Chapter 43
SIN
It was a little comical—or would have been if the situation wasn’t so dire.
We were locked the fuck out of our cell on the night before our appeal, and instead of Karma taking Crescent to hide somewhere, he’d knotted her.
Out in the open.
I viciously rubbed my face so it couldn’t betray the seriousness of the situation. But thinking about what would have happened if Phantom had been the one to find them…
He would be pissed. I could already hear his furious snarling.
I’d have to tell him about it later so Karma could get the lecture he deserved.
Leaning one shoulder against the wall, I skimmed my eyes down Crescent. Her pale skin, parted thighs, Karma’s knot stretching her out. His fresh bond mark on her neck, that he was nursing—it seemed to be helping pull him back from the edge of madness, at least.
If she’d found her door closed, someone was working against us. It was a miracle Karma found her first.
And he’d obviously found someone else before her, from the streaks of blood on his skin, some of the red transferring to her pale hips.
We were dangerously exposed if alphas were prowling around here to hunt us.
The shirt she wore covered her torso, but when Karma realized I was watching, he slid the fabric up and cupped her breast in his palm.
Crescent whined, squirming over his knot, and god, that pink flush to her cheeks was tantalizing.
Karma’s fingers tweaked her nipples, and the way she moaned…
Fuck.
Goddamn Karma was clearly still feral.
“We can’t stay here.”
It took every fibre of my restraint not to continue staring at her as my cock throbbed. I glanced down the hall in each direction, trying to get my bearings. We needed privacy. Nearby. Were there any empty rooms that wouldn’t be locked?
I spotted a distinctive peony art piece on the grey stone wall down one end.
Jogging down to the end, I followed the hastily spray-painted floral down a few feet to a metal door. I hauled it open and peeked inside.
No scent except dust and dampness. It was a small room, almost a closet, with a couple of flattened boxes on the floor.
I went back to the hall where Karma stood with Crescent, gesturing to them to come.
He had her suspended in the air, his hands holding her thighs as she clutched at his arms. She was wide-eyed and unsteady, a sheen of lust still glazing her expression.
I should probably help… But I didn’t really know how, so instead, I watched him waddle, one tiny step at a time. He couldn’t jostle her too much or he might hurt her on his knot.
Oh, and his pants were still around his ankles, Crescent’s sweats hanging from one of her feet with the fabric trailing along the ground.
It took painfully long for the hulking, feral alpha, still knotted in our tiny omega, to inch down the hallway so we could all duck into the hiding spot.
Finally, the door shut. Watching Karma’s rough hands on Crescent’s thighs made my balls ache, especially when she squirmed to readjust herself on his cock.
We were hidden now.
And she was… knotted.
Would be for a while.
God, I wished I could make the most of this. But I was the only sane one here. Karma was half feral and Crescent had settled into her instincts when he caught her, blissfully ignorant of the harsh reality.
We didn’t actually know where the fuck Vandle and Phantom were—and those assholes owed me for making me pass up a golden opportunity.
“How long do you think?” I asked.
Karma and Crescent stared blankly at me.
“Until the knot deflates,” I clarified. We needed her free from his cock as soon as possible.
“Uh,” he grunted. “Dunno.”
Fantastic.
CRESCENT
Karma was listing the alphas he’d killed to Sin. When he mentioned the one who’d chased me, that cleared some of the happy haze. My floaty joy really crashed when I prodded the bond and found that Phantom and Vandle were… noticeably absent.
Blocking me out?
Or unconscious?
Oh dear…
I was hot, but my bare skin felt cold, and I couldn’t help but sigh breathily when Karma’s knot softened enough for him to slip out of me. A rush of his cum followed, dripping onto the floor beneath us.
Sin knelt in front of me when Karma went to set me down.
“Gonna be hard to clean you up,” he said.
He helped me put my shoe back on—one had fallen half off when we’d pulled my sweats off one ankle—and then grabbed his own shirt. Ripping off a strip of fabric, he wiped at the mess on my thighs.
Karma pulled his pants back up his legs, hauling me back against his chest and rubbing his chin across my shoulder.
He felt… balanced.
Calmer than I’d ever seen him.
Was this enough to keep him present for our appeal in the morning?
I leaned against him as Sin cleaned me up, yawning wide even though I knew it would be a while before I could sleep peacefully.
I was drifting off when the banging started.
It jolted me awake on Sin’s lap. We were in the same dark room with damp, heavy air.
Karma stood by the door, a finger pressed to his lips, completely with it, now.
What was making that noise?
It sounded like metal on stone.
A baton smacking against the wall, coming closer with every bang. Sin helped me stand, silent in my sneakers, and pushed me behind him. I noticed his gun was already in his hands.
I held my breath until I went dizzy and needed to suck in air.
Then, the banging stopped, as close to us as it could possibly be.
The door opened with a resounding slam, and there was nowhere to hide.
Karma grabbed the man around the throat, shoving him back out the door. They grappled, the man’s hands trying to remove Karma’s, before disappearing from view. Everything was loud all of a sudden: pounding footsteps and shouts and more banging of metal on stone.
I trembled, clinging to Sin from behind as he took careful, measured steps forward.