Page 130 of Knot Only For One Night

“No.” He cups my face and shakes his head.

“I—I shot⁠—”

“I’m the one who is sorry. I should have dealt with this a long-ass time ago. I should have⁠—”

I cut him off by sealing my lips to his. He melts against me like he’ll die without my skin against his. My hands get lost in his hair as I grasp my beta tight.

“It’s okay. We’re okay,” I say in his ear, and my Pack mutters their relief as they huddle in.

Asher kisses the back of my hand, Neven’s hand rests on my lower back, and Reed lays his head against the back of mine.

I needed this. Needed them.

Maybe now… maybe now we’ll be free from the Outlaws. Free from the fear of the what ifs.

There is nothing that doubts my place with them, not even this.

CHAPTER 43

ASHER

I never regretted anything more than not bonding with Esper. Fear is a fickle bitch, and not being able to tell if she was okay rocked my core.

Maybe regret is the wrong word. I had my reasons. She’s not the only omega in my life, and I consider both of their feelings equally. But holy fucking shit, was my heart in my literal ass as we raced back to the Plaza after Reed and Soren said there was something wrong.

Confirmed by DJ not being able to reach One Eye or Jewels, or Cobra reaching Lacy.

We never rode so fast. Not a single person lagged behind. We all became one.

The shadows of the Bar hid us as we snuck in through the back, giving us time to figure out what the fuck was going on.

Esper in ruined pajamas, alone, holding a gun. Her legs shaking under her, her hair all messed up, breaths choppy and scent terrified—I could barely put my alpha in check. Neither could Neven.

But we couldn’t rush into it. Not when that nameless fucker off to the side had his gun trained on my fucking omega.

Looking down, that nameless man hangs nearly limp in my hands.

I punch the fucker again.

We don’t use the Cages beneath the Bar often.

But this… this was needed.

No weapons. No advantages beyond whatever ailment you came in with. A supervised fight room. Only one rule. Don’t kill.

A rule I’m having a very hard time following.

Each Cage is lit by a single lightbulb. The walls are lined with chainlink fencing. The floors and walls are concrete. Old blood dried on them.

“Ash,” Soren’s voice comes over the speaker, and I land one final kick on the already black and blue, bloody alpha who thought he could hurt my damn omega.

Closing the gate behind me, Reed comes out of another room, his hands red with blood. We jog up to the room where Soren is, passing the other three Cages, holding Axe and each of Soren’s brothers.

Soren sits in front of the cameras of the command room. Leaning his head against his fist, he doesn’t move as we come in.

“So what are we doing?” I ask, plopping down in one of the fold-up chairs by the cameras. The two nameless strangers are beaten, lying on the ground. Soren’s brothers sit in the corners in their rooms carefully. Rocker’s shoulder is wrapped up. The one Esper capped in the knee has a bandage around his leg and even then I can see the complete ass-whooping Reed put on him.

We aren't fair people. Good people. We take vengeance. We take whether you can fight back or not.