Page 53 of Knot Your Kismet

“You’ll have to kill me. I won’t do it. Cali is mine!” Nolan’s voice echoes from the speaker, the growl of defiance unlike anything I’ve heard. It might be that his voice is laced with defeat. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.

“You’re delusional,” Ivy snaps, her voice much louder than Nolan’s.

I grab the bookcase edge, clinging onto it as Lucas tries to drag me into the escape tunnels. I know he’s doing exactly what Nolan would command him to do, but I can’t run away knowing that Nolan is in the hands of a monster. If it’s not Ivy, it’s Will. Both are threats I refuse to flee from. They’ve gotten enough from me.

“She’s mine!” Nolan shouts, his voice cutting off from the speaker.

Lucas grabs at me, but I swivel and he can’t keep his hold. I need to see the monitor. I feel as if I’ll die if I can’t view what’s happening on the other side of the steel door, meant to protect me but now used as a barrier to keep me from my alpha. This safe room has turned into a prison, and I’ll do whatever I can to escape.

“Don’t, Calista. This is what they want. They’re using him to get to you.” Lucas doesn’t grab me this time. He just stands close enough to catch his permeating scent.

“They’ll hurt him,” I say, clutching onto the wall for support.

“They’ll do that regardless of if you open the door or not.” Lucas closes the space even more. “Please, if something happens to you…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, letting my imagination fill my mind with catastrophic thoughts that end with my pack perishing in ways I wish I couldn’t imagine.

I close my eyes and touch the screen of the monitor instead of the button that’ll release the lock on the door.

“Ivy, you can hurt him all you want but you’ll never have me,” I whisper, unsure if my voice is even working with my distress choking me. “This isn’t how you’ll get me to cooperate. He is not my only alpha.” It pains me to say the words. “You underestimate my devotion. You know, I’d have considered returning with you, but Pack Kismet has so much more to offer. Do you really think your pompous ass of a brother is worthy of me? He’s already betrayed you. He doesn’t think you deserve everything you have.”

“Shut up and say that to my face, bitch!” Will hollers at the closed door, banging his fists. I glare at the monitor, my eyes burning. He’s a man-baby throwing a tantrum—the worst kind of entitled alpha.

“Let Nolan go, and I’ll open the door, but I have conditions,” I say, my chest heaving with each breath. I’m suffocating despite having plenty of air. It’s as if my own body would rather face the afterlife than face those who want nothing more than to use me.

“Open the door, or I’ll kill him!” Will swivels and grabs Nolan from the floor, his arms bound, not giving him the capability to fight.

I scream at the monitor, slamming my hands on the wall. Lucas tries to pull me away. He’s the only thing stopping me from opening the damn door. If I do, they’ll go after him too. I know this. He knows this.

“Lis, we have to go. They can’t kill him. He’s unarmed. They won’t be able to explain it to the United Alphas.” Lucas grabs my hand and squeezes my fingers. “You have to trust me.”

“I don’t trust them.” I bring his hand to my chest, letting him feel the chaotic beats of my breaking heart. “I can’t leave him. I have to do something. Please. We can end this here. Let me talk to Ivy. Let me get Will to confess.”

Lucas growls, his annoyance vibrating across me. “I’m not leaving you. If you open the door, they’ll take me too. You know that right?”

“Then hide.” Because he can’t make me choose between him and Nolan. He can protect himself. Nolan…he can’t. Not now. Not while he’s detained by psychopaths.

“Last chance, Cali,” Will snaps, his voice pulling me away from Lucas’s silent pleas. “You have ten seconds. Ten. Nine. Eight.”

“Fucking fine. Take this. Distract them. I’ll hide until someone tries to put a hand on you. That’s all the time you get.” Lucas flares his nostrils and unsheathes a small knife he pulls from his jacket.

“Four. Three.”

I tap my finger to the button to open the safe room door without looking to see if Lucas hid like I asked. Silence fills the air, and I stare at Ivy and Will, doing my best to keep it together. If I look at Nolan, I’ll lose my mind. I’ll do something extreme.

“Stay back,” I command, realizing that the Alpha Agent is no longer in the room. “If you come any closer, I’ll lock you out again. You can threaten my alpha’s life, but you don’t have the power to follow through. You don’t even have the power to have your own damn omega that you had to murder someone and set me up to get to one.” I keep my eyes directed at Will as I say the words. It’s him I want to break. “Despicable. Unworthy.” I tow a dangerous line by humiliating Will like this. I know it and don’t care. He can try to hurt me, but in the end, I’m better than him.

“You fucking bitch. Don’t test me,” Will says, closing the space to Nolan. He grabs his hair and yanks his head back, showing he’s unconscious.

I tense my jaw, flicking my gaze away.

“I’m not testing you. I’m letting your sister know that if she continues to stand beside you, she’ll lose everything. You’ll take it.” I force my gaze away from Will. “He thinks nothing of you. Don’t you see? I thought you were strong, Ivy. I thought you were an amazing alpha for taking care of everyone at the Omega Resort. Yet it was all just a lie. You do what you’re told like the omega your pack wishes you were.” I rub my lips together, praying to the universe that she sees truth in my reason.

Ivy sighs, lowering her shoulders. “Cali, please. Pack Daines will give you a good life.”

“I already have one. You’re destroying it,” I quip, her response aggravating me more than it should. She’s a real disappointment, and I know my words aren’t far from the truth.

“You could have more.” Ivy steps a foot closer. She keeps her hands by her sides, knowing that I could turn and run into the panic room at any time.

“So could you. He’s going to take you down.” Defeat tries to sneak up on me. She’s not thinking clearly. It’s now that I know I have to focus on Will. “He’s a piece of shit and unworthy of being called an alpha. He should be sterilized. Stop him from trying to steal the power he can’t even earn.”