Page 77 of Knot Now Knot Ever

This information blew my mind. “What? I thought today was only an intro for thirty minutes.”

“By your response, it’s clear your Alpha didn’t share the changes he made. When you originally booked, it was for the intro, but Mr. Hill reached out and asked if that slot could be a full session and prepaid,” Dr. Mann shared. “I’m sorry he did this without asking you. I’ll make sure to note in your file that only you can make changes to your appointments. The last thing I want is for you not to feel in control of these sessions.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” I cut in. “It’s fine. I was just caught off guard.”

Dr. Mann looked at me skeptically. “You are allowed to tell an Alpha, scent-matched or not, no.”

“I’m aware of that,” I snapped, then froze, realizing what I’d just done. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to speak to you like that.”

“Lyra, this is a safe place,” Dr. Mann reminded me as she leaned forward. “There are going to be times you’ll be screaming at me or cursing my name as we face some sensitive and raw subjects. I’ve been doing this long enough to know when you’re really yelling at me or merely trying to get me to back off with a trauma response. That outburst was more about you than me.”

I hid my face in my hands, utterly at a loss of where to even start. We’d been talking for all of ten minutes, and Dr. Mann had already managed to draw out so many of my flaws. “How do I even know where to start fixing things when there are cracks covering every inch of me?”

“By giving yourself grace while you and I uncover the first crack that started all the others,” Dr. Mann answered.

With a sniffle, I looked up and saw her expression. She didn’t pity me or look irritated to deal with such a useless person. Instead, all I saw was compassion. The silence stretched for a moment, and Dr. Mann didn’t try to fill it. She simply allowed me to decide when I was ready to start talking.

Clearing my throat, I started from the beginning. “I was eleven when the police came to our house and told us my fathers had died. What I didn’t know at that time was I’d lost my mother too because she’d never be the same, nor would I.”

Terror ripped through me.

I stumbled and crashed to the floor.

Thankfully, I’d just set down my drink on the counter, or the floor would have been covered in glass. Another wave of panic, the likes of which I’d never experienced before, slammed into me, causing me to scream.

“Fawn,” Zachary shouted as he ran toward me, dropped to his knees, and brushed a hand over my body. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

The fear coursing through my veins made it nearly impossible to speak, but I managed to get out one word. “Lyra.”

“Tanner,” Zac bellowed as he grabbed his phone.

Tanner came skidding around the corner and spotted me on the floor, curled into a ball. “What the fuck happened?”

“I’m calling Eli. Find Pascal, something happened with Lyra,” Zac said hurriedly. “Oh, thank fuck you answered, Eli. We have a problem. I don’t know what exactly is going on, but Lyra is in trouble, and it’s bleeding through to Fawn. No, I haven’t heard a word from her security. I wasn’t sure if they’d alert all of us or just you.”

Moments later, Tanner returned with Pascal and scooped me up so I was curled in his lap. “It’s going to be okay, Fawnie. We’ll find her.”

My bond with Lyra differed from the ones I had with my Alphas. The connection was clearer with her, and I could feel her emotions, but sometimes, like now, I could sense what was upsetting her. It wasn’t like I could read her mind or she was speaking to me, but I could tell the root of her fear. Another thing I’d found was my ability to know where she was. Not that I could drop a pin to her location, but if I followed my gut, it would take me right to her no matter where she was. Like right now, I knew she was moving fast, probably in a car, and that was the major fucking problem.

“She’s in a car,” I managed to croak out.

Tanner didn’t question it and relayed the information to Zac, who was still on the phone with Eli. “Hey, Fawn says he thinks Lyra’s in a car.”

“What do you mean they’re taking her to the hospital?” Zac snarled, responding to whatever Eli told him. “They did what? We’re on our way. We'll meet you there.”

“Where are we going?” Pascal asked, rushing over to the cabinet where we kept all the keys.

“The hospital. Those fucking idiots got swarmed by the media and shoved her into the front seat,” Zac explained, seething. “She’s in the middle of a panic attack, and they can’t get her to calm down, so they’re heading for the ER.”

“I know Eli. He would have made sure everyone knew she couldn’t be in the front seat,” Tanner muttered as he stood with me still in his arms.

“All I know is if Eli doesn’t kill them, I will,” Zac announced as we headed to the garage. “They had one fucking job… to keep her safe. And now, who knows what the damage will be.”

Tanner paused then handed me to Zac. “One sec… I just want to grab something real quick.”

The panic had dulled to a roar in my ears, but I guessed what I felt was only a fraction of what she experienced. “Our angel is terrified,” I sobbed. “I didn’t know a level of fear like that was possible.”

Zac slid into the back seat of Pascal’s car and hugged me tightly. “Tell me how can I help?”