Page 204 of Ruthless Knot

But there's something else underneath.

Something that might be protectiveness, buried so deep it's almost invisible.

The gymnasium has gone silent.

Completelysilent.

Every eye in the room is fixed on us—on the scene that just unfolded, on the volleyball that almost became a weapon, on the Alpha who intervened without warning.

A nervous laugh breaks the tension.

It comes from somewhere in the Alpha cluster—a tall, muscular guy with a cruel smile and the particular arrogance of someone who's never faced real consequences for his actions.

"Oops, my?—"

He doesn't get to finish.

A volleyball crashes into the side of his head.

Hard.

Hard enough that his head snaps to the side, hard enough that he stumbles, hard enough that the sound of impact echoes through the silent gymnasium like a gunshot.

He goes down.

Not unconscious, but close—dropping to one knee, hand pressed against his temple, expression shifting from smug to stunned tofuriousin the span of seconds.

All eyes shift to the source of the throw.

Blaze.

He's standing with one arm still extended from the follow-through, golden eyes blazing with something that looks like cold fury despite his reputation for chaos. Beside him, Sage has gone still—that particular kind of stillness that suggests violence is being actively restrained. And behind them both, Kai stands with his arms crossed, expression unreadable but radiating danger.

"Oh?" Blaze's voice carries across the gymnasium—casual, conversational, completely at odds with what just happened. "My bad. Didn't see your whole ass there."

The silence stretches.

Pregnant.

Dangerous.

"But realistically," Blaze continues, and now there's nothing casual about his tone, "I could have sworn I just saw you intentionally try to hit our Omega with a volleyball when no one is fucking playing on this court."

The accusation lands like a bomb.

Our Omega.

Intentionally.

Our.

The guy on the ground looks around—searching for allies, maybe, or just trying to figure out how the situation turned against him so quickly. His friends have gone very still, clearlydeciding that solidarity isn't worth whatever retribution the Lawson pack might bring.

Smart, I think.

Survival instinct is finally kicking in.

No one speaks.