Page 1 of Knife Volume 2

Chapter 1

“What the fuck have you done?”

Knife heard his wolf in his voice, but there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it while his inner beast roared, claws shredding the last of his control because she was his, and she’d just burned her entire world down for him.

She held his gaze and said nothing, and then a hand landed on his shoulder.

“You can’t have this conversation here,” Dawg said. “Take her into the office.”

Knife looked at the packed house and shook his head. “I can’t leave you without help.”

Gonzo stepped behind the bar and said, “You aren’t. Go.”

That meant they were down a bouncer, but they could pull someone in from across the street to help with security, so Knife wiped his hands and came out from behind the bar, walked to the office, and assumed she’d follow.

She’d cut off the pack, and that was like having a limb cut off. Having part of your very soul excised. It’d hurt so bad he thought he might die when he’d left his home pack. He fucking knew what she’d gone through, and never in a million years would he have asked her to do it.

He turned to face her, and he wanted to shake her for being stupid. For hurting herself. For fucking her life up.

“Go back to Kenny,” he said. “Tonight. Call him right now, tell him you made a mistake, beg him to take you back. He’s a reasonable man, he’ll—”

“No.”

“Tuesday—”

“No.” Calm. Steady. Like she’d already made every decision that needed making and was simply waiting for him to catch up. “I’m not going back.”

“You broke up with me.” The words came out with more force than he’d intended, but they were true, and he’d been carrying them for months. “You ended it. You walked away. We’re done. It’s over, and that was your fucking decision.”

“You’re the one who fucking told me you loved me and then let me just walk away! You don’t get to tell me you love me right before… Fuck, Knife. I love you with all my heart and soul. Walking away didn’t make that stop. One of us had to make a decision, and it looks like it fucking had to be me!”

He shook his head. “No. I had a plan. Three months. If we could last three fucking months, I’d have left the club so we could be together, but you couldn’t give us that! You fucking ended it!”

“I know. Having to stare at you across the table without acknowledging what we were to each other… what we fucking are to each other, it was like being forced to deny our truth, and it was just…” She shook her head. “It was too much, and there was no end in sight, because at that time, leaving the pack for you wasn’t an option, but then…” she shrugged. “Cora did it. I knew Kenny would refuse, but I didn’t go to him.”

“So instead of talking to me, you go and do this? Without a word? Without—” He moved away from her, turned back. The office felt smaller than it usually did. “I would never have let you do this. Never have asked you to rip the fucking pack from your soul. Never.”

“I know that, too. It’s why I had to do it and then let you know.”

He was about to demand she go to Cora and Kenny and beg to be allowed back again, but she kept talking. “I would’ve never asked you to walk away from your brothers. I still have my family, but your brothers have taken the place of your family, in some ways. I haven’t lost my grandmother, parents, and cousins, but you’re hours from your family.” She blew out a breath. “Also, you’re who you are because of their part in your life, and I love who you are. I don’t want to change you.”

“You—” He stopped. Started again. The guilt hit him square in the chest and he pushed it down because if he let it in, he wouldn’t be able to say what needed saying. “Do you understand what you’ve taken on? What going lone wolf actually means? The danger—”

“Yes.”

“You could’ve been hurt. The ritual alone—”

“I know what it fucking cost. I was there.”

“You should’ve talked to me first.” His voice dropped to a growl, and he pushed his wolf down. He didn’t trust his inner animal around her in that moment. “You should’ve told me what you were thinking. I would’ve—”

“What?” She took a step toward him, right in his space. “Told me not to? Talked me out of it?” She kept coming, and the height difference meant she had to tilt her head back to glare up at him. “You’d have said exactly what you’re saying now. We’d have argued, and I’d have done it anyway, then we’d have argued again.”

“That was my choice,” he snarled. “You took that from me.”

“And you told me you fucking loved me when I tried to break it off. I tried to move on, but…” Her voice broke and she shook her head. “No one was you.”

The words hit him like a fist to the gut, because he’d had the same problem, but he brushed it aside and growled out, “I didn’t ask you to do this.”