Page 26 of Knot Gonna Lie (Syzygy Omegaverse #1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ELARA

The restaurant’s crystalline warmth shattered like glass against Owen’s presence. His burnt lime scent had curdled into something far worse—rage fermented into obsession, thick enough to choke on.

I felt Luca’s fury through our bond before I saw it, a white-hot spike of protective instinct that made my own pulse stutter. The easy contentment we’d woven between us—that precious bubble of normalcy—cracked under the weight of Owen’s accusations.

Identity thief. Fraud. Liar.

The words struck like physical blows, each one designed to poison my freedom—my future. My freedom. But beneath my initial shock, something darker stirred. Something that had been sleeping since my heat, waiting for the right provocation to wake.

“We’re trying to enjoy a meal,” Luca said, voice deceptively calm. His fist was clenched, knuckles white—but through our fragile bond, I felt the quake beneath his control, alpha instincts coiled tight, screaming to protect what was his.

“Enjoy?” Keanu’s laugh scraped like metal on stone. “While real alphas starve for want of an omega? You should be in chains, identity thief.”

Their cousin stepped closer, his scent hitting me like a physical assault—rotted wood and stagnant water, the smell of things left to decay in darkness. “Pretty omega. Shame she wasted herself on him . How can you tell what’s true when your bond is built on lies?”

Seth and Jaxom moved as one, their bodies forming a shield between me and the threat. The restaurant’s other patrons melted away like shadows, recognizing the violence brewing in the air.

No one wanted to get between a group of angry alphas fighting over an omega…

Only I didn’t want protection. I wanted to fight .

I was sick and tired of others trying to control me.

For most of my life, I’d been sheltered, protected, kept safe behind walls and rules and careful supervision. Even choosing Luca had been presented as the safest option—an alpha-approved selection in a gamma-controlled environment.

No more.

“I chose this,” I said, rising even as my clan closed in protectively around me. My voice didn’t waver as I leaned forward, hands on the table. “And I’d choose him again.”

“Because he bought you,” Keanu spat, his deep-space stare locked on me like a targeting system. “Jewelry and lies. You think that makes him worthy? It makes you nothing but a cheap whore.”

Heat flared in my chest—not the biological heat of my cycle, but something far more dangerous. Something sharper. Deadlier. The righteous fury of an omega whose voice was being trampled by these arrogant alpha males who thought they knew better— who believed they got to define me.

“A cheap whore?” My laugh cut the air, cold and incredulous. “That necklace is worth more than half your crew’s cargo bay—and I didn’t ask for it. He gave it freely. Like everything else.

“He protected me,” I spat, slamming my hands onto the table. “When your brother was pawing at me like I was property, Luca stepped between us. Not because he wanted something from me, but because it was right .”

I stared Owen down, unflinching. “So don’t come at me with accusations and spit. You want to talk about value? I’m an omega. I choose. I claim. And I don’t belong to anyone but the alpha—the clan—I chose . That’s the law—and it’s my right.”

Owen’s face twisted with ugly rage. “You think you’re special? You’re just another omega who—”

“Who what?” I stepped forward, my own anger finally finding its voice. “Who dared to choose for herself? Who refused to settle for desperate, pathetic alphas who think intimidation equals worthiness?”

Marcus’s hand moved toward me—too fast, too presumptuous, reaching for what he had no right to touch. Me .

My clan moved instantly. Luca’s snarl shook the air. Jaxom blocked the reaching hand with predatory speed, and Seth stepped in front of me, solid and silent, a living shield between me and the threat.

But it was too late—he had made his choice.

His fist connected with Luca’s jaw with a sound like breaking bone, and the world exploded into violence.

Through our bond, I felt Luca’s pain like an echo of my own, followed immediately by a rage so pure it stole my breath. But it wasn’t just his fury crashing through the connection.

Seth and Jaxom snarled in unison, instincts turning feral, their loyalty flaring hot and immediate. Defending their alpha. Defending me —because I was theirs to protect.

Such an act demanded blood .

Jaxom struck fast. His seafoam scent sharpening with predatory focus as his elbow found Marcus’s solar plexus with brutal precision. The larger male doubled over, gasping, but recovered faster than expected. His backhand caught Jaxom across the temple, sending him staggering into a nearby table.

“Jaxom!” The cry tore from my throat as I watched him struggle to regain his footing, blood streaming from a cut above his eye where Marcus’s ring had torn skin.

Seth took Owen down before he could jump in, sweeping his legs and knocking him into an empty chair. But Keanu was fast—cold and precise—driving a fist into Seth’s ribs hard enough to make me flinch.

Luca recovered with alpha speed, catching Keanu’s next punch and twisting until something cracked loud and sharp.

It wasn’t long before Marcus had rallied—his eyes locked on Jaxom, jaw clenched, every step heavy with violent purpose. His face was a snarl of fury, scars pulled tight, hands curling like he already felt the break of bone beneath them.

Time slowed. Seth was struggling to breathe. Jaxom’s shirt was soaked in blood. Luca was caught between two attackers, both fighting with the wild, reckless force of men who had nothing left to lose.

I looked down at the wine glass in my hand—delicate crystal, still sticky with the last traces of something sweet and meant for celebration. Moments ago, it had been part of a toast.

Now, it was a weapon.

Instinct took over. I may be an omega, but this was my clan.

As Marcus raised his fist and Owen lunged for Seth, I moved.

The crystal shattered against the table, leaving a sharp shard in my hand. Blood welled from my palm where the edge bit deep, but I barely felt it. All my focus narrowed to the space between the threat—and my clan.

Owen’s fist was already traveling toward Seth’s unprotected face when I struck.

The improvised blade sliced through the air between one heartbeat and the next, finding the soft flesh of Owen’s forearm.

His scream echoed through the restaurant as blood bloomed like crimson flowers against his pale skin.

“Touch him again,” I snarled, my voice sharper than I’d ever heard it. “And I’ll cut your throat next.”

The violence around us stuttered to a halt as every eye turned toward me—the sweet, sheltered omega no one expected. I stood over a bleeding alpha, murder burning in my emerald gaze, a blood-slick shard of crystal clutched in my hand like the promise of death.

“You think this changes anything?” Keanu spat, cradling his twisted wrist against his chest. “You’re still bonded to a fraud. Still—”

“ Still. Not. Your. Business! ” I cut him off, each word hitting like a strike, echoing through the sudden silence. “I choose him . I choose them . Something you’ll never understand, because you’re too busy feeding your ego to realize why no one chooses you.”

I stepped forward, the crystal shard steady in my grip.

My pack’s blood and scent clung to me—wrapping around me like armor woven from loyalty itself.

“You want to know why no omega has ever chosen you? Look around,” I spat, motioning to the restaurant.

“This is why. Not because of fraud or politics or gamma conspiracies. Because when faced with a choice between protection and possession, between love and ownership, between partners and property—you choose wrong. Every. Single. Time.”

Marcus straightened, slower now, his size less threatening with rage solid and cold in my chest. “You think your precious alpha can protect you forever? When the truth comes out—”

“The truth?” I laughed, the sound sharp as breaking glass.

“I’m Luca’s—by choice, not force. His clan, his loyalty—they’re mine .

” I looked at each of them, disgust curling in my gut.

I didn’t care about politeness. I wanted these pathetic excuses for not only males but alphas out of my sight.

“You had your chance to earn what he claimed. You blew it. All of you. Spectacularly. ”

Owen clutched his bleeding arm, his face pale with shock and pain. “The Matron will hear about this. About all of this. Your bond—”

“I would never have been yours,” I snapped, voice low and cutting as I turned the crystal until it flashed like a warning.

“Not if you were the last alphas in the galaxy. Not if it meant saving my life.” I glared at each of them in turn—Owen with his bitter obsession, Keanu with his cold calculation, Marcus with his brutal presumption—and felt nothing but pity for their emptiness.

“Because you don’t want mates—you want trophies.

You don’t seek bonds—you crave conquests.

And I would rather die free than live as any alpha’s prize. ”

The restaurant erupted. Alphas took sides or closed in, surrounding us in a crush of growls and sharp, competing scents. Betas scrambled for the exits, while the few gammas on-site rushed in, shouting orders and trying to contain the chaos.

But I stood in the eye of the storm, watching my clan defend me with breathtaking efficiency. Pride swelled in my chest, fierce and hot as starfire. These were my males—my chosen ones—and they fought for me like I was worth dying for.

Was this the true power of being an omega?

“Enough!”

The bark that followed didn’t come from any alpha. It hit like a shockwave, rattling the walls with gamma authority and freezing the chaos in its tracks.