Page 27 of Torment Me Knot
My head snaps up. There’s no way in hell I’ll be going anywhere without—
Dr. Maverick nods. “Your scents are soaked there. It will help. But they’ll needallof their scent-matches around them. Espie needs Sera as much as you, Sera, need her.”
“Nobody's asking you to leave them,” Ezra says, looking at me, no doubt reading the way I’m barely holding myself together.
“We have room for them and you, Sera, if you'll come,” Lex says.
The omega’s huddle together. Equally wounded and vulnerable. Espie and Aubrey are wrapped so tightly together that pulling them apart would destroy them both, which means I go where they go. Into another pack's territory, outnumbered and outmatched, surrounded by male alphas who are as desperate as I am, as confused, as terrified of getting this wrong.
There is no other solution and I will do anything for my mates.Anything.
“I agree,” I grind out.
Kev's eyebrows rise. “Just like that?”
“What do you want, a negotiation? A contract? I live in a one bedroom apartment and they can't stay here like this. So let's go.”
Kev opens his mouth, closes it again. The fight goes out of his eyes. Not concession, something quieter than that.
“She's right,” Lex says, from somewhere behind me. “We can work out the rest when we get there. Right now the only thing that matters is getting them out.”
Kev nods. Slow. No triumph in his expression, no satisfaction. Grim determination, and relief.
I crouch down on Espie's other side, moving slow. “Hey, sweetheart. We need to get you out of here. Somewhere safe for the both of you.”
Her eyes find me. They're not really seeing me, not all the way, but the gardenia edges back from full panic, and that's enough. I hold still and let her look.
“Aubrey? Come with us. With Espie. She needs to be somewhere safe with you,” I say.
His chin lifts a fraction, dazed eyes blinking at me.
Two nurses appear in the doorway with wheelchairs, keeping their distance until Ezra nods them in. Getting Espie into the chair takes longer than it should. She doesn't resist exactly. She's past that, past most things, but her body is barely cooperating, and every movement costs her something she doesn't have much left of. Aubrey watches the whole time, eyes fixed on her with rigid, exhausted vigilance.
When Ezra reaches for him, he goes. Slow. Effortful. Like getting off the floor takes everything he has. He only does it because Espie is already waiting for him.
His hand finds hers and locks on, and the nurses have the sense not to try separating them. We push the chairs out side by side and wheel them toward the elevator and the basement parking lot. Kev walks ahead, clearing the path, broad shoulders tense. Lex and Ezra push the chairs, keeping them close. I bring up the rear, tracking every doorway we pass, every staff member who turns to look, counting steps between us and the exit. Thirty-two steps to the elevator. Two sets of double doors. One security desk, unmanned.
People stare as we pass. A nurse steps toward us, clipboard raised, and Kev growls at her without breaking stride. She backs off.
The elevator is too small. Way too small for six people. The doors close and I'm trapped in a metal box with three male alphas and my mate's scent saturating every inch of air. Kev stands at the front, back to me, watching the numbers tick down. His oakwood and whiskey have gone thick enough to taste on the back of my tongue. Lex breathes through his mouth, jaw clenched so tight the muscle jumps. Ezra has wedged himself between the omegas and the door.
“Only two more floors to go,” Kev says, low and even, pitched at the omegas.
Lex exhales, short and ragged. “This might be the longest thirty seconds of my life.”
Nobody argues with him.
The elevator dings. I push out into the parking garage and drag in air that tastes of exhaust and concrete.
Kev's car is a dark SUV with tinted windows, parked near the elevator bank. Ezra opens the back door and helps the omegas inside, one hand hovering at Espie's elbow without quite touching, talking them through every movement in a low voice. They settle together in the middle of the backseat, still wrapped around each other.
Kev looks at me. “Do you have a car here?”
I nod. I’d have to look for it. The last two weeks were years, “It’s here, somewhere.”
“Would you like to follow, or ride with us?” Kev asks.
Lex is already folding himself into the front passenger seat, long limbs finding the space awkwardly. Ezra stands by the back door, waiting.
