Page 37 of Love Me Knot, Part One (Knotty Omegas #1)

NATE

The door’s barely closed when I throw the punch. Connor’s not expecting it, too busy staring at the wood like he didn’t think Daphne would leave. He drops like a sack of rocks. Dumb as one, too.

“Damn it, Nate.” Dez stomps between us, hands up like he’s ready for battle.

Alphas aren’t weak, regardless of their size, but Dez takes weightlifting seriously, boxing with Jace and the others at the gym sometimes.

While I can bench press Connor with little effort, I’m not as confident that I can take him down.

Not that he’d fight me. Dez is just as upset as I am.

“How the fuck am I the one in trouble when Connor just pushed Daphne away like it was his job?”

After a dinner that felt like the start of a new life, I had to watch my omega walk out the door, devastated and alone.

I’m already crawling out of my skin without her.

These alpha instincts may be new, but waves of her sadness permeate through the walls and it’s amping me up.

Telling me to fight, protect, defend. Even against him .

My finger jabs toward Connor’s bleeding face, and I snarl. “Seriously, man. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

He rolls his eyes, prodding his split cheek with a grunt. Good. He deserves the pain. Fucking prick. “I can admit I overreacted, but you saw the text.”

“Yeah, and instead of lashing out, I let Daphne explain.”

Dez nods, happy to let us sort this out ourselves as long as we aren’t making each other bleed.

“She’s lying.” Connor’s expression flickers with unease, his protest sounding less sure than before.

“How do you know that?”

“How can you not?”

Trying hard for patience, I force myself to breathe. His trauma is rearing its ugly, box-dyed head. This isn’t my brother. “Look, I know that shit with Shelby was bad, but?—”

“No, you don’t.” Connor’s eyes flash and he’s off the ground and in my face. “You weren’t here, Nate. You were in school and then you were grieving. You didn’t see the shit she pulled and even if you did, you didn’t care.”

“Sorry for mourning my fucking family,” I snap, skin hot and hands aching to punch him all over again.

My friend is struggling, so I don’t, but I won’t let him hurt any of us because of his demons.

Especially not our omega. “Explain why your bitch of an ex-wife means you get to treat a woman like that. You jumped down Daphne’s throat, Con.

She didn’t get a chance to explain before you decided she was guilty, but that wasn’t your call to make alone. ”

“I’m the pack lead.”

“We’re still a fucking pack!” Dropping my head into my hands, I growl, trying to rein my frustration in. “You don’t get to decide how we interact with Daphne or whether we do at all.”

“She’s practically married, Nate.”

“So were you.”

“It’s not the same thing,” he protests.

“Maybe not. She’s trying to get out, and you stayed until the bitter end.

Does Daph know you’re divorced? That you had an omega for years ?

” Connor swallows, looking away, and I go for the kill.

“I didn’t think so. The difference here is, she was willing to wait for your truth and you couldn’t even attempt to earn hers. ”

Silence follows, long and painful. These men have been my brothers since I was a kid.

They kept me alive after my family died, brought me into their homes and hearths to keep me warm.

Dez’s mom literally housed me for the last year of high school.

They’re an integral part of me, but they aren’t the only ones anymore.

The moment I saw Daphne, my world shifted, and she became the center of it. The trust will come; love can be built and fought for. Who cares how long it takes, as long as she’s waiting at the end?

Even if I have to find my way alone.

It’s the first time I’ve thought about it, but I know in my gut it’s true. Daphne deserves better than she’s been given, and I’m the one who’s going to prove it—with or without my brothers.

Connor’s voice is soft. Scared. “What if she’s lying?”

“Read the court file.” We both turn to Dez, who shrugs. “If you’re that concerned, read the file. She said you could.”

Yeah, while she was pissed. We all know she wouldn’t have agreed otherwise.

“I’m not going to do that.” But he wants to. Even when Connor slides the phone away, his eyes track it like it holds universal secrets.

Dez steps between us. “We’re done for tonight. Everyone needs some rest before we can really hash this out.”

There’s squirming in my stomach. Discomfort. I don’t enjoy going to bed angry with my brothers. I already sleep like shit and that’s a surefire way for insomnia to creep in.

Then I realize I don’t care. I’m not going to be here anyway.

“Fine by me.”

Any other day, I’d laugh at the way Connor watches me warily, but I need this conversation to be over so I can get next door.

“I’m going to bed,” he finally says. He skirts past, but I catch his arm before he can get far.

In the pecking order of Pack Morgan’s hierarchy, I’m at the bottom.

I’ve never cared about it. With my alpha instincts being latent for so long, it didn’t matter where I fell as long as I had my family.

That hasn’t changed. I have no desire to challenge Connor for leadership, but this needs to be settled here and now.

Pack lead in hand, I don’t throw another punch, I throw a motherfucking gauntlet. “Let me make one thing clear, Con. If you need a punching bag, there are two in the garage. Keep the sparring—verbal or otherwise—away from our very fragile omega or I swear to god, I’ll cleave this pack in half.”

It’s not an empty threat, either. I won’t follow a pack lead that treats anyone the way Connor did tonight, and Dez won’t either. Whether he comes with me or goes his own way, my brother’s nightmares will finally come true. He’ll destroy this family for good.

Connor’s scent swirls, a dervish of anxiety. “You’re moving so fast.”

“So did you, once upon a time. I remember you talking about bonding Shelby the day you met.”

“That was different.”

“Only because you were on board then,” Dez says. “Now that things have gone sour, you’re pretending you don’t know exactly what this feels like.”

“I understand you’re scared, but Dez and I want Daphne. If you don’t, that’s fine. Just don’t ruin things for us.”

“Understood.” Connor’s voice is raw, expression stark. Looking more alone than he ever has. More beaten too, and I don’t just mean his face.

“Good.” I clap him on the shoulder, snatching my wallet and keys on my way to the door. “I’m going over.”

Dez frowns at the wall, body leaning toward it like he’s got that same sixth sense that I do. “She’s probably asleep by now.”

“She’s not.”

I can feel her frantic energy rising to a fever pitch. I need to get there before it crests or I’m not sure what will happen.

All the lights are off.

For a moment, I consider Daphne may truly be asleep, but that pounding in my chest only gets more restless. Pushing me to do something I probably shouldn’t.

Circling the house, I jump the short fence on our side of the yard to get into hers. Daph mentioned at dinner that our places mirror each other, so I have a vague idea of where the bedrooms are. I’ll just pop in and make sure she’s alright.

A pillow lies alone in the grass near the back deck. Swaths of fabric laying haphazardly across the wood. Clothes strewn in some unknown pattern.

One foot on the porch, I stop, head tilting as I try to decipher what the hell I’m seeing. The phantom scent of burnt sugar drives me forward and I snatch a ripped shirt off the ground. The one Daphne was wearing to dinner.

My fingers go numb, my tongue thick and dry as the implication of what I’m seeing finally lands.

She trashed her nest. The day after her heat, Daphne destroyed her fucking nest.

Because of Connor. Because of a group of alphas who obviously didn’t treat her right. If I hadn’t already decked my brother, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Leaving the evidence of her anguish behind, I climb the side of the house.

The brick is old enough that there are some handholds, though it’s not the easiest. The higher I get, the more on edge I am.

My jaw’s so tight it aches, my vision narrowed to the inches in front of me and that phantom scent that’s getting worse.

Until I realize Daphne’s left the window open, and it’s not phantom at all.

There is no torture more effective than the scent of my omega like this. Her distress pouring down my throat like poison as she sits utterly destroyed, alone in her home. My skin scrapes against the brick as I push harder, faster.

Find her. Soothe her. Claim her.

Two out of three isn’t a bad start.

When I’m finally close enough to wrap my fingers around the window ledge, I keep my voice soft, hoping not to startle her into attack mode. “Daphne?”

Her shriek splits the night, and I have a second to think oh shit before something swings for my skull. Darting back, I hold onto the sill out of sheer luck as the projectile thuds heavily against the side of the house.

Yep, definitely trying to brain me.

“It’s me!” I shout.

She’s midway through pulling the cord back into the house when the curtain flicks aside, showing a very panicked omega. “Nate?”

The rush of air pushes more of her scent out until I’m full-on growling. All I smell is Daphne and the tears that mar her cheeks and redden her nose. Connor Morgan, my best friend since damn near birth, made our omega cry. Fucking asshole.

“What are you doing here?” Daph’s chest heaves, bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she fights to regulate. Agony pours out of her, and I can’t help but reach for her hand.

There’s a certain heartbreak in watching someone pull away. A type of pain that cuts deep and settles to fuck with your head for months to come. It’s worse for me because losing Daphne when I’ve already lost so much…I think it would break the final pieces of me.

This woman feels like hope. She can’t shut me out.