Page 74 of Knot Going Down

I won't crumble in front of these alphas. I'm Ava fucking Hawthorne.

Declan shoves Knox to the side and steps toward me, eyes narrowed. “You’re an omega?”

“Yep. Fresh out of the box. Ava 2.0.” I say, voice drenched with bitter sarcasm. I might be losing it.

“You’re an omega,” Declan repeats, taking a step back like the words are a loaded weapon. He looks almost scared. Well, welcome to the club.

“Yeah, omega.” I point to myself. “And I had a plan. It wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.”

“Ours,” Em cuts in quietly. The muted volume of her tone reminds me we’re in a public space.

I shoot her a look of gratitude before wheeling back on Declan, struggling to keep myself in check. “I could go intoheat any fucking second, and now, there’s nothing I can do about it.” There’s a challenge to my words, an accusation I don’t try to hide. My gaze drops to the edge of the ship where the pills vanished. “All because you two couldn’t stop your dick measuring contest for one minute.”

“Us?” Declan stiffens. “You think this is on us? You could have come to me. Instead of sending Sticky Fingers over here to steal from a law enforcement officer.”

“Yeah, and how would that have gone, exactly?” Chin high, I meet his gaze in challenge. “You’d just hand them over with a smile, Officer Drug Bust?”

“Of course not! We don’t even know if those pills are safe.”

“They’re safe,” Knox grumbles.

Declan cuts him a glare. “They’re illegal.” He turns back to me. “But if you’d come to me, we could have worked out a plan. Boundaries. Rules. Limits. Now, you could go into heat at any fucking moment and throw Knox and me into a rut we didn’t consent to!” He’s practically yelling by the time he’s finished.

“Keep your voices down,” Lucas hisses at all of us.

“I’d never do that,” I snarl back at Declan.

“Then what was your plan, huh?” He’s right in my face, and thank God I’m still dripping with chlorine so he can’t scent me.

“Knox already agreed to help me as a backup.” I shove at Declan’s chest, but he doesn’t move.

“Right. So what were you gonna do? Kick me out of the room during the sex–pocalypse? Make me sleep on the pool deck for a few days?”

“What we were going to do,” I grit out the words, “was get those suppressants!”

“Well, they’re gone. Deal with it.”

“I have one,” Lucas offers.

“Me too,” Knox adds.

Declan and I don’t acknowledge them. We all know two pills won’t do fucking shit.

“We need to talk about what happens when you go into heat.”

When. Notif.

Fuck.

“No. We don’t. It doesn’t concern you.”

“Ava—” Lucas starts gently.

“You need an alpha,” Declan growls, like the words burn his tongue.

“Oh, is that what I need? You gonna give me the Alpha Handbook on Omega Care? Walk me through breathing techniques and boundary discussions. Please explain to me how it’ll feel to lose my ever-lovin’ mind.”

“Well, you’re going to want a knot more than?—”