Page 41 of Ruin Me Knot
I catch the edge of his ploy and want to roll my eyes. He’s slipping past her defenses, and it works, catching her off guard. She crumples, the anger she used as a crutch to survive falling away, no longer required.
"How about a warm bath while Gabriel throws together breakfast?" I suggest. "You can put on the sweats after if you want. Or just wear the robe for the rest of the day if you’re more comfortable that way."
Her thumb absently moves over the fluff at the collar, testing the texture like she’s still not quite sure it’s real. She likes it. Just like I knew she would. Everything at LuxeNest Essentials is made for an Omega’s sensory needs.
I hadn’t expected her to be awake and lucid again. The underlying scent of her heat is still wrong, that chemical taint we noticed before. Alternating between her heat and lucidity is only prolonging the strain on her body. She’s running on empty, her system stretched thin, and she’s been through enough. When she next goes into heat, real heat, I want her body strong enough to handle it properly. I want her demanding our attention for days to ease her through it, as is her right.
Jax slowly stands. "That’s a good idea. It will be nice and relaxing for you."
Leah stiffens, braced for a fight, not ready to accept our suggestion. But she can’t hide the longing in her perfume, or the way she glances in the direction of the bathroom as her fingers tighten on the sweatsuit like it’s a lifeline.
Jax holds out his hand, "Come on. I’ll help you."
Leah pushes to stand. She shakes and I tense to catch her if she falls. She’s even weaker than I thought. I can’t ignore my churning gut about potential health issues. We’re safe here, but not if she’s so sick we can’t provide the right medical treatment for her.
"I can run my own bath." She gathers the sweats to her chest and strides as best she can to the bathroom.
She doesn’t look back at us, but the flush in her cheeks and the way she clutches her prize tell me everything I need to know. She’s unsettled, a little roughed up by hope, but she wants this. She’s taking the softness with her. That’s a win.
As soon as the bathroom door shuts with the sass I love, Gabriel rakes both hands through his hair, shoulders bunching up. The emotions he’d suppressed punch through the air. He shoots me a look, eyes dark with worry, and swears under his breath. "Did you see how she nearly went down when she stood up?"
I rise, putting my hand on my hips, facing them both. "Yeah. I saw. The way her heat comes and goes like that isn’t right. She’s running on fumes." My gut twists, a sick edge to it.
I’m used to rescue, to charging in when things are bad, but watching her body fail her leaves me blind. There’s no field manual for this.
Jax stares at the closed bathroom door. "She’s not eating enough. There’s not enough of her to fight through this." He shoots me a loaded look, and I know he’s thinking the same as me. "If she gets any worse, we have to get her to Pinnacle and Mira’s Omega Healing Centre. I will not chance her health, despite Hardwick’s threat. They have the best Omega care in the region."
The others nod, the weight of that truth settling between us. She’d be at Pinnacle already if we’d been able to get our hands on Hardwick. It only makes me more determined to find the missing senator fast.
Jax turns to me. "Anything from your recon?"
I exhale. "It was a bust. We can cross that site off the list. Nothing is hiding there except vagrants."
There’d be no homeless in situ if Hardwick was using it. She’d clear out any threats. I’d broken into the crumbling building only to find decayed office furniture, a nest of rats and a group of desperate homeless I’d sent to the closest shelter for a hot meal, and a shower should they want it.
Gabriel nods, still chewing on the news, his eyes flicking between the maps on the coffee table. "That’s something at least. I’m going to cook up a storm for breakfast. Anything our Omega can get into her is a win. Then I’ll scout out thenext location. The sooner we find Hardwick, the sooner we can get our Omega proper medical attention. This shitshow needs to end."
I can just imagine Pack Blackwood and Pack Mitchell climbing the walls, frantic for any sign of Leah for the sakes of their Omegas. Mira and Emma will be sick with worry until they know for certain that Leah’s safe. Part of me aches to call them, but the truth is, it’s too risky. Any contact could tip Hardwick off or put everyone in even more danger. Especially since we don’t know what ghosts she may have in the field.
Gabe is right: we must move, and fast. Not just to keep the Blackwoods and Mitchells from burning down the city in a panic, but because Leah needs real help. Every moment her heat flickers in and out is eating away at her. We can’t afford a single misstep, the way her body’s wearing thin.
The priority is clear. We hunt Hardwick down, one lead at a time, until the job is done. Until then, all we can do is take care of our Omega here, keep her fed, keep her safe, and pray her system holds until this heat breaks for good.
And once we’re through this we’ll bring her home. Our real home, where she can nest when and where she wants all day long. A place where loving every scared, stubborn, wounded inch of her won’t just be natural. It’ll be everything.
We’re on edge, all of us, every sense stretched thin and tuned straight to the sound of water in the bathroom. Each shift, each small splash sends a jolt through the room. Then comes a sigh from behind the door and heat slams low in my gut making my cock thicken. I bite back a groan and glance at the others.
Gabriel breaks the tension, eyes wide with mock misery as he cups the bulge between his thighs. "You boys realize I’ll be sporting this for the next decade, right? I guess recon just got a whole lotharder." He waggles his brows, smiling at us both to see if we get his juvenile joke.
I shake my head, even as the corners of my mouth want to twitch up. Jax snorts, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the hallway.
Breakfast soon covers the counter. There are stacks of pancakes, bacon and sausages, scrambled eggs, cut fruit and bread and syrup warming in a dish. We’ve cooked a feast, nerves making sure her choices are endless.
When Leah finally steps out, she’s wrapped in a cloud of steam and the pink LuxeNest sweats. The hoodie swallows her frame, plush and shockingly soft, sleeves pulled down over her hands. Her sweet, scent curls around all of us and I eagerly drag it into my lungs.
Jax groans under his breath, low and so raw I nearly growl in answer. I can’t take my eyes off her as she stands self-conscious as all hell. Gabriel flashes her one of his Sunshine smiles and she exhales, her shoulders dropping half an inch. He nudges her toward the table with a gentle teasing, "Come on, Sunshine, you don’t want cold pancakes, trust me." She lets herself be guided, wary but not running.
The mountain of food stops her in her tracks. She wavers, her gaze darting from dish to dish, but Gabe keeps talking, stopping her mind from snapping to another trauma. He keeps up a running commentary on how we cheat at pancake-eating contests and how he once flipped a stack so high it nearly hit the ceiling. He seats her at the counter and sets a plate in front of her, so full the pancakes threaten to topple, before pouring a thick ribbon of golden syrup over the stack.
