Page 40 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

Roseland and I aren’t as close as the others, but I would like to be. I sit down beside him.

“Merle,” he whispers.

I wait. Sometimes people just need to know there is someone listening.

“I’m scared. Of what this will mean afterward, of what it will feel like if things…what if someone comes while we’re in the nest, what if we get hurt, what if-”

I get on my knees and spin in front of him. This alpha saved me on the side of the road. He was kind. He was gentle. Aaron Roseland has been the kind of alpha that every omega dreams of having.

He killed to keep Dove safe.

I gently pull at his arms and legs. He could stop me, it wouldn’t be hard, but he doesn’t. He gives in, and I crawl into the space, curling up against his chest.

And then I do something I have rarely done. I purr. Giving this alpha, who probably deserves kindness more than any other, this small branch.

His arms come around me, inch by inch, tightening until I couldn’t get away, even if I wanted to. He lifts me up and carries me back towards the nest. He doesn’t say the words or admit he was wrong, he just gathers his courage, hides his faltering fears, and takes us back.

King steps off the path where he was watching and follows us, just a step behind.

“For what it’s worth, Rose. We are all scared and worried, but that’s why there are so many of us. And good luck getting to Daega. He just kicked everyone out of the nest.”

I whip my head towards King.

We get closer, and I hear the growling, feral sounds of Pix losing his mind. I don’t want to go in there, so I look at Roseland and shake my head. He stops and carefully sets me down.

“We won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

When I look up, Pix is standing in the doorway of the tent, only half his face exposed.

He watches us intently.

“Daega!” Rose growls. “What are you doing?”

He explodes out of the tent and slams into Roseland, taking them both to the ground. Roseland doesn’t fight, he just lies there while Pix rips his clothes off him, shredding them. By the time he’s at Roseland’s underwear, he’s sobbing. Tears dripping off his cheeks. Every attempt at an alpha approaching sends him absolutely feral.

Raptor pushes through, coming to the front with me. She clucks her tongue.

“What the hell are you doing, O’Connell?”

Daega snaps his head towards us and growls.

Raptor growls back.

I’m shoved into the dark. When I come back, I’m lying on Pix, who is sucking my nipple, while King is fucking me. It takes me a moment to work out the tangle of limbs and realise that Pix is sitting on Roseland. Who is moaning, his face transformed with ecstatic joy. We are one big connection of limbs.

King growls and tightens his grip. “Merle.”

How does he even know?

I let out a breathy gasp, but his mouth finds my neck. Oh, I want that bond. I want it so bad.

He doesn’t magically hear my thoughts, and his mouth moves away, leaving me disappointed and feeling like I’ve had ice drops of rain drip onto my face.

It doesn’t stop my body from reaching when he ghosts his hand over my spine and fists a handful of hair. My mouth gapes open even as I clench my fingernails in Pix’s shoulder as he switches from one breast to the other, moaning into my flesh and growling.

I am so overwhelmed, but for the first time, it’s not in a bad way. And I cope with it. When I think it’s getting too much, King is there, whispering in my ear, telling me how pretty I am. Stroking me.

He knots me. I know what to expect, but in a heat, it feels different.