Page 66 of Knot Her Beta

I frown. “I already bought you out of the cottage. I don’t owe you a thing.”

“That’s what you think.” He collects his suitcases and turns to walk down the porch steps at an unhurried pace. “Don’t get too comfortable, Em. You’ll be hearing from my lawyers.”

Shaken, I close the door before he clears the bottom step.

Jared reaches out to turn the deadbolt. “Fucking viper.”

Leif reaches for my hand. “Are you okay?”

I take a shaky breath, clearing the last of the violet and honey scent from my lungs and replacing it with the combination of all our pheromones. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Jared stares at the closed door. “What did he mean that you still owe him?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I gave him everything he demanded when I left the pack.”

Despite the words, uneasiness trickles through me, along with the knowledge that this won’t be the last time I see Auren.

Chapter Seventeen

Leif

Emily stands with her back to us, shoulders rigid beneath her flannel shirt.

Jared’s hand rests on the deadbolt, knuckles white, and he exhales through his nose, the sound rough with anger he’s holding back.

I should say something, but the right words won’t come.

Emily returns to the living room without looking at either of us, her body stiff despite her claim of being okay. She straightens a throw pillow, picks it up, fluffs it, and sets it back down. Her fingers smooth the fabric over and over.

The cozy warmth of the evening has vanished, the paused movie casting blue light across the popcorn bowl and abandoned cups.

The Wright Pack left a while ago, but the evidence of their presence remains, with Holden’s coffee mug, a napkin crumpled next to Quinn’s abandoned juice glass, and game pieces still scattered on the floor.

Jared catches my eye, his mouth in a flat line, and he tilts his head toward Emily.

I move to the coffee table and start collecting cups, stacking them in the crook of my arm. I gather napkins next, crumpling them into my palm, and take everything to the kitchen.

Jared picks up the popcorn bowl. Half the kernels are still in it, cold and greasy now. His footsteps follow me, and I hold the trash lid open for him to dump the contents inside.

Emily drifts after us, and her hands find the pan on the drying rack. It’s already clean, but she picks up the sponge and starts scrubbing, her shoulders working in tight, small circles. The scent rolling off her is wrong, like flannel left in the dryer too long. I stand at the counter and watch her scrub a clean pan as if her life depends on it.

Jared comes up beside her, close but not touching.

He waits.

I wait.

Her scrubbing slows. Stops. Both palms come down flat on the edge of the sink, fingers splayed, and she drops her chin, and she releases a long exhale, the kind of breath that comes before either crying or shouting, but she does neither.

Jared’s hand finds the center of her back. “You did the right thing. Auren has no power over you anymore. Protecting yourself does not mean you’re a bad Alpha.”

Emily doesn’t move as her breathing comes out in shallow gasps.

“He doesn’t get to show up here and start issuing demands.” Jared’s thumb rubs a small circle between her shoulder blades. “Not after what he did. Not ever.”

“I know,” she says. “But then why do I feel like shit?”

A humorless sound escapes him. “Because it always feels like shit when someone you once loved turns out to be a bad person.”