Knot The One They Want

Oracle [Present Day]

How the hell did I get myself into this situation?

I step back as Torin lunges toward Lorali, who is bleeding out on the floor. Never in my life have I felt so lost.

"Oracle, what did you do!" Torin shouts, his voice cracking as he lifts Lorali into his arms.

"N...nothing," I stammer, frantically waving my hands, trying to defend myself. But it does nothing. Lorali opens her mouth, her voice faint and broken.

"I’m s...orry, about Oril," she whispers, and my heart nearly jumps out of my chest.

What is happening right now? I am so lost. Where did Torin even come from?

I am at a loss for words when Torin snaps his gaze at me, his eyes burning. "You will pay dearly for this," he says before rushing out of the room, carrying Lorali, who drifts in and out of consciousness, blood dripping onto the floor in a trail behind them.

It doesn’t take long before Kei appears, following the scent and sight of blood. "Yoh, what happened? Why is there blood on the floor, and why are you standing in Torin’s room?"

I am drowning in confusion, unable to answer any of Kei’s questions. Did Lorali just set me up? Is everything she said about the bond being venomous true? Wait, what even is a venomous bond?

"ORACLE!" Kei’s clap snaps me out of my spiraling thoughts. I can’t believe this.

"Lorali is a liar," I blurt, my voice wild, and Kei’s face twists with even more confusion.

"What? Have you lost your mind?" he asks, disbelief dripping from his tone.

"Yes, maybe I am losing it a bit, but it doesn’t change the fact that Walter was right. He’s not crazy. Lorali is the crazy one. And my brother is innocent, she confessed."

"Oracle, buddy..." Kei laughs nervously, like he’s trying to calm a madman. "What does any of that have to do with the blood on the floor?"

"She stabbed herself in the stomach—the same stomach that was already stabbed—and now she’s blaming me. The execution was perfect. I’m going to jail. I need you to help me clear my name while I’m locked up. I have—"

"Oracle, stop." Kei raises his hand, frustration etched across his face. Why does he look so exasperated? I’m the one about to go to jail for attempted murder, executed flawlessly. She’s an omega. They’ll believe her in court. She just needs to cry. In fact, I don’t think there will even be a trial.

"Have you lost your mind? What is this nonsense?" Kei demands, his voice sharp.

"This nonsense is me about to go to jail. Lorali has made it true. That girl is evil, out for revenge. She’s manipulated Torin’s mind against us. Today it’s me going to jail for something I didn’t do. Tomorrow it will be Oril. Eventually, it will be all of you, if she doesn’t kill you first." Lorali’s words still ring in my ears, venom dripping from every syllable.

Kei lets out a frustrated huff, dragging his hand down his face. "What the actual fuck has become of our lives? This is a mess."

I know.

Walter / One Week Later

"So am I selfish? Or insecure?" I ask, walking down the market street with a woven basket filled with useless things my dearest mother insists she needs for the house. "Sometimes," my sister answers, carrying a basket of her own, dodging a passerby with ease.

"Sometimes!? What on earth do you mean by that? Your answer should have been no." I huff, not expecting to hear such a half‑hearted response. I wanted reassurance, not doubt.

"I said sometimes, not all the time. You can be such an angel sometimes, and the meanest person in the room other times." She doesn’t even look at me as she speaks, her eyes fixed ahead.

"I am not mean. I just take a stand for justice, and maybe that comes off as mean sometimes."

"Back when you were in secondary school, you threw a whole cart of eggs at me because I undercooked them and got you sick."

"Exactly. It’s because you got me sick. You had it coming."

She shakes her head, finally lifting her gaze to me. "Fine. Then there was that time when you were preparing for your wedding. You made every single person wear hideous outfits, and if you saw someone in something semi‑decent, you’d go berserk and kick them out. All because you wanted to be the star of the show."

"It was my wedding. If you didn’t like what you were wearing, you didn’t have to come."

"Right. And there you go proving my point. You can be, at times, a selfish, insecure cunt. And at other times, you can be an angel, though those times are few."

Her words sting. Am I really a bad person? My own sister is saying it, so maybe it must stand a chance of being true.

"Can I ask you something?" I say, my voice quieter now.

"Yeah. Your questions keep me from thinking about my miserable life and the bills I have to pay without a job," she replies, sounding depressed. I always forget her life is worse than mine. Is that selfishness too?

"So, my omega friend Rod..." I drag out the name, inventing it on the spot. "You know Rod, right?"

"I don’t know any of your omega friends. Frankly, I didn’t even think you had one." She sighs, and I have to clench the basket to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

I have many omega friends—like Yurena, and well... all my fans. Most of them are omegas. Okay, fine, I don’t have omega friends. But that’s only because they can’t be trusted. I learned in the academy that an omega is neither your sister nor your brother. They’ll throw you under the bus any chance they get.

"Anyway, Rod has been having trouble with his pack, and I want an outside opinion from someone who isn’t an omega. I need your input."

"Alright," my sister nods, "tell me. I may not give the best advice, remember, I’m divorced."

"Okay, so his pack members brought another omega into the house. At first, he was furious with all of them, but after finding out they were being forced to take her in so they could have an heir, he let go of some of his anger toward the pack and instead focused it on this new omega. Somehow, she bonded with one of his packmates. His mother‑in‑law convinced him and the entire pack to treat this girl terribly for months. I’m talking minimal food, sleeping in a shed outside during winter, always wearing scent‑masking lotion that made her skin dull so she could leave, cleaning a massive house alone, given little to no clothing so she’d break and run. But that day never came.

Then she was kidnapped by an omega auction house for two months. She escaped, and it was revealed that one of Rod’s packmate had his mother‑in‑law whip her. Not only that, this girl is fated to not just one of his packmates but also the main alpha, giving her rights to the pack. Rod doesn’t know what to do anymore, because she may not be the gold‑digging girl he thought she was, but someone who just wanted to be with her fated mates and was willing to be a second omega for it."

My sister’s feet stop abruptly. She flicks her head toward me, her eyes sharp and unyielding. "I think you stop being friends with Rod and his entire pack. In fact, I’d report that whole pack. What they’re doing to that girl is not right."

I laugh nervously under her gaze, my throat tightening. "Isn’t that a little dramatic? They were just trying to get her to leave. Nothing physical ever happened to her. Rod is sure his mate didn’t have anyone whip her. She’s lying."

Her stare hardens, and I feel my words crumble in my mouth.

"That doesn’t matter, Walter. The problem isn’t whether the pack whipped her or didn’t whip her. This pack is insane. Why would you choose to make a poor girl, who maybe just turned twenty, who had hope for a pack, who met her fated mates and decided to be with them even though they already had an omega, suffer for someone else’s mistake? This pack could have sat her down, explained the situation like responsible adults, and tried to set her up with another pack. Instead, they destroyed her. Where was the sense in that?"

I’m at a loss for words, my throat tight, my mind scrambling for excuses. She doesn’t stop.

"Walter, Rod and his little pack are wicked. The fact that only now he’s thinking he might be wrong, only because she’s fated to his main alpha is disturbing. He didn’t think he was wrong when she was sleeping in a shed. He didn’t think he was wrong when she was starving."

"He did," I huff, guilt twisting inside me. "He felt guilt every time he saw her. He’s not a monster." My voice sounds weak even to me. Am I really defending this? Am I not that bad, or am I exactly what she says I am?

"But he is. Other than the mother‑in‑law, he’s the biggest monster here. Imagine if Valm’s fantasy of becoming an omega actually came true. Hypothetically, she’s fated to your main alpha and joins your pack. Would you treat her like dirt so she’d leave?"

"No! How can you even suggest that? And why are you dragging me into this?" My chest tightens, anger mixing with shame.

"So you see, your friend and his pack are trash. Distance yourself from these people. Report them before everything explodes, because trust me, it will."

"Oh... okay."

Her words slice deeper than I want to admit. She’s going to kill me if she ever finds out there is no Rod, that this is all my pack’s doing. And for good reason. Maybe I really am a shitty individual. Maybe.