Page 112 of Ruin Me Knot
The bond is a living thing, radiant and endless. Every inch of her exhaustion and sweetness pulses through me. I’ve never known peace like this, but it isn’t simple comfort. It’s responsibility. Gratitude as fierce as any hunger. She brings heat to the coldest places inside me, filling up a gnawing emptiness I never realized was there. She’s the answer to a question I didn’t know I was asking, the light in all my dark rooms.
Raw fissures outline every fragile break in her soul. Her trauma isn’t just old bruises and faded grief. Her Omega part had split inside her, forced to survive by fragmenting, by turning suffering into walls. Those splintered edges catch at my own soul, pricking me with her terror and the unbearable moments when she was nothing but a thing to be used and broken.
Rage gutters low in my chest. "You feel that, Jax?"
He knows what I mean. He rests back on a throw cushion as he threads his fingers through her hair, needing to touch her but not wanting to wake her. His despair washes over her anguish. "All of it, brother. I feel all of it."
"She shouldn’t have had to endure that. I don’t know how I’m supposed to live with what she’s suffered, knowing how deep it goes. How anyone could do this to her…" I press my lips to her hair, inhale her scent, then let the storm subside, banked but not forgotten.
Jax locks his gaze on her, as though he needed to keep her in his line of sight. "We heal her. Day by day, brother. With love. With patience. With everything we are."
I swallow the last of my fury. It won’t do her any good if she sees it. "I’ll spend the rest of my life healing her. Loving her. Whatever she wants is hers. I swear it.” My voice hardens. “Words aren’t enough. We have to do more. Omegas should never suffer what she did. We end it, Jax. Not just for her. For all of them. I’ll rip this disease from the world, so no other Alpha endures this kind of torment. So no other Omega bears these scars."
I’m taking us down a path we never imagined, but this is right. I’m writing our future in blood and bones. Built out of wreckage, carved by our hands, shaped by our vow to Leah.
The military honed us into weapons. Now we have a war worth fighting. Our battle is for Leah, for Omegas like her, for every vulnerable soul abandoned in the crosshairs of monsters who profit from their suffering.
"I’m with you, brother. Every step," Jax says, our pack bond swelling with his conviction.
Leah shifts in her sleep. My chest aches as I gather her closer, the bond alive and shimmering through me. "Omegas are the completion to an Alpha’s soul. I never knew that hollow space existed until she filled it. Brought us together and gave us this purpose. Her gift is priceless."
JAX
She’s the light braided through the four of us, turning every broken shadow into sunshine. I barely believe I get to keep her. To love her. To call her mine. She’s more than precious. She’s sacred. The axis around which we all turn, the warmth that softens my sharp edges. Her laughter, her suffering, her stubborn hope, is woven through me now and creating an inseparable bond.
Leah has done the impossible. She’s made us more than a pack. She’s made us a family. She’s taken our separate souls and tangled them so tight there’s no way to tell where one ends and the others begin. She’s blended us. Made us whole. Healed places I never dared to look at, let alone show anyone.
She’s tucked safe against me, our bond humming, warmth and trust seeping through skin and bone, rewriting every rule I ever lived by. I kiss her shoulder, gratitude choking any words I might have spoken. I thank every star and everytwist of fate that brought her into my arms, that made us whole. In her light, I learned what it means to become more than just a man. I became hers. I became family. I need her, I belong to her, and every part of me is better for loving her.
Awe rolls in my chest every time I look at her. There’s no limit to my love for her. None. I will burn the world to keep her safe. Will lay down my life and call it a mercy. I understand how bonded Alphas feel now. The possessiveness to protect. The knowledge that the world can truly hurt me if anything were to happen to her.
It’s a scary realization.Terrifying.
We ended Hardwick. That monster will never hurt another Omega, but the world isn’t clear yet. Wallace is still out there. An unacceptable threat. There are Omegas out there just like Leah, somewhere in the dark, waiting for someone to come. I swear to every god that listens that I won’t rest until we take Wallace down, until there’s not a single Omega left behind. Leah deserves a world gentle to Omegas like her. Until that day comes, every heartbeat, every breath I have left belongs to her and to the fight to make her kind of safety the only kind there is.
"We’re going to help Pack Blackwood and Pack Mitchell. They have us now backing them up. It’ll mean rearranging our jobs, our whole lives, but I don’t give a shit. I live for Leah now. Everything I do, it’s for her."
Ronan’s nod is certain. "Agreed, brother. When she’s recovered, we’ll let her decide where she wants to go. I know she won’t want to be far from her friends. They’re as close as sisters, those girls. Bonded through hell."
"Then we stay wherever she wants to be." I let that truth settle as I picture our apartment. The leather couch, battered table, not much softness anywhere. It’s more bachelor pad than home. I don’t have to go back there. Home isn’t a building or an address. Home is wherever Leah is, wherever she feels safe and wanted and loved. Home is Leah. Everything else is just furniture.
GABRIEL
I’ve heard every word my brothers have spoken. Every vow, promise, and plan for our future. The bond leaves nothing hidden. Their happiness shimmers through me, a warm current of hope, awe, pride, and love braided with the fierceprotectiveness that shapes every breath we share. Jax’s gratitude flows deep, his unwavering devotion lighting up the promise to burn down the world for our Omega. Ronan’s iron certainty pulses beside it, steely tenderness and a willingness to rearrange the stars if it means easing her pain. Together, each of our hearts is attuned to Leah’s existence, united in purpose and love.
But what settles deepest in me is the reality of Leah’s trauma and the way it’s shaped her. The way every scar is a history written in suffering and survival. The bond turns those old wounds inside out, shows me the split in her spirit and the hard, beautiful courage it took to let us in. She has scars that will never fade, but just being allowed close enough to understand them is a gift I will never take for granted.
Our Omega is so fucking brave. Brave for letting us in. Brave for loving us. We may never erase those marks, but we can lay love over them, thick and bright enough that happiness echoes instead of anguish.
"Wherever we end up, we’ve got to get Leah a puppy. One that’ll curl up with her in whatever nest she builds. And we’ll spoil her with the softest towels, throw rugs, and cushions we can find. Maybe even one of those giant swinging nests you hang from a beam. I saw one that could actually fit Jax’s massive biceps."
Jax lets out a rumbling laugh. "Glad to see you’re awake, brother. And for the record, Leah’s already shown plenty of appreciation for these biceps. She left her mark on one. Don’t be jealous, Gabe."
I roll my eyes although he can’t see them under my closed lids. But he’ll be able to feel me. I take heart in that. "Not jealous, brother. I’m impressed. It’s a public service, honestly. I’ve never seen an Omega so happy to be squeezed by a set of arms before."
Jax’s happiness resounds through our fresh bond. We’re all on the same page when it comes to our Omega. Wherever Leah leads us, we’ll call home. Right after I find Wallace and make him choke on his balls. That’s what this bright, soul-deep love means.
Leah sighs, soft and content, barely louder than the hush of our breathing. "Taffy."
