Page 38 of Love Me Knot, Part One (Knotty Omegas #1)

Need to be closer. Show her I’m here.

The window obviously wasn’t made for my big ass, but I heave myself inside regardless. My first step on the carpet is accompanied by a growl so fierce, I nearly climb back out.

“You didn’t ask,” Daphne snaps.

“Ask?” I parrot, looking around in shocked realization.

The room I assumed was her bedroom is more than that. It’s the demolished nest. Her sanctuary. And I just entered uninvited.

Fuuuuuuck, this is bad.

“I didn’t?—”

“Ask before you invaded my home? Check before you stepped into my territory? What didn’t you do, Nate?” Daphne’s face is lit with savage intensity, tears gone in the place of so much anger. I know most of it is for Connor, but I’ve earned some ire for myself.

My legs buckle, dropping me to the floor. Head bowed, I stare at her toes, hoping I can fix this. “I apologize for intruding, omega. I didn’t realize this was your nest.”

The heat of her ager and the weight of her eyes travels along my body.

I want to scream when she steps into my space.

Daphne smells like soap now when an hour ago, she smelled like pack.

I cautiously peer through my lashes and find wet curls plastered to her scalp, the skin of her arms and legs bright red.

My heart nearly crawls out of my chest when I see the scratches that trail along her body.

Connor’s done even more damage than I expected.

“Baby.” My voice breaks and I lean in just a little, those perfect sleep shorts brushing my cheek. They’re so soft, silky smooth like her skin. I vibrate with the urge to rub my cheek along the fabric and add my scent to it. I don’t, though. I’ve taken enough liberties tonight.

Daphne’s forces my chin up, red-rimmed eyes catching mine with determination and something worse. Final. “You shouldn’t be here, Nate.”

“I couldn’t stay away,” I admit.

“Why?”

“Because you needed me.” The words drop between us, a stone in a lake. The barest hint of the truth. “He shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. Not to anyone, but especially to you. It wasn’t fair, and you didn’t deserve it.”

The words flow from my lips, desperate, and a little unhinged. Please don’t leave me. Fight for this. Let me love you.

I don’t care how fast it happened or that it’s a risk. Already, I would do anything for Daph. All she has to do is ask.

She sees it. The insanity of my feelings. Her shudder isn’t one of pleasure, but of fear. Remembered pain. She’s right in front of me, but I feel her fading. Pulling away in every way she can. Trapped in memories and visions of a future that may never come to be.

I reach for my omega’s wrist, anchor her with touch. “Helping you through your heat, as wonderful as it was, doesn’t entitle us to your secrets. You had every right to keep this to yourself until you were ready.”

Daphne stares at me, a fragile bloom of hope rising and shuttering in those perfect blues. “He’s not wrong. I’m technically packed up.”

If Connor had used his brain for half a second, he would’ve seen what I do when she says it. Utter revulsion. There’s no love for her former alphas. Only determination to be free.

But fear makes a mockery of us all. Connor’s sins are his own to atone for, the demons his responsibility to exorcise. Mine is the woman standing in front of me, begging me to leave but desperate for me stay. Aching for love I was fucking built to give her.

I lay her hand against my cheek, rubbing slowly in the gentlest scent mark. My heart skips when she holds steady, watching me with raw vulnerability as I do it again. “You don’t want them.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” If Daphne was with us to hurt her former pack, that would be a deal breaker, but she isn’t. “Our souls call to each other. They have since that first moment, and we both know it.”

“Nate,” she says hoarsely, staring at me with so much longing.

“He doesn’t speak for me.” Pressing my lips to her skin, I inhale the mix of us. Soft, loving. As natural as breathing. “Connor doesn’t decide how I feel.”

“He’s your pack lead.”

“He’s a fucking idiot.” She laughs, and despite how watery it is, I take it as a win. “I’m my own man, and I want you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I will.” There’s no doubt about that. Our eyes catch and hold as I beg her to hear my truth. “Tell me to stay or tell me to go, but I’m yours, Daphne. Even if I’m doing it alone.”

Her body locks, fingers sliding into my hair, rooting me to her stomach. It takes away some of the agony of seeing her walls fly up. She doesn’t want me to leave. Hates pushing me away. It’s just easier to run than to stay and fight for something that may not survive.

That’s okay, though. Daphne can sprint to the ends of the earth if it makes her feel better, because I will always be right behind her, protecting her while she works through her shit. It’s what you do for people you love.

My lips brush whatever I can reach in chaste presses, and I inhale with pleasure as her scent sweetens. Less charred. She’s still hurting, still flayed open from Connor’s anger, but Daphne’s here. Reaching for me. Asking for help. We’ll take this one step at a time.

“Can I join you in your nest, omega?”

Her inhale is choppy, voice uncertain. “Normal people ask before they break in.”

“I don’t think I can say I’m normal anymore. Your fault, I’m afraid.”

Those plump lips twitch. “Please.”

I hear everything in that one word.

Stay.

Don’t leave.

Be gentle with my heart.

And I offer her a silent promise in return. No matter what happens, I will always put her first. I will always protect and guard her as fiercely as I can. My omega. My Daphne.

Our fingers twine together as she pulls me off the floor and farther into her space.

Daph’s nest looks nothing like the soft whites and blues of Revelry. No fluffy clouds, just endless sunsets. Pinks and purples and oranges, with only a handful of pillows and blankets left. My heart stalls. She destroyed her nest when she had almost nothing in it to begin with.

She watches me as I take it all in, eyes dropping to the floor in what feels too close to shame. “I started over when I left my pack. There’s not a lot of money for extras right now, but I did what I could.”

Her anxiety prickles along my skin and I wrap myself around her, soothing us both with the touch. “It’s beautiful.”

My chin rests on her head, and I purr when she leans back into me, hands creeping up to hold my forearms tightly. I can’t believe how much I missed her touch. How deep the craving is to keep her plastered to my body all the time.

“It’s plain.” The vaguest pout takes over her mouth and I kiss it away.

“New beginnings often look different than we expect them to, but the potential is always there. This nest has so much of it.”

“Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.” She sighs. “You know, you’re difficult to resist, Nate Morgan.”

“Then stop trying.”

We’re silent for a bit, bodies rocking gently as we acclimate to one another.

This isn’t the frenzy of the heat or the chaos of a random meeting.

It’s maybe too intimate, but I don’t know how to be a stranger to someone who feels like home.

I’m not stupid enough to assume Daphne’s on the same page, though.

She needs time and care; tender nurturing of the connection that’s already flaring to life between us.

This is a bond beyond bites. A soul-deep tether that I treasure already.

It takes a while, but as our hearts gentle, beating together, my omega breaks. Silent breaths stuttering, tears wetting my skin. It’s a slow fall, but no less devastating.

“It shouldn’t hurt this bad.” Daphne’s broken whisper is haunted by more than just Connor’s careless words. History’s etched into her being, and he’s ripped those wounds open and left her to bleed.

My hand cradles her neck, keeping her pressed against me. I wish I could open my chest and tuck her inside where it’s safe and warm. Where she’ll be protected always. “You offered him your trust when it was too fragile to take a hit, and he broke it carelessly. Of course you’re hurting.”

“He’s your pack lead.”

And he’ll remain so, but only if he checks himself.

We fall into a comfortable silence, Daphne working through her thoughts while I gorge myself on her scent and the way it feels to hold her.

Night air creeps, stealing some of the pain from the space and clearing it away until there’s only us.

Only peace and this budding happiness that I refuse to let die.

Eventually, she twists in my hold, burrowing into my body. “I don’t know if I can risk him hurting me again.”

Don’t leave me.

My throat burns as I swallow down the need to say it, to beg her to stay. I can’t be selfish. Daphne deserves the freedom to make her own choices without my needs interfering.

“I’ll stand beside you, whatever you choose.” If there’s one thing she accepts tonight, I hope it’s this.

Her fingers run across my chest, tracing the lines of my tattoos absently. She drifts to my neck, gently prodding some of the hickeys she left with a smile she can’t quite hide. Marks I wear with honor because my omega gave them to me. It feels so good. I wish she’d never stop touching me.

“What if I decide to court you and Dez, but not Connor?”

My knees nearly buckle. Daph’s first reaction isn’t to walk away from all of us, just the one who fucked up. It’s more than I expected.

“That’s your decision. The omega makes their pack.”

She scrutinizes my face, looking for lies she’ll never find. “You would leave him on the outside because of this?”

“I won’t allow Connor to hurt you, and I won’t force you to try with someone you feel you can’t trust. Besides, I told him I’d leave if he ever spoke to you like that again.”

Daphne jerks, staring at me with wide eyes. “You can’t mean that, Nate. We’re not even courting.”

“So? I won’t follow a man who lashes out at someone like that.

” It’s obvious Daphne doesn’t believe me.

Doesn’t think she deserves this. I run a thumb across her bottom lip, stifling whatever argument she’s cooked up.

“I know it will take time for you to accept this, but I need you to hear me. If keeping you means leaving everything I know behind, I’ll do it.

No questions asked, no second thoughts.”

I think Dez would do the same. He sees what I have from the moment I spotted her. A future together. The family we’ve all craved. Hope we’ve been missing.

Life.

Daphne Barnes is life. One that we’ll do whatever it takes to keep.

When she still doesn’t speak, I run my lips across her cheek. “Let me stay with you. Let me be here because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Daphne’s tears come faster now and the tension in my chest unwinds as she purges a little bit of the pain she carries.

When her breaths are steady, muscles soft, I lift her into my arms. Awkwardly toeing my boots off, I knee walk us onto the bed, wrapping her in what little blankets remain against the night’s chill.

Daphne’s silent as she buries her face in my neck, absorbing my presence and my purr. She lets me hold her until her lashes stop sweeping my skin. Even when she’s drifted into sleep, she stays planted on top of me as if this is where she was always meant to be. Where she should always remain.

As she rests, I pull up the pack group chat.

Me

She destroyed her nest.

Dez

Is she okay?

Never mind. Obviously, she’s not.

Fuck. I’ll clean it up. Put everything in the garage in case Daph wants it later.

Give her a kiss for me.

I do, pressing them to her curls over and over again, whispering how much we care.

Connor says nothing.

To distract myself, I make an order for her. Then another. A third, a fourth.

My inheritance was mostly used for the shop, but three life insurance policies and a means I have enough money to be comfortable. It felt like blood money before, but now I see it as a gift. A way to treat my omega to what she deserves.

The smallest courting gift, one that marks the start of our future, even if she’s not ready to acknowledge that.

Only when I’m sure Daphne’s got what she needs, do I set my phone aside and nuzzle into her.

Tonight was the first test of many, the reality of being scent-sympathetic.

Four people with separate lives coming together was always going to be messy.

Four sets of histories and fears to overcome.

Triggers we may not understand waiting to slice us at the knees.

But I know we can make it. I know this pack is meant to be together, and it’s not our fucking scents saying so.

It’s the ache in my chest that instinctively I understand is Daphne.

The way I feel her even when I shouldn’t.

This beautiful, scarred woman is mine, and I won’t lose her. Not to our demons and not to herself.

If it’s Daph and me against the world, then I’ll ensure we always win. Together.