Page 45 of Hangman's Knot
But then the alpha speaks to her. And she knows that voice. She'd know that voice anywhere. That voice speaks to her every night in her dreams, saying filthy and wonderful and sweet things to her.
"Eden," he says softly.Julius. He's here.
Behind him, she sees the shadows move. And then she smells them. Luke and Tenor. Her mates are all here, sitting in her shabby little nest in her tiny apartment.
She does drop her groceries then, and she launches herself at them. Strong, familiar arms catch her.
She's crying, tears flooding down her face as her chest heaves with great wracking sobs. She has never known relief like this. Is she dreaming? No, even in her dreams, she can never quite get their scents right. The heavy weight of their hands grounds her.
There are three warm rumbling purrs around her, big hands tucking her into her nest while they surround her on all sides.
Since they've been separated, her nests have felt all wrong, always too small or too big. She's attempted to line the sides with extra pillows and blankets to try and emulate the feel of them next to her, but nothing could ever even come close to the real thing.
She melts into their embrace like her body finally knows she's safe. Her alphas are here and they'll take care of everything.
Wait. She freezes. They were here, in her apartment. This was bad. What were they thinking? She fights off the heavy reassuring mass of their arms and it feels like she is taking off her skin with it, it hurts so much to put even an inch of space between them.
They allow her to push them away without a fight, just enough that she can sit up. Their gazes all look concerned and guarded, as if she's about to reject them.
"You can't be here," she says, her voice is frantic. "This is the first place they'll look!"
Their eyebrows pull down in confusion and they share looks between them.
"What do you mean?" Luke's voice is tinged with concern. "Who's going to look for what?"
"Didn't you break out? How are you here right now?"
Julius barks out a startled laugh, as if that was the last thing they were expecting her to say. His reply is wry, but his voice is gentle. "I appreciate your faith in us to think we could pull off a prison break, but we didn't escape. They released us."
That stops her frantic struggling and she feels relief sag inside her. She pauses, needing reassurance, her hand still on his arm. "They—they let you out?"
"The justice system finally decided to actually serve justice today," Tenor grumbles, his hand reaching out to pat her hair as if he can't stop himself.
"Wait. Wait! They—they let you out, like you're saying you're..."
"Free," Luke finishes for her, bringing her hand up to his mouth to kiss each of her fingers. "We have new identities, but we're free."
Tenor continues, his voice heavy with meaning. "It seems someone alerted someone high up in the government to our situation. Once our commanding general heard what was going on, he pulled rank and got us out. Even pulled some strings and got us new IDs so we could start fresh."
She feels tears well up in her eyes, her mind frantically trying to catch up to the relief that's already flooding her body. "So you've... come home? For good? It actually worked?"
"Fuck no," Julius says, his voice turning angry, and she almost jumps at the jarring sound, so unused to hearing it directed towards her. "And you're in big fucking trouble for not telling us that this was the sort of shithole you were living in, Eden. No, we're not fucking home. We've packed your stuff and we're getting you out of here. Tonight. We're going to stay in a hotel until we find something livable to buy."
Despite the harshness of his words, she feels tears well in her eyes with relief. Her mates were here. They were going to take care of her. They were going to have a home.
She whines a desperate sound. The last time she had seen them, they had been wearing collars. Their need had gnawed at them like savage beasts until they took her hard on the floor until she had bled.
And she'd bled for days.
Fear creeps up her spine and she tenses. She's never been scared to be with them before. All those times in prison when they could've been caught by any number of awful people, when her only option had been to fuck them or risk getting torn apart by the feral alphas they were locked in with, she had never been scared of them.
They must smell it or sense it through the bond, because their pawing hands pause and they rumble out soothing purrs thatwrap around her like a feather duvet.
"We don't need to do anything right now," Tenor says softly from above her.
But she did need them. She needed them with every fibre of her being.
"We were too rough with you," Julius breathes, dread creeping into his voice. "You're afraid now? After the rut?"
