Page 114 of In Knots

Don’t cry Alexa! Don’t cry!

“Hey,” Sadie reaches behind him and plucks a tissue from the box on my desk. “A little early for the tears. But get them out of the way now before I do your make-up.” He dabs at the corner of my eyes and smiles. I try to smile back, but it shakes on my lips. Sadie drops onto my desk and crosses his arms over his chest. “Right,” he says, “I’m sensing these aren’t tears of happiness then. What’s up, sweetie pie? Better out than in, in my experience.”

I want to tell him, I really do. Heaven knows why. I hardly know the man really. But I’ve had no one else to talk to apart from Claude and I’m so desperate to get all this off my chest.

I force myself not to. I’m forbidden, aren’t I?

“Would you like me to fetch your mum instead?” he asks.

“No.” I shake my head, my wet hair slapping against my neck.

“Let me guess …” He narrows his eyes, inspecting me. “You are not happy about this wedding.”

I nibble on my lip.

“I’m going to take that as a yes, unless you want to contradict me.”

I shake my head, unable to stop myself.

“The gossip circulating is that he’s knocked you up,” he tells me. “Hence the reason for the shotgun wedding.” His eyes drift to my stomach and my hands rest there.

“Oh no!” I gasp. “We haven’t even, you know.”

His perfectly manicured eyebrows leap up to his forehead.

“Shit, sweetie pie, I have to say that is not wise. You need to test the man out,” he rolls his hand through the air, “What happens if he’s rubbish in bed?”

I shudder at the thought of going to bed with Simon Stanford.

Sadie shifts on the desk. “Oh my. That’s not good. That wasn’t one of those good omega shudders.”

My eyes fall to the floor. “No,” I admit, “it wasn’t.”

Sadie is quiet for a moment, his fingernails drumming against my dressing table. “Then why are we marrying him?”

I sigh. I shouldn’t tell this man the truth. Yet I can’t keep it hidden, the words come tumbling from my mouth. “They’re making me.” My eyes flick to the mirror, searching the reflection for anyone hovering near the door.

To his credit, Sadie’s face remains passive, but I see the way his throat bobs. He leans a little towards me and whispers, “who? Your parents? They can’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

I twist the tie of my dressing gown between my hands, gripping the material so tightly it burns against my fingers. “They can.”

Sadie frowns. “I know it may seem that way because you’re young, but this is your life, sweetie pie, you get to choose what you want to do.” He crosses his legs and leans back a little. “My dad used to be uptight when he wanted to be. Used to like bossing my mum around. Tried to do the same to me. Wanted me to settle down with a nice alpha woman. But you see, women aren’t my thing, and he didn’t like that. I left. And I can tell you, I’m much happier, and doing just fine thank you very much. I’ve no doubt you’d be just fine too. I know they feed you all this bull about omegas not being able to look after themselves,” he rolls his eyes, “about alphas being dangerous and depraved. But hey,” he grins, “that’s what makes them fun!”

I laugh. It’s the first time I have in two days. But the sound quickly fades on my lips. “It’s not like that,” I say. “If I could, I would just get up and walk away, but …”

“But?” he prompts.

“I can’t tell you,” I whisper so quietly I’m not sure he hears.

“Sweetie pie,” he takes my hand in his, stroking his fingers over mine, “we omegas have to look out for one another. If I can help, I will.” He rests his right forefinger under my chin and lifts my gaze to meet his. The usual humour is missing from his voice when he speaks again. “Hey, I’m deadly serious. If you want to tell me I will try and help.”

I feel a new tear dribble down my face. “There’s nothing you can do. My father has threatened to ruin them if I don’t marry him. I can’t do that to them.”

“Them?”

“My alphas. My pack.”

This time he can’t hide his surprise. He drops my chin and veers back, his mouth falling open. “Your pack?!”

“It’s why this wedding is happening so quickly. They dragged me away from my alphas. My father says if I don’t marry this man, he will ensure my alphas go to prison and who knows what he’ll arrange to happen to them in there.”

“And what do your alphas say? Surely they won’t let you marry this man.”

“I haven’t been able to talk to them.” I shake my head rapidly from side to side. “I don’t have a phone or a laptop or computer. I have no way—”

Footsteps sound out in the hallway and we both turn to look at the door.

Sadie jumps off the dressing table and picks up a make-up brush. He skims the bristles across my wet cheek and leans in to ask in my ear, “the name? What’s the name of your pack?”

“The Highwaymen,” I whisper just as my mother walks into the room.

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