Knot the One They Want (Claimverse Book 1)

The rhythmic thud of my fists against the boxing target echoes through the gym, each impact registering on the high-tech display. Sweat drips down my brow, stinging my eyes, but I don’t stop. I can’t.

Not when every breath I take is laced with the scent of her.

‘A gym shouldn’t smell like flowers,’ I grumble, throwing a particularly vicious jab.

Lake, lounging on the unused bench beside me with a book in hand, glances up. ‘Really? I think it’s a vast improvement.’

I scoff, shaking my head. ‘You would. You’re an alpha with an omega’s nose.’

He rolls his eyes, unperturbed by my jab. ‘You should be grateful she didn’t get rid of the gym entirely.’ His gaze sweeps over the room, taking in the gleaming new equipment Evie had installed during her redecorating rampage. ‘Although, I’m not sure if all this is a gift or a passive-aggressive jab.’

I grunt, landing a series of rapid-fire punches. The display lights up, numbers climbing higher with each impact. It’s a small comfort, a tangible measure of the chaos roiling inside me.

‘It’s not the worst thing,’ Lake muses, setting his book aside, ‘having an omega around who actually knows how to run a house this size. The staff haven’t been as intrusive as usual, the food is gourmet, and everything seems to be running a lot more smoothly.’

I hate that he’s right. Evie has brought a sense of order to our lives, a warmth and comfort that was sorely lacking before her arrival. But admitting that feels like a betrayal somehow of the omega who already betrayed us.

A mating mark is a funny thing. Even though it’s severed, the ghost lingers. And even though the mark on our new omega is incomplete, it feels like she’s pulling me in, calling to me, from across this giant house. And yet, when I actually pass her in the hall, she barely gives me a glance.

‘She’s about as opposite to Daria as you can get,’ Lake says, as if reading my thoughts. ‘Daria prided herself on not being like other omegas, on setting herself above the things that usually interest them. It’s probably why she only got along with alphas.’

I snort, remembering the disdain Daria had for her own kind. She saw them as frivolous, weak, beneath her notice. It was one of the things that drew Damien to her in the first place, his own elitist tendencies finding a kindred spirit.

‘That’s not going so well for him now, is it?’ I mutter, thinking of the way Evie has systematically dismantled Damien’s control, chipping away at his icy facade with each passing day.

He may still be the leader of the pack, but he’s no longer the one in charge of this house. Not really.

Lake hums in agreement, but there’s a troubled furrow between his brows. ‘Have you noticed her scent lately? It’s been…different.’

I still, my fists hovering inches from the target. Of course I’ve noticed. How could I not? Her scent has been haunting me, invading my dreams and leaving me aching with a need I refuse to name.

‘Maybe it’s the mark,’ I hedge, not wanting to voice the suspicion that’s been growing in the back of my mind. ‘Or…’

‘Or what?’ Lake prompts, his honey eyes intent on my face.

I sigh, dropping my hands and turning to face him fully. ‘Or maybe she’s getting ready to go into heat. She’s been here for a few weeks already.’

Silence descends, heavy and charged. We both know what that means, the implications of an omega in heat under our roof. The primal urge to claim, to possess, to lose ourselves in her sweet, slick heat. Keeping our hands off her is already torturous enough.

‘I don’t know how that’s going to go,’ Lake admits, his voice strained. ‘I have a hard enough time resisting her as it is.’

I clench my jaw, my fingers curling into fists at my sides. ‘You too?’

He nods, a wry twist to his lips. ‘It’s like she’s under my skin, in my blood. I can’t escape her, no matter how hard I try.’

I exhale heavily, dragging a hand through my sweat-damp hair. ‘But we both know what will happen if we try to claim her. Damien…’

‘At this point, I doubt she would accept us anyway,’ Lake cuts in, his tone laced with bitter resignation. ‘We already left her humiliated and rejected on our mating night.’

The memory of that night sears through me, the image of Evie spread out in her nest, open and wanting, only for us to turn our backs on her. The pain in her eyes, the shattered hope, it haunts me still.

‘You’re right,’ I admit, the words like ashes on my tongue. ‘We fucked up. Badly.’

Lake sighs, his shoulders slumping. ‘So what do we do? Ignore her heat? Let Damien continue his twisted game of cat and mouse?’

I turn back to the target, my muscles coiled with frustration. ‘What choice do we have? Our loyalty is to the pack, to Damien. We can’t betray that, no matter how much our instincts scream at us to claim her.’

Even as I say the words, they feel hollow, a flimsy excuse for the cowardice that keeps me chained. I’m torn between duty and desire, logic and instinct. The rational part of me knows that pursuing Evie will only lead to ruin.

It’s not that any of us are afraid of Damien. But he’d see it as a betrayal and it would be the undoing of our pack. The bond we swore an oath to keep.

But the alpha in me, the part that recognizes Evie as my mate, my scent match, rails against the very idea of denying her. Of letting her suffer through her heat alone, aching for a knot that will never come.

It’s a special kind of torture, knowing she’s so close, just a few rooms away, and yet completely out of reach. A forbidden fruit, dangled tauntingly before me only to be snatched away at the last moment.

And it’s not just the physical need, the primal urge to bury myself inside her and never let go. No, it’s the emotional connection, the soul-deep recognition that she is mine, and I am hers. The way she sees through my masks, the walls I’ve erected to keep the world at bay. The way she challenges me with a single look, pushes me, makes me want to be a better alpha. A better man.

But I can’t be that for her. Not now, maybe not ever. Not when Damien’s obsession with Daria still casts a shadow over us all, a specter of the past that refuses to let go.

I think back to the night of the mating ceremony, the way Damien’s eyes glittered with malice as he sank his teeth into Evie’s neck. The way she cried out, pain and betrayal mingling in her voice. It was a claiming, but not a complete one. A half-measure, designed to bind her to us without truly making her ours.

And now, with her heat approaching, the consequences of that cruel act will come to bear. She’ll be lost in a haze of need, her body crying out for the alphas who marked her, only to be met with cold indifference.

The thought makes me sick, my stomach churning with a potent mix of guilt and rage. This isn’t right. None of it is. But I’m powerless to stop it, trapped by my own loyalty and the twisted machinations of a broken alpha.

So I do the only thing I can. I turn back to the target and let my fists fly, pouring all my frustration, all my impotent anger into each bone-rattling impact. The display lights up, numbers climbing higher and higher, but it’s a hollow victory.

Because no matter how hard I hit, no matter how much force I unleash, it won’t change the fact that Evie is suffering.

And it’s all our fault.