A Knotty Deal: The Claiming of Cadence

A Knotty DealThe Claiming of Cadence Book 1Leann Ryans Copyright © 2023 Leann RyansAll rights reservedThe characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.This book is intended for a mature audience. Cover design by: Dazed Designs Contents Title PageCopyrightA Note from the AuthorChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenEpilogueThanks A Note from the AuthorThis story was previously released as Proposition #1 in the Illicit Deals series. It was originally a contemporary romance and has been rewritten as omegaverse. When I first wrote the story, I wanted to prove I could write a contemporary romance that didn’t rely on the tropes I was familiar with. And I did. But I’m an omegaverse girl at heart, and it didn’t make sense to have a series that doesn’t match my brand. So, Leo and Cadence got a transformation, and in the process, their story changed and grew. The bones of the original are still there, the storyline is the same, but now we have all the knots and growling and slick and instincts we love. Their world changed along with their dynamics, and I hope you enjoy the new version! Interested in finding more books by me? Check out my website at https://leannryans.com You can sign up for my weekly newsletter and recieve a sweet, short Monster Romance, free! When your brother’s life depends on you paying his debts, you find a way to make it happen.Even if it means selling the only thing of value you have left.Yourself.Alphas are willing to pay a lot to have a night with an omega, especially one that’s untouched. They aren’t concerned with how willing I am, because one way or another, they’ll make me submit.I’m going to do this, for my brother’s sake.I’m going to sell myself to the highest bidder.I am not going to admit to the secret thrill running through my veins, and I’m definitely not going to read more in Leo’s actions than an alpha’s typical lust and possessiveness.I’m going to make it through the night, pay off my brother’s debt, and then I am going to forget this ever happened.If Leo lets me.Will I survive such A Knotty Deal? Chapter OneCadenceMy brother isn’t a bad kid. He isn’t some wannabe gang-banger, or a thug out looking for trouble. Michael is still in high school, gets good grades, and never causes problems. He is a typical beta teenager in every way.Which includes making bad decisions.He got in over his head. An act of desperation by someone pushed to the edge.Because we were desperate.Everything was crumbling around us, and we were running out of time.It started when Daddy died. Even though he had been a soldier, we’d never thought it would happen to us. Sure, he had been in a war zone, but things like that happened to other people. Not us. Daddy wasn’t in real danger.We were so wrong.It was a rude awakening for me and Michael when Momma started screaming in the middle of the night, saying things we couldn’t make sense of. Our mother never was the same after those people showed up at the door the next morning and explained Daddy was gone, and Momma was suffering from a broken matebond. They were surprised she’d survived the loss at all, but one of the doctors mentioned it was probably because of us. We were still young, and we needed her.It took a while for her to pull herself together, but Momma managed to keep going. She smiled and tried to pretend for us, but she was a ghost of the woman she had been before. Even at twelve years old, I could see it.When Momma started having memory problems, I hated myself for thinking it was a blessing. Momma had days where she was laughing again like she used to, and the haunted look in her eyes faded.Then she had days when she was screaming in pain, unable or unwilling to get out of bed. I wasn’t sure if those were better or worse than when she was silent, staring at nothing, not responding to anything we tried.We didn’t realize what was going on at first. The good days started before the bad ones, and we’d thought enough time had finally passed for her grief to ease.Until one day she stopped in the hallway and stared at the picture of Michael and I with Daddy. She hadn’t known who that man in the picture was, and once we’d reminded her, it was as if he’d just died again.Half the time she forgot her own mate, the other half she couldn’t function she was so heartbroken by his loss.The mood swings weren’t too bad at first, and it was chalked up to the broken bond causing long-term stress and depression. The memory loss was explained as her mind trying to protect itself from the trauma of the sudden loss of the matebond, but the episodes were infrequent. It was a couple more years before they came more often, and the bad days started to take over.The outbursts affected her day-to-day life, and we finally had to admit it was more than depression due to painful memories. Momma was diagnosed with Bond Loss Syndrome. Usually an omega died if they lost their mate and didn’t establish a new bond to replace it, but Momma refused to take another mate. There wasn’t a lot known about Bond Loss Syndrome since it was so rare.Momma had struggled to make ends meet on her own after Daddy was gone. She had done everything she could, working crazy hours which I assumed helped her bury the pain of the loss, but once she started