Page 18 of Down Knot Out (Pack Alphas of Misty Pines #3)

Chapter Twelve

Chloe

A s Dominic heads for my kitchen, I walk toward the door, tracing my finger over the delicate shamrock pendant. The happiness that spreads through me at this domesticity leaves me floating.

How did he notice how much I missed my old necklace? I hadn’t mentioned it to any of the guys.

I remember everything about you .

I shiver as his words from earlier replay in my mind. He certainly recalls how to kiss me in a way that curls my toes. What other details has he stored away, waiting for the right moment to bring them back into the light?

The knock on the door reminds me of what I’m supposed to be doing, and I quicken my steps, eager to be back on the couch with Dominic .

I fish my wallet from my purse hanging on the coat rack. The peephole shows a figure in a delivery uniform, their baseball cap showing the Indian restaurant’s logo.

My attention returns to Dominic in the kitchen as I swing the door open. “Hi, thank y?—”

An artificial vanilla-and-pine stings my nostrils, cutting off my words. My body recognizes the scent before my brain does, instinct screaming danger before conscious thought can catch up.

“Hello, Chloe.”

My head whips around, my pink hair slapping my cheek. The wallet slips from my fingers and thuds onto the floor.

Simon Sullivan stands in my doorway, his thin frame swimming in a delivery uniform that doesn’t belong to him. Limp, dirty-blond hair sticks out from beneath the cap pulled low over his forehead, and his obsessive brown eyes peer out from beneath the brim.

The weak chin with its scraggly goatee attempts to give his face definition but fails. His bolo tie, with its blue stone that matches the description from my book series, peeks out from beneath the uniform collar.

My mouth opens to scream for Dominic, but before the sound emerges, Simon’s hand closes around my wrist. One violent yank pulls me into the hallway. I stumble, my sock-covered feet sliding on the polished hallway floor.

“What are you—” My words cut off as my back hits the wall opposite my apartment door, the air punching from my lungs.

“We need to go.” The words sound rehearsed, and his grip tightens around my wrist, grinding the delicate bones.

I try to wrench my arm away, but his grip is iron. “Let me go!” I twist toward my open apartment door, desperate to be heard. “Dominic!”

Simon yanks me down the hallway toward the elevator. My socks slide and catch on the carpet, and I almost fall face-first.

“You don’t understand.” Simon’s focus darts from me to the end of the hall. “I’m saving you.”

“I don’t need saving!” I dig my heels in, finally getting traction. “Dominic! Help!”

Simon spins to face me, his face crumpling into a wounded and dangerous expression. “Don’t say his name.” His fingers dig deeper, and I wince at the pain. “He doesn’t deserve you. None of them do.”

The elevator doors stand open at the end of the hall, a brick preventing them from closing. He planned this .

“Simon, please.” I switch tactics, softening my voice. “You’re hurting me.”

His grip loosens enough not to bite, but his forward momentum continues. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. But we need to leave now, before he comes.”

My throat constricts with fear. The confrontation with him in the woods was unsettling, but this is a new level of danger.

“Why are you doing this?” I try to slow our progress toward the elevator.

“Because they’re all using you. I’ve seen it,” Simon insists. “I’ve been watching. I know what they want.”

At the revelation that he’s still been watching me, my stomach churns. “Simon, I?—”

My plea cuts short as we reach the elevator, and he shoves me inside, his bony frame stronger than it appears. I stumble into the back wall, the metal cold through the fabric of my T-shirt.

Simon steps in, his attention never leaving me as he jabs at the button panel. The doors begin to close, and with them, my chance of escape. I lunge forward, but Simon blocks me with his body, using his height to his advantage.

He misinterprets my fear for concern. “They’ll never find us. I’ve planned for everything. ”

The doors seal shut with a soft ding, and my heart plummets as the elevator begins to move. The fluorescent lights of the elevator buzz, and my reflection stares back from the polished metal doors, face tense with fear.

Simon stands too close, his cologne clogging my nostrils until I can barely breathe. When his finger stabs the hold button, the elevator jerks to a stop, and my heart hammers, frantic to escape.

I shrink into the corner. “What are you doing?”

Simon turns to me, the harsh overhead lights casting deep shadows that carve out his cheeks and sink his eyes into darkness. “We need to talk where no one can interrupt us.”

My eyes dart to the emergency call button. Can I reach it before he stops me? The camera in the corner of the ceiling blinks with a red light. That means someone is watching this, right?

“Simon, people will be searching for me. Dominic will call security when he realizes I’m gone.” I back up to the far wall, putting as much distance between us as possible in the confined box.

Simon’s mouth twists halfway between a smirk and a grimace.

“By the time they figure out what happened, we’ll be gone.

I’ve timed it all out.” He taps his wristwatch, an expensive piece that doesn’t match his delivery uniform.

“By the time that Alpha reaches the ground floor using the stairs, we’ll already be gone. ”

Ice slides down my spine. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Simon’s expression softens, and that unsettles me more than his anger. “You still don’t see it, do you? How they’re all using you?” He steps closer, and the elevator shrinks around me. “Over the years, I’ve watched you bloom and wilt, depending on who surrounds you. But you ignored me.”

Years? I only met Simon a few months ago, at my first book signing.

“I haven’t ignored you, Simon. I appreciate all my fans, especially dedicated ones who come to multiple events.”

His face darkens. “You don’t even remember me.”

I force my features into what I hope is recognition. “Of course, I do. The blue stone bolo tie is from the Midnight Stone in my third book. You always ask such insightful questions.”

His hand slams against the wall beside my head, and I flinch. “Not from the signings! From university.”

I blink in genuine confusion. “University?”

Simon searches my face for deception and finds only bewilderment. “Western State. We attended at the same time. English Literature program.”

My mind races through faces from my university years, but his doesn’t surface. “I’m sorry, I don’t?—”

“You weren’t supposed to notice me,” he cuts in, the pride behind the words contradicting his earlier anger. “I was good at hiding and watching. As I was told to be.”

A fresh chill sweeps through me. “Told? Who told you to watch me? Was it my father?”

Simon pulls back, his expression flickering between pride and uncertainty. “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is I saw the real you. Not the person everyone else knew.”

Sweat prickles along my hairline despite the cool air pumping from the vent above. “Simon, I don’t understand. If we went to the same university, why would someone tell you to watch me?”

He straightens his bolo tie, fingers lingering on the blue stone. “Your mother was tricky. Very tricky. But you weren’t like her.”

My mouth goes dry. “My mother? What does she have to do with this?”

“You weren’t what your father expected, either.” Simon continues as if I hadn’t spoken, focusing on something only he can see. “He had such specific expectations of you.”

“Do you mean Augustus?” I ask, hoping to untangle a name from his crazy ramblings. “Augustus Sinclair?”

Simon’s attention snaps back to me. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is that I know the real you. The person no one else sees.”

Before I can react, he clasps my hand between both of his, his palms sweaty. I resist the urge to yank away, sensing that keeping him calm is my best strategy.

“That essay you wrote for college.” He leans close enough that his breath caresses my cheek. “The one about when you almost died, how you gave up hope but then found the resolve to keep going. That’s when I knew.”

My blood turns to ice in my veins. That essay was included in my application to the university’s special writing program, a personal piece about my struggle with depression and a suicide attempt during my senior year of high school.

It was private. Confidential. Only the admissions committee was supposed to read it.

Horror cinches around my throat. “How did you read that?”

Simon’s expression flickers between devotion and mania.

“I worked in the admissions office. Student work-study job. I was supposed to scan and file the applications.” His grip on my hand tightens.

“When I read your words, I realized you needed protection. You needed someone who understood the darkness. And who better than me? I was already watching.”

Nausea rises in my throat. He’s had this obsession with me for years . And somehow, he knows things about my parents that even I don’t.

“Simon.” I lift my chin, trying to sound firm. “I appreciate that you care, but this isn’t the way to show it. Forcing me to go with you, scaring me… This isn’t protection.”

“You don’t understand the forces at work.

These Alphas have gotten to you. Clouding your judgment and forcing you to give up on our world.

” His expression hardens. “I tried to save you when I took over your social accounts, tried to lead you back to the path destined for you, but they interfered again. They’ve hypnotized you. ”

Simon was behind my social media being hacked? I swallow hard, trying to find the right words to defuse his anger without setting him off further. “Nobody has hypnotized me. I hadn’t even met these Alphas yet when I decided to end my book series. ”