Knot The One They Want

Keion Pov

"Walter, what happened?" Oril rushes across the broken shards of glass on the floor, his eyes wide with panic. "Are you okay?" He spews out another string of frantic questions while lifting Walter into his arms.

Walter doesn’t speak. He doesn’t answer at all. He just holds on tightly to the oddly shaped vase in his hands.

My gaze drifts toward the chaos as Oril rushes past me out the closet holding Walter. Did Lorali do all of this? I see the remnants of Walter’s vases shattered across the floor, even the priceless one his grandfather gave him. Damn it. It makes sense why Walter looks like he was run over by a train. His precious collection is completely destroyed. He loves those vases. Sometimes I even feel like he loves them more than he loves me.

Sighing, I roll up the sleeves of my shirt and crouch down. Maybe if I gather the larger pieces, I will be able to find an artisan to rebuild at least a few of them.

It isn’t long before Oril hurries back into the walk-in closet, raw anger radiating off him in waves. By then, I have sorted the fragments into eight different sections of glass piling up on the hardwood floor, and my hands and feet sting with fresh cuts.

"What are you doing?" Oril growls, disbelief and fury etching deep lines into his voice.

"As you can see, I am collecting the glass," I say, keeping my eyes focused downward as I place another shard painted with purple flowers onto its corresponding pile. "I am going to find someone who can piece them back together."

"Leave that right now. We need to go out there and confront Lorali. She cannot do this to Walter!" Oril clenches his fists tightly at his sides. I keep quiet and keep working. There is nothing I can possibly do to fix this situation other than repair these vases.

"Why are you still on the ground? Come on, let us go and confront her! She cannot get away with doing things like this. She has left Walter traumatized!" Oril continues to yell. For a man whose own life was in complete shambles less than twenty-four hours ago, he sure is chatty today.

"Leave it alone, Oril. Don’t pick a fight with her," I sigh, carefully picking up a razor-sharp edge. "You know she is capable of far worse than this."

I am not actually surprised this happened. Honestly, Walter probably said something completely stupid to set her off. I just know it in my gut.

"Leave it alone?" Oril scoffs, his voice rising. "I cannot just leave it alone! Lorali has Walter sobbing against my chest while he clutches a single broken vase. I don’t know about you, but I cannot just sit by and watch my mate—"

Oril cuts himself off mid-word and falls completely silent. My gaze moves up to meet his, rising slowly as the weight of his slip-up hangs in the thick air between us. "What?" I question.

He curves the side of his lip into a cold sneer and crosses his arms tightly over his chest. "I know why you want to leave it alone. It is because Lorali is your fated mate, isn’t it?"

The accusation stings, making me want to punch him right back to the trailer park he crawled out from.

"You want to throw away all the years you spent loving Walter," Oril continues, stepping closer with a bitter glare. "Just because you finally have your own fated mate now, the exact thing you have always wanted. You just want to toss Walter to the side so you can go run off with your precious Lorali."

"Oril, not all of us are a quarter as dumb as you are," I say, rising slowly from the hard floor. "I love Walter. I always will. It is because of that exact love that I have not said a single word to Lorali, even though I know she is my fated mate. I haven’t spoken up because I do not know how Walter would handle it. I am even willing to reject this bond entirely and live the rest of my life consumed by guilt if Walter cannot accept her presence."

I pause for a moment, letting a heavy breath slide past my lips.

"Yes, I do not want to fight with Lorali over what happened, partially because I feel guilty and cannot look her straight in the eye right now. But I am also doing this to protect Walter. We can all see that Lorali is unstable. How do you think she will react if two alphas, both of whom she already despises, decide to gang up on her? She will not like it, and she will undoubtedly do something drastic in retaliation."

I lean in slightly, dropping my voice to a harsh whisper so only the two of us can hear.

"Trust me, Oril. She has humbled you once before, and she can easily do it again. You really do not want to end up joining your brother in a prison cell."

Oril bites the inside of his cheek at my comment, his chest heaving as his breathing turns fast and shallow.

"So we are just supposed to let her do whatever she wants?" Oril spits out, shaking his head in total denial. "She can just abuse Walter as much as she pleases, and we must sit here still and do nothing? I won’t do that. We need to take her down once and for all. I have suffered day and night because of her endless accusation. Now that she no longer has Torin wrapped around her finger under her spell, we will finally be able to root her out. We can finally be free of her."

"Why are you so stupid!" I groan loudly, rubbing my temples in frustration. "Torin still loves her! You were not there at the hospital, Oril. He does not give a single damn that she is the reason his own mother is sitting in a wheelchair right now. He was still practically begging on his knees to get her back. Even now, after everything she has put everyone through, I promise you that Torin will back her up. Not that she even needs his help anyway. Lorali holds all the upper hand here. We are not taking her down."

I take a step closer, my eyes narrowing as I lay out the brutal truth.

"And admit it to yourself, Oril. Walter had this coming. You had it coming. Hell, we all had it coming. Every single one of us played a direct part in her abuse over the past half a year. By all rights, we should all be sitting in little matching wheelchairs right alongside Yurena."

I draw in a long, deep breath and walk right up to Oril, looking him dead in the eye.

"Just leave this matter alone. Let us focus all our energy on getting your brother out of jail instead. I am begging you, Oril, do not pick another fight with her. Remember that you lost the last one miserably."

I turn and walk toward the closet door, but I pause for a brief second before stepping through the frame. "If you truly care for Walter more than you care about getting even with Lorali, start picking up these vase shards."

With that final warning, I leave him alone in the walk-in closet.

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