Page 133 of Knot What She Seems
My parents!
My mates!
The desire to leap through the window and fight them wars with my need to warn everyone. But a warning will help more people and save more lives. I pivot on my heel, spinning, my lips opening to tell Sam to run?—
My roommate’s fist slams into my open jaw. Pain immediately ricochets up my cheek, but before my head has even finished the sideways swivel caused by his blow, Sam’s hitting me again. A smashing blow to the temple makes my vision fuzz to black for a second and my spine feel like water. A rag comes to my mouth, and the sickly sweet smell of chloroform hits me.
Fuck no!
I struggle against his hold, elbowing hard and somehow breaking loose, spinning away. Gasping. Each breath is a struggle, harsh and scratching.
But my training kicks in along with an outraged sense of fury. A smoldering, fuming malice because I saved this fucker.
I duck, swiping with my leg and sending Sam sprawling backward, breath huffing from him as he hits the ground.
A cough wracks my chest, and I taste blood, though I ignore it because the beta is already coming at me again. Rising to his knees, he dives toward my feet, and I jump sideways, but my bad ankle doesn’t give me enough lift, and his hand wraps around my polished leather shoe. He yanks, hard, and I stumble, hands flying and latching on the sink to my right.
“Sam. What the fuck?” I grit out, but the words have hardly left my mouth when the bathroom door bursts open.
Two wild-eyed alphas enter the room dressed entirely in black, guns trained immediately on my chest.
For a split second, hope bursts through my chest, but then I look for security badges on their chests, and there are none.
A horrid fear slinks down my throat and then wrenches my chest and twists it tight.
The Noths have already penetrated the building. I won’t be able to warn anyone.
“This is her,” Sam huffs as he slowly stands.
His eyes are dead and emotionless as he turns to me, and immediately, I can tell that pleading will do no good.
I’ve been sold out before.
The night in Eros comes back to me in full force…and Sam’s pleading tone takes on a new meaning for me. Was he…bargaining with them? Not just begging for his life?
A boulder drops in my chest, cracking my ribs and cramping my stomach as I realize that I might have foolishly bestowed my trust once again. And I’m not certain if I hate him or myself more in this moment.
“Told you I could help you get in,” Sam adds as he backs toward the doorway, ready to backstab me and stride off.
Lungs snagging, I can’t breathe, and everything inside of me heats to boiling. Steaming angry tears varnish my eyes and make the entire scene feel unreal for a moment. And then I’m hit with a primal, urgent desire to hurt that beta, to rip through his skin and dig the heart from his chest with my bare hands because he’s betrayed me.
Betrayed our kingdom.
Ignoring the guns trained on me, I rush at him.
But a Noth fires his weapon, a whistling, high-pitched sound that’s nothing like a bullet. Something sharp bites into my neck just as I get my hands on Sam. And even as I shove him roughly, I can feel the strength draining from my arms. My limbs. My mind.
As everything dims and fades around me, and the Noth soldiers march grimly forward, I have one final, dark thought.
I’m about to relive my worst nightmare.
