Page 3 of Knot Their Safe Haven (The Omega Rebellion Movement #3)
Liar. You found three who match perfectly. You're just too terrified to let them.
"Do you still have hope you will?"
"He could be right under my nose." I wink, thinking of Knox probably already in the building, preparing for the morning rush. "So until then, I'll continue to enjoy the single Omega life with my daily glass of wine and limited edition clit sucker."
Her mortified expression has me cackling.
"What? Is that not the youngling's way of saying it?"
"It's called a Rose, Velvet. No one is going out there saying 'Let me recharge my clit sucker!'"
"Is that what they call those competitive toy fuckers these days?"
Knox's voice makes us both turn, and there he is—all 6'4" of silver-haired muscle, barely fitting in the doorframe. Tank top straining across his chest, those black shorts sitting low on his hips. Fifty-one and still making my mouth water.
Twenty years, and he still affects me like this.
"No," Astraea answers while Knox abandons the doorframe to enter the room properly.
His eyes lock on mine immediately, that intense grey gaze that sees too much, wants too much, offers too much.
Everything I'm too terrified to take.
The silence stretches between us, sixty seconds of eye contact that says everything we won't voice.
I can smell him from here—cedarwood and smoke, that particular musk that's purely Knox.
My body responds without permission, heat pooling low in my belly, nipples tightening beneath the wine-red dress.
One of these days, this tension is going to snap and destroy us both.
"I'm gonna go shower," Astraea whines, breaking the spell.
The conversation shifts to hair dye—safe territory. Knox suggests red because of course he does, his favorite color, and I have to punch him for being an idiot. She doesn't need to be a walking target for Alphas.
"Why not purple? You do love lavender."
She lights up at the suggestion, and we discuss ombre effects and silver tips while Knox makes his presence known with commentary that earns him more hits.
"Bye Mom and Dad," Astraea teases, and Knox actually says "We're not married yet!"
Yet. As if it's inevitable. As if I haven't been running from that exact possibility for two decades.
"Yet? You don't even have the balls to ask me on a Date, let alone propose marriage. You're lucky I can't adopt Astraea, or I would adopt her, then find a real man with bigger muscles than you!"
"Now, now, Velvet. You know just because their biceps may be bigger doesn't mean their cock?—"
"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SPEAK LIKE THAT WITH ASTRAEA AROUND!"
We wrestle like children, like lovers, like everything we are and aren't. His hands on me burn through the dress, and I have to force myself to pull away before I do something stupid like kiss him in front of Astraea.
When she leaves, calling us Mom and Dad again, something clenches in my chest.
If only she knew she might be getting a new brother soon. If Icarus has his way with that silver-haired girl he's been stalking online.
Knox pulls me against him the moment we're alone, nose buried in my neck, breathing me in like a drowning man seeking air.
"You're going to kill me, woman."
"That's the plan," I murmur, but my hands betray me, sliding up his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart.
"How is she really?"
"Breaking." I pull back to look at him. "The same way I was at that age. The same way too many of them are."
"The movement passed yesterday."
"I heard. Alessandro called at midnight, drunk on champagne and victory."
Knox's jaw tightens at the mention of Alessandro. His unexpected call was surprisingly. The boy I’d once taught at the prime age of eighteen while I was twenty-three trying to make some added cash after the “independent life” as an Omega was clearly not favoring me.
Who knew that boy would end up becoming an power influence in our community, but I’ve only listened to rumors of his existence.
We’ve yet to actually “reunite” for me to see who he really has become.
Whether he’s truly an ally or a facade in the realms of support.
"That boy needs to learn boundaries."
"He's thirty-five."
"Still a boy compared to you. You need men in your lives who will support you. Not a boy with a cocky attitude and a generous trust fun.” I can hear the jealousy oozing off his deep voice, the obvious emotional toil making me smirk because I can tell this figure who’s “just a boy” has made enough waves in the underground to make Knox a tad nervous.
Nervous of me being swept off my feet by this “cocky” Alpha on the block of fame and fortune.
"Everything all right in here?" Malcolm's voice cuts through the tension, and we spring apart like guilty teenagers.
He's standing in the doorway in his pristine lab coat, navy hair tied back, those midnight eyes taking in our flushed faces and guilty positions.
"Just discussing the morning schedule," I lie smoothly.
"Of course." His smile is knowing. "I thought I'd check if you needed anything for the Haven's medical supplies. That shipment you mentioned last week?"
Always so thoughtful. Always taking care of me in the ways I'll allow.
"I'll send you the list," I promise, very aware of Knox's hand still on my lower back, of Malcolm's eyes tracking the movement.
"Wonderful. Have a good morning, Velvet. Knox."
He leaves, and Knox growls low in his throat.
"One of these days, you're going to have to choose." The thought of choosing any of them as my “sole” lover or the “leader” of this unrealistic pack was beyond amusing to me.
We know that isn’t happening, but he enjoys teasing the thought of being on top and only mine.
The obvious elephant of the room with the ‘we have a kid together’ could have been the hopeful card to get me to only pick him but all these years of raising him into a man behind the scenes clearly proved I’m not “swayed as easily”.
"No," I say firmly, stepping away from his warmth. "I don't have to choose anything. The movement passed. The world is changing. Maybe it's time we stop pretending Omegas need to be owned to have value."
Even as I say it, I know I'm lying.
Know that every cell in my body wants to be claimed, owned, knotted by the men who've been circling me for years, but my prideful personality matched with wanting men that actually valued me enough to be firm with what they want holds me back from giving in. .
"You're going to regret this," Knox says quietly as if its something that’s never crossed my mind. "When you're lying in that cold bed, touching yourself to thoughts of what we could be, you're going to regret this."
He knows I love when he tosses these instances my way because I’ll never regret the ultimate decision to hold this invisible boundary between us.
Between all of us.
The one vow I’ve kept all these years to ensure I didn’t cave to a group of Alpha who wouldn’t give me their all, and that’s the problem with our dynamic. All powerful Alphas in their league, profession, and birthright, and yet none can fully commit to me the way I need them to.
None of them are willing to work together and be one solid unit for this to truly work in our utmost favor.
And there it is.
That’s the problem.
Because I deserve to be their safe haven, just as I yearn from them to be the center of my safety nest.
None of that can happen when they still each other as competition.
And at this rate, we’re all going to die before we get to experience such, simply out of stubbornness.
I leave without answering, because he's right.
I already do…but I’d rather land in my grave a stubborn fool then lose myself to the world standards against what I want in this damned, forsaken world.