Forget Me Knot

FORGET ME KNOT THE POISONVERSE MARIE MACKAY Copyright © 2023 by Marie Mackay Edition 1.0 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. CONTENTS Content Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Epilogue Want more?! Hannah’s Story Afterword Also by me CONTENT HOLD UP! Is there anything I should be aware of as a reader? Yes! Let me get you a list so you know what you’re getting into: This is an MMFMMM, a scent matched pack including a male omega who is a part of the scent match. Home invasion, stuffing omegas in metal vaults for their own safety, somewhat consensual kidnapping, and stalkers. References of human trafficking and backstory of sexual assault entirely off-screen. Anything else? Not quite done! Discussion of infertility and a woman's role in society but without touching on grief associated with infertility. Gun and knife violence. References to murder of omegas. PTSD and grief. Also for spice tastes: there are group scenes, MM, and spanking. Oh, also! I write in British English (Realize/realise) I was born in England and now live in Canada. Sometimes my language and dialogue has some funky flavour (I’ve given up fighting it) Cheerio, let’s have a cuppa, eh bud? … Thanks for giving this book a shot, and enjoy the ride! ONE Onyx You truly are your own worst enemy, Onyx. My dad’s warning felt far too prophetic right now. I sat in the backseat. A folder stuck from the emerald handbag I clutched to my chest as my driver pulled away from the Institute. “There’s been a mistake.” The words rang in my head. It had taken me too long to come, and now that I had, I wish I’d never risked it because the plan had worked so perfectly it was almost laughable. Until it hadn’t. I’d found a scent match. Detective Ash’s last piece of advice wasn’t something I’d been able to shake. It’s not a problem you can throw money at. You need to find a pack, a scent match, if possible, so they will claim you even if they learn the truth. I didn’t need to see the text to remember it. The message was burned into my brain. And I’d done it. Against all of my instincts, all of my better judgement, against the weight of the guilt dogging me, I’d done it. That text from Detective Ash had been sent a week ago. I’d spent every night warring with guilt, terrified of turning the corners in my own house, terrified every time I entered a room with a light off until finally, I cracked. And so there’d I’d been, just moments ago in the Valentine Division’s lobby tapping my heel anxiously as I waited. I was due the report on the scent I’d identified—the pack I’d just damned—when a mousy-haired beta approached and said the thing that had turned my day upside down. No. My life upside down. “A mistake?” I’d asked, mind reeling. What could that mean? “I know they were a match.” I’d been in a room with so many scents, and one had called to me. It had been unmistakable. Could I have been wrong? For a moment, the relief almost choked me. It was wrong of me to come here. Cruel and selfish. I dug manicured nails into my favourite emerald purse and I almost reached for the little pocket within. “C-correct ma’am.” The woman before me wrung her fingers anxiously, her face pale. “The mistake wasn’t whether or not you got a match.” “What other possible mistake could there be?” I had what I came for. Now I just needed what was inside that file she was so desperately clutching. A pack was in there, waiting. I’d only been exposed to packs who found my other ailment acceptable, though that particular issue was one the Institute was all too aware of. But also it meant the pack in that file might actually… want me. I wanted to stand, but I couldn’t move as I stared up at her. “Tell me.” She swallowed, a shaky hand patting her pencil skirt flat as she searched for the words. “Well…” She took a breath. “Our pack database is broad. We keep scents from all over—not just the ones from eligible packs looking for an omega—” “What happened?” I snapped, panic rising in my chest. “It seems there was a mix-up.” “A mix-up how?” “The scent you matched with. It wasn’t supposed to be in that room.” “What other kinds of pack scents do you have here?” Scent matching was a strange thing that no one quite understood. It was theorised each omega had many potential scent matches across the globe—something about chance and proximity. But the moment either pack or omega experienced a complimentary scent, it locked in. That was it. Fated mates. I wouldn’t get a scent match with any other pack. With money like I had, I could pay for the Institute’s special database in hopes of finding a pack closer to my status. I was playing the odds. “It’s like fingerprinting, ma’am. When packs have a history in the system, we log them. The vial was