Queen or Knot

Queen or Knot The Pack Next Door, Book Three M.P. Starkweather Phoenix Eclipse LLC Copyright © 2023 by M.P. Starkweather All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. I want to dedicate this book to my two biggest fans, my husband Josh and my son Thom, who will probably never read any of my books. Thanks for pushing me to chase my dream. I love you both to the moon and back. Acknowledgments I would like to thank: My Alpha and Beta Teams who try hard to keep me on track; My Editing Team who does their best to make sure my books make sense and have as few typos as possible; My Cover Artist, who requested not to be named, who’s responsible for the gorgeous images on the front of this book and My ARC Team, who catch some of the things the rest of us miss. Contents 1. Part 1: My Escape 2. My Hero 3. Am I Dying? 4. Promises and Bonds 5. It’s About Time I Met Your Mother 6. The ORM, an Introduction to Remember 7. Learning to Fight 8. Fugitives and Lovers, the Best of Both Worlds 9. Bee’s First Mission 10. Surprises 11. Pink or Blue 12. Adjusting to the New Normal 13. Has It Been Nine Months Already? 14. Part 2: Five Years Later 15. Bee’s First Mission, Again 16. Barely a Success 17. Improvements and Compromises 18. Promotions 19. Growing Pains 20. Leading the ORM 21. More Successes 22. More Surprises 23. Captured 24. Fighting Our Way Out 25. Epilogue Also By M.P. Starkweather About the Author one Part 1: My EscapeBIANCA “Mother, please. I don’t want to marry the Breckenridge boys. I don’t even like them. I want to decide who I will marry. Why can’t I choose?” Sweat beaded and trickled down my neck, disappearing under my dress. I felt a wave of nausea and shivered. My heat would hit soon, and I was terrified. My scent had begun to permeate my clothes, and jasmine with a hint of cedar surrounded me. I sprayed more perfume to cover the smell. I couldn’t let my mother know that my heat was so close. I’d had the same argument with my parents for two years, ever since they’d decided to sell me to the highest bidder. That turned out to be the Breckenridge family. I couldn’t stand Royce or Gideon. Of course, Father loved them because they held the same archaic beliefs about omegas as he did. I would end up being treated as a broodmare and nothing more. There was no way I could agree. Dorian was the only decent one in the bunch, but I wasn’t in love with him. I couldn’t agree to an arranged marriage with men I didn’t like. Especially when I was convinced fate had more in store for me than that. My parents didn’t care what I thought about it or how I felt. I was an omega, which meant I was property. The worst part about it was that my parents were the ones with the power to change those laws and give me freedom. Yet they refused. “Bianca, please. You are being ridiculous. Omegas don’t get to decide who they’re mated to. You know that. The laws are in place to protect you. Stop trying to fight your destiny.” My mother’s response had been the same for almost two years now. But that was to be expected. She always did and said exactly what my father told her to. She never once stood up for herself or anyone else. I wished for once that she could just be my mother and protect me like other moms did. But that wasn’t how being an omega worked. And Queen Amanda was the picture of a perfect omega. King John would accept no less than perfection. From any of us. “But the laws aren’t protecting me. They’re forcing me to become a walking incubator for more assholes who will be taught to believe that omegas aren’t worth anything past reproduction. Mother, please. I have a brain. Let me use it to make this country better. I should be next in line for the crown anyway.” I’d resorted to begging, sounding like a whiney, spoiled child. I hated myself for it, but I was desperate to get her to listen to me. “Bianca, stop. We will not discuss this again. This ends here. You will not bring it up again, or your father will be the one to handle it. Understood? You are the princess, and you will act like it.” Mother had to bring him into it. My father. The one person who could make my life worse than it already was. I hung my head and nodded. I had to figure a way out of this. I couldn’t stay here and be sold to those lunkheads. Sure, I wanted children, just not theirs. Everyone thought being a royal was amazing—balls, parties, being rich. They were jealous of a fairy tale. But being a princess wasn’t exactly like what people read about in fairy tales. I had no rights at all. I wasn’t allowed to speak until my father gave me permission. I had to dress and fix my hair exactly the way he decided. And under no circumstances was I to go out and play. That had been a huge mistake that the nanny made when I was young. I still remember the sweet little blond boys I played with that day. They were the Windsor boys, and I’d been in love with them since. They showed up the next day, and Father had the guards chase them away. “I can’t have random people sniffing around my daughter. What if you turn out to be an omega? Those are far too valuable to be left to their own devices.” I hadn’t understood that