Page 56 of Knot Gonna Lie (Syzygy Omegaverse #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

LUCA

The tropical breeze carried salt and jasmine, but beneath it lurked something sharper—Eli’s fury bleeding into the evening air.

I’d chosen the beach pavilion deliberately, far enough from the villa that his scent wouldn’t contaminate the spaces where Elara moved.

Her heat approached like a storm on the horizon, and I wouldn’t risk another alpha’s presence tainting what should be ours alone.

My brother stood rigid against the late afternoon sunlight, his silhouette a mirror of my own. Same broad shoulders, same aggressive stance, but where my eyes held icy blue, his burned sapphire dark with betrayal.

“What can I do for you, Brother?” I kept my voice measured, leaning back against the stone balustrade. The casual pose was calculated—dominance through indifference. “You know I’m on vacation.”

“Call it what it is, Luca .” His snarl twisted the air between us. Those sapphire eyes had gone nearly black, alpha rage crackling beneath his skin. “I know what you’ve done.”

The accusation hung heavy, but I’d expected this. Had prepared for it. “I corrected the problem before I left. I don’t know how you discovered what happened.”

“How could I not when you left the station so quickly?” His laugh held no humor. “Your omega is all people talk about—how the owner of Coco Pharma stole her away.”

Stole. The word ignited something primitive in my chest. My fingers flexed against stone. “I didn’t steal her away. She chose me. Not the other way around.”

“You can’t claim innocence.” The mockery in his tone scraped against my control. “I heard all about a pearl-and-diamond choker you bought her the night before.”

The choker. Of course someone had talked. Privacy was a myth on that station. “I wouldn’t have needed to if Owen hadn’t harassed her at the jewelry shop. How could I have known that protecting her from that desperate alpha would award me a chance to be with her?”

I pushed off the balustrade, closing the distance between us.

Let him feel the truth in my scent—possessive satisfaction mixed with genuine indignation.

“Perhaps if other alphas spent more time trying to be kind and respectful, omegas would be more open to our advances. It’s not my fault the others have lost their way. ”

“You won’t even apologize?” His eyes narrowed to slits, daring me to refuse. “Should I be worried about what you will do in the future?”

A sigh escaped before I could stop it. The weight of brotherhood pressed against the newer, fiercer bonds.

Elara remained safe with her betas Stella and Maia, spending the day away from the villa shipping.

Seth and Jaxom stood a short distance away, observing us.

An argument between alphas could escalate quickly, blood or not.

“Eli.” I forced my shoulders to relax, though every instinct screamed to establish dominance. “You know I’m loyal to you and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our company. What happened with Elara was a string of events that, looking back, should’ve been handled differently.”

The admission cost me, but I pressed on.

“You know the station hasn’t been able to keep up with the alphas’ demand for omegas.

You feel the emptiness within you, yearning for an omega to complete you as I did.

I was provided with an opportunity. One that I should’ve told you about from the beginning, but I didn’t because I didn’t want you to refuse—”

“—and lose your chance to be chosen by her.” His voice had lost its bite, understanding bleeding through despite his anger.

“I understand the risk you took—and why you took it—but why didn’t you tell me during any of our calls afterward?

I remember how distracted you were. I guess you were just waiting for your omega to go into heat. ”

The accusation stung because it held truth.

Those days after claiming her had been a haze of possessive need and strategic planning.

“If you had let me know, then I wouldn’t feel as betrayed as I do now, discovering all this while my brother—my business partner and best friend—was about to begin his vacation to ride his omega’s heat. ”

“I’m sorry, Eli.” The words scraped raw. I stepped closer, letting him see the truth in my eyes. “Everything has happened so fast since that day. I feel like today is the first day I can breathe a sigh of relief and relax.”

“I wouldn’t know how it feels to be in your shoes, but I hope to someday.” His gaze drifted toward the ocean, defeat coloring his scent. “All I wanted was an apology. Now that I have one, I can let it go.”

Relief loosened the knot in my chest. “Thank you, Brother. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

“I’m also here to tell you that I’ve decided it’s time for me to try my luck at getting an omega of my own.

” A ghost of his old grin flickered across his face.

“I needed to make sure I finished all my business with you first. Now that you’re planning for a month-long vacation, I’ve decided to do the same and enter the Den. I hope I’m chosen by an omega.”

The Den. My brother would subject himself to that meat market. But I understood the desperation driving him. “They would be foolish not to select you.”

“We will see.” Defeat still echoed in his voice. “I know I can’t reproduce what you’ve done, but I hope I’m able to leave with an omega before my month is over. Until then, I’ve placed you in charge of the whole company. Try not to do anything I wouldn’t do while I’m away.”

“I promise our company is in good hands. May the Stars grace you on your journey. Hopefully, our omegas can meet one day.”

“Your faith in me is—”

The bond exploded through my skull.

LUCA!

Terror. Raw, primal terror flooding through the claiming mark. Elara’s fear crashed into me like a tidal wave. My knees buckled, sand biting my palms as her panic clawed my chest.

Pain bloomed across my consciousness—not mine, hers. Someone had struck her. Someone had dared to—

A snarl ripped from my throat, feral and unrecognizable. The civilized alpha who’d been apologizing to his brother evaporated. In his place rose something ancient, primitive, lethal.

Behind me, twin roars shattered the evening calm. Seth and Jaxom sprinting from their spots under the tree line , their scents blazing with the same fury tearing me apart. They’d felt it too—their omega in danger, calling for her pack through bonds still forming but already unbreakable.

“What’s happening?” Eli’s anger had vanished, replaced by sharp concern. His hand gripped my shoulder, trying to steady me. “Luca, what’s—”

“Someone took her.” My vision rimmed red. Through the bond I felt her fight, felt her fury. Then—chemicals, cloying. Her panic dimming. Her heartbeat slowing—

Darkness swallowed her consciousness.

The bond didn’t break, but it muted—dulled—leaving only her heartbeat echoing through my bones. Alive. Still alive. But unconscious, being taken further away with each passing second.

Seth reached us first, medical composure shattered. His hands flexed, scarred and shaking. “Chloroform variant sedative. Professional grade. Engineered for omegas. She’s—”

“Alive.” Jaxom said, voice low and lethal. “Northwest. Moving fast. Vehicle.”

How he knew, I didn’t question. Jaxom’s mind worked in patterns and calculations beyond normal comprehension. If he said northwest, then northwest we hunted.

“The clan.” My voice had stabilized into something cold, controlled. The alpha who’d built an empire from nothing. The alpha who’d survived the stations’ worst. The alpha who would burn the world for his omega. “Mobilize everyone. Full tactical. Someone took what’s ours.”

“Ours,” Seth agreed. His eyes gleamed with the same murderous clarity.

We were pack. We were fury. We were death coming for whoever had dared touch her.

Eli stepped back, his expression shifting from concern to something like awe. Or fear. “This is what you become for an omega?”

I turned to face my brother, knowing he saw something inhuman in my eyes. The careful control I’d maintained for decades had shattered, revealing the primitive alpha beneath. “This is what I become for her .”

My scent had gone wild—feral—coconut and dark spice twisted into something aggressive. Even Eli flinched, his own alpha instincts recognizing a superior predator.

“Help us. Or get out of the way.” The ultimatum hung between us, brother bonds secondary to mate bonds.

His hesitation lasted a heartbeat. Eli’s jaw clenched. Then he nodded, sharp and decisive. “What do you need?”

“Port contacts. Security feeds. Every camera between here and the shopping district.” I was already moving, Seth and Jaxom flanking me. “Someone planned this. Professional extraction. They knew she’d be there.”

“Alpha Zeke.” Jaxom’s calculation clicked into place. “This was him.”

The name crystallized my rage into purpose. Zeke. The alpha who’d dared. He thought he could take what was mine .

He’d learn differently.

“Get me a location,” I commanded, not asking. The clan was already responding, Sylas and Tobias appearing with weapons, Xavier pulling up surveillance on his vidtablet.

Through the bond, Elara’s heartbeat fluttered—steady but slow. Drugged. Contained. But fighting even in unconsciousness, her omega instincts raging against separation from her pack.

“I can track her scent.” The admission came out raw. Something no civilized alpha would admit—that I could hunt by smell alone, like an animal. But civilization had no place here. “She’s mine. Her scent is burned into my brain. I can find her.”

“Then we hunt.” Seth’s agreement rang final.

Eli pulled out his communication device, already making calls. “I’ll have every eye on the planet looking. They won’t get far.”

But I was already moving, following invisible threads through the air. Vanilla and lavender, twisted with fear but still hers. Still calling to me through every particle between us.

The villa fell away behind us as we ran—not like men, but like the predators we’d always been beneath the surface. Through gardens, over walls, following a trail only I could sense while Jaxom calculated trajectories and Seth prepared for whatever medical attention she’d need.

My omega had called, and her clan had answered.

And Alpha Zeke would learn the cost of touching what was ours.