Page 38 of Torment Me Knot
“Neither do we.” Lex's voice is dry. “None of us chose this. We're going to have to figure it out as we go.”
Sera holds my gaze. The wariness shifts into something else.
And upstairs, two terrified omegas are still hiding in a corner.
Chapter Fourteen
Lex
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
I mutter the familiar words under my breath as I climb the stairs, soup bowls balanced in my hands. Yeats. Always Yeats when the world tilts sideways and my brain won't stop spinning.Things fall apart. The center cannot hold.My fingers want to tap the rhythm against my thigh, but I'm holding soup.
Gardenia and clover, cedar and chamomile, woven together into something that bypasses thought entirely and sinks straight into instinct as I step onto the third-floor landing. My skin pulls too tight. Every cell in my body screamsmate, claim, protect, mineand I have to force myself to keep walking like a civilized person.
Sera walks beside me. Every movement she makes is controlled in a way that prickles my instincts. Female alpha. The words keep colliding in my head without producing meaning. I've spent my whole life around male alphas. Competition or ally, threat or packmate, but always male. I know the rules with them. I know where I stand.
With Sera, I know nothing.
We reach the top of the stairs. The hallway stretches ahead. The spare room door is closed. Behind it, my omegas.
“Ready?” Sera asks.
No. Not even close.
“Yeah.”
She opens the door. The bed blocks the view. We step into the room slowly. They're curled around each other in the corner, wrapped in the duvet. Espie's head tucks against Aubrey's chest. His arm wraps around her, protective, possessive in a way I've never seen from him. Their foreheads almost touch.
Aubrey is speaking. The sound stops me cold. Whispering. Actual words. Broken and rasping, barely audible, butwords.
I can't make out what he's saying. The words are too soft to make out. They’re meant only for her. I think it might be the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed.
I want to quote Rumi.The wound is the place where the Light enters you.Right now it's all wound. No light. Just bleeding.
Sera approaches them slowly, voice soft. “Hey there. We brought food.”
Espie's head comes up, her violet eyes going wild when she sees me in the doorway. I try to make myself small, which is impossible at six foot four, but I try. I lean against the doorframe, deliberately casual. The soup bowl is warm in my hands. Grounding.
Then Sera purrs. The sound is lower than I expected. Richer. Not the deep rumble of a male alpha, but something warmer, more textured. It rolls out of her chest, filling the space between her and the omegas like a blanket settling over them and fuck if my cock gets the same memo.
Espie's breath hitches. Her shoulders drop. Slowly. Inch by inch. Her eyes flutter half-closed, some of the wildness draining out of them. Aubrey unclenches. His head tilts toward the sound, toward Sera. Then her gaze slides past Sera. To me. To the doorway and the wariness returns.
Sera glances back at me and I nod. “Lex won’t come in. Not until you want him to.”
I hold myself in check, not moving an inch. “Please. You need to eat something. It will make you feel better.”
The omegas look at each other. Some negotiation passes between them in glances, a language no one else speaks. Then Espie takes the bowl Sera offers.
Her hands are trembling. She wraps both palms around the ceramic like she's trying to steady herself, and lifts the spoon. Broth sloshes. A few drops spill over the edge, onto her wrist, onto the duvet.
“Sorry.” The word comes out strangled. She hunches her shoulders, curls in on herself, makes herself smaller. “I'm s-sorry, I didn't—I'll clean it, I'll—I'm sorry, please, I'm sorry—”
Her whole body is shaking now. Not just her hands. All of her. Eyes wide and fixed on the spilled broth like it's a death sentence.
“Hey.” Sera's voice is soft. “It's okay. It's just soup. Remember, I’ve told you it doesn’t matter if you spill anything.”
“I sp-spilled it. I'm sorry. I'm—” Espie's voice cracks. She's not looking at Sera anymore. She's somewhere else. Somewhere spilling something meant punishment.
