Page 93 of Knot Broken

He kept saying those damn words, which had my nails digging into the floor as a growl built in my chest.

“Alone.” I bit off that word. “Resigned. Pissed off.”

“There’s something else,” he said, glancing down at my arms. “I know there is, because it’s holding back your wolf even now.”

“What do you want me to say?” I snapped, my voice echoing around the room. “Tell me and I’ll say it.”

Muscles quivered, a now familiar twitching beginning again.

“The truth.” Grey slid in close, his arms going around me, and he held me through every tremor. “Trust me when I say, I can take it. Stop carrying this shit and give it to me. Give it to me, Nadia.”

There was a part of therapy I sucked at and it was when the therapist placed a chair in front of me and asked me to talk to it like it was my dad. She explained why it could be helpful, that I could achieve a feeling of catharsis, without the risk of actually facing the man in person.

It just made me feel dumb.

The chair was a chair and attempting to tell it off just felt hopelessly awkward. My therapist said it was because I struggled to access my emotions. That I liked to talk around them, not actually experience them.

Perhaps she’d be proud of the breakthrough I had now.

“How do I feel…?” I whispered that over and over like a mantra, eyes flicking back and forth as something rose. It came, kicking and screaming, rising up from the depths of me, no longer willing to be denied. Falling back on my heels, I stared at Grey, at all of them. “I’m scared. Scared that no one is ever going to see me, love me, care for me just as I am and that I’m going to have to stuff down every part of me that isn’t palatable for the rest of my life.”

They had a whole lot to say about that, but their voices were replaced by a high-pitched whine. The sound of shouts, of machines going ping, were pushed aside by this. A roar that came from the depths of me, my scream filling every part of the room. My body moved as if it had always known what to do, snapping, breaking into a million little pieces.

Only to be remade as this.

Taking fur was awesome because everything was simple. A glance down at my paws, then at the men that sat there staring, before I let out a bark of challenge. Trotting over to the door, I went up on my back paws, pressing down the lever and then taking off down the hall.

Because I knew where I wanted to be and it wasn’t here.

“Nadia!” A glance over my shoulder showed me that Riley and her crew had followed me out, but they weren’t the only ones. A massive grey wolf, a silver one, and then a very familiar black wolf came running up behind me.

Which meant I needed to take off.

Slamming my paws into a fire door, I took the steps two, three at a time, my haunches bunching, getting faster and faster until I burst out onto the ground floor.

The city stank. Smoke, exhaust fumes, and rotting rubbish assaulted my far more sensitive nose, forcing me on. Then there was the sound of three wolf howls. Spinning around, my jaws fell open, panting lightly as I saw my mates standing at the base of the massive building. I knew what they wanted on a cellular level, but their howls made it clear. Our human selves might argue, counter and compromise, but our wolves? They thought I belonged to them.

And I was certain they needed to prove themselves worthy.

I took off a dead sprint, some internal compass telling me where I needed to go. Down darkened streets, past buildings, and across quiet roads, running and running until the skyscrapers of the city centre gave away to houses. On I pushed, through the suburbs and beyond, then as the houses grew more sparse and were replaced by blocks of farm land, I came to a stop here. The moon was high in the sky, full and silvery, just like Grey’s eyes had been. As if summoned by that thought, three dark shapes appeared on the hill beside me.

My wolf’s feet danced across the grass, torn between the desire to run or fight. We were strong, I could feel that, stronger than I’d ever be in skin. Could we hold off all three of them? She was willing to try. No male would ever get within ten feet of her if he was not worthy.

Which was perhaps why the three of them came back to skin.

“Beautiful girl,” Tex said in a low croon, his eyes shining in the darkness as he padded forward.

“The most perfect wolf,” Ethan said. “Nadia, you glow like a star.”

“Our star.” Grey’s growl made clear he wasn’t the only one talking to me right now. The black wolf rode him hard, as evidenced by the way his lean form bulked out. “You’ve led us on a merry chase, forced us to prove we’ll run towards you, not away. How about you let the woman come forward now.”

I’d been subconsciously fighting my wolf the entire time, I realised, because right now her consciousness and mine was perfectly fused together. She would run and keep on running if these males weren’t good enough. The wolf would fight for me with everything she had and that assurance was enough to let out a slow breath, then feel fur melt away, leaving just me, naked and cool as the night air played across my skin.

“Well,” I said. “I’m here. Now, what’re you going to do with me?”

Chapter 44

Ethan