Page 27 of Knot All is Crystal
The sound of it is a dream.
Fuck. He can’t be here, or that dream will quickly become a nightmare.
It’s not safe for him.
“Queenie doesn’t have an Alpha.” Puck’s words brook no argument, but Maverick does not seem deterred.
“Tell him, Queenie. We met in the pleasure dens last night.” My Alpha is on his feet, voice growing distraught, pleading for me to confirm his story.
“The Queen doesn’t work the pleasure dens,” Puck says through gritted teeth. “You’re mistaken.”
“No, I’m not! Just come here, Queenie. I know you scented me, too!”
“I’m sorry,” I say roughly. “I think you have me confused with someone else. I don’t work the pleasure dens. I don’t have a scent match.”
The lies threaten to rip my throat into shreds.
“What are you talking about? You smell like cotton candy!” His voice is shrill with emotion, and my chest aches. I want nothing more than to go to my Alpha and purr to soothe him, but I can’t.
I’m selfish, sure, but in the way that I’m going to grab the bigger slice of something we’ve cut in half.
I am not so selfish as to let him get wrapped up in this.
“Come, Puck.” I’m surprised at how level my voice sounds when it feels like I’m speaking through glass. “Let’s go. It’s clear he was expecting someone else.”
“Please!” Maverick begs as we turn our backs. “Please, I just found you. You can’t do this to me. I know what you are to me. Why are you lying? Why are you doing this? Why don’t you want me?”
I bite my lip, steeling myself to turn around. When I do, the devastation on his face almost knocks my feet out from under me.
“Look, you seem like a very nice Alpha, and I am sorry I am not who you think I am. You’ll find the right Omega for you one day.” I swallow around a sob that threatens to spill from between my lips. “I’m so sorry, but it can’t be me.”
I tuck tail and run, unwilling to spend another minute in the room with the Alpha that is supposed to be mine.
Puck takes my hand and pulls me into a supply closet, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tight as I bury my face in his chest and sob.
“You did the right thing,” he whispers into my hair. “I know that was so hard, Queenie, but you did the right thing. He wouldn’t have been safe.”
Puck never outwardly acknowledges the danger I’m in working for Kieran, and I appreciate him admitting that there is something Maverick needs to be protected from. It’s validating to know that it’s not all in my head.
“It’s not fair.” My voice cracks as I bury my face in his shirt, my tears soaking through it. “I didn’t ask to live like this. I was just trying to protect my sister and niece. Kieran will never be done with me. He’s never going to let me go. I could have a normal life with a pack, and a dog, and a yard with a stupid fence! I could be happy. That’s my Alpha!” Emotion curves my spine as I slip from Puck’s arms into a puddle on the floor. “That’s my Alpha, and I have to pretend he’s nothing to me.”
Puck clamors to the ground with me and pulls me into his lap. He clears his throat several times and softly strokes my hair while murmuring empty platitudes.
He can’t tell me it will be okay and mean it.
Because we both know Kieran is never going to let me go.
NINE
“You get him up.”
I throw an empty water bottle from my bedside table at the doorway, where my sisters whisper to each other.
“Go away. I’m sick.” I force out an exaggerated cough. “Deathly ill. Contagious.”
Tilly ignores me and stomps into the room, throwing the blinds open. Tabby yanks my comforter off me. “Ew, are you still sleeping on those sheets?”
“They smell like her,” I mumble, burrowing myself against the soiled sheets I stole from the club.
