in our city?
