“’Course, Kitten,” I said, mussing her hair, and she grinned—wrapping her arms around me and adding to the blood on my shirt with a great big Omega print of crimson. The gunshot I’d received seemed to be just a graze, the pressure from my hand was doing a decent enough job at containing the bleeding.

  “What a show,” Ace said, returning to his seat.

  Thistle went to grab Bunny before sitting, but noticed the smears of blood on her wrists. She frowned, looking around, before darting over to Bella, and wiping her arms off on her red dress. Bella remained stock still, head craned away from the gun pressed to her flesh, as Thistle ruined her attire.

  “I think you should know,” Thistle said as she sank back down onto Ace’s lap and finally plucked Bunny from his seat, “your Alpha wet himself… that’s, uh, pretty embarrassing. Just sayin’.”

  Bella stared at her, face sickly pale, unable to find a reply for the Omega still all but swimming in her dead Alpha’s blood. “You have your revenge,” she hissed.

  Ace cocked his head. “Do we?” He looked from Thistle, to me, to Knox.

  Bella cleared her throat, shrinking back into the seat, looking at Knox quickly. “Take him.”

  “Can we take him, Omega?” Ace peered down at Thistle.

  She clasped her hands together. “He’s got the bond.” I could hear the pout in her voice.

  “I won’t come asking,” Bella hissed.

  Ace snorted. “And that’s the same thing?”

  “I want to live.” Bella’s voice was rough.

  There was a pause, and then Ace said, “There’s only one way that happens.”

  The smug happiness slid from Thistle’s face in a second. “What?”

  At my side, Knox shifted just slightly.

  Ace went on, not noticing, or caring for our response. “There are two things you have left to bargain with—two things my Omega has claimed.”

  Bella stared, and I could almost see her mind working a million miles an hour.

  Shit.

  This wasn’t right.

  Bella had to die.

  And it wasn’t like last time. The others in here were afraid of Ace. We could do it—they’d just seen her try to kill Thistle. This would be fair revenge in their eyes.

  But I couldn’t shake the part of me that worried Ace might consider Knox disposable. Knox said nothing, but I got the impression it took every ounce of effort. Ace leaned in, and the words he spoke to Bella were for her alone before he leaned back.

  Bella’s voice was shaky. “Agree to leave my home, and I will deliver. Kill me, and you’ll never see half that deal.”

  Ace narrowed his eyes, but Bella dared lift a hand, peering back to one of her Alphas. Ace nodded at the guard holding a gun to his head, and he lowered it. The Alpha hurried forward, and Bella spoke to him in a low hiss. He listened, then backed away, vanishing from the room.

  “Give them a few minutes, then go.” Bella’s voice was shaking.

  “Bunny…” Thistle’s voice was annoyed as she tugged on Ace’s shirt. “She has to die.”

  Ace smiled as he slid his eyes from Thistle back to Bella, who was stock still. Ace’s thumb pressed to Thistle’s lips. “Perhaps not.”

  “What about Daddy?”

  Ace shrugged. “She promised she wouldn’t chase.”

  A strangled sound came up Thistle’s throat, and she had her dainty little hand around Ace’s neck in a flash. “He’s mine,” she hissed. “He’s mine. Not hers.”

  “Shh, Omega. I will give you everything you’ve claimed.”

  I frowned, parsing through that.

  Knox was still tense, but if he argued with Ace right now, he’d break the illusion. The one thing that would keep us safe after we left was the belief in his destruction. If he didn’t say a thing, there would be no one left in this place with a shadow of a doubt that he had been subdued.

  I couldn’t help noticing Knox’s eyes slide to me as if demanding I say something. Could I come up with a reason that wouldn’t sound suspicious?

  Perhaps…

  I wanted Bella dead, too.

  Knox needed to join the pack—for Thistle. They were as inseparable as any scent match now. But I couldn’t work out if this was part of the plan… Or if he was trying to put real dominance behind that pack lead title he had.

  If it was a dominance play, we’d have a million more chances to upend it—but tonight, we needed to walk out of this party alive first. Something else played at the edge of my mind, though—a piece of this puzzle that wanted to fit but just wouldn’t quite.

  Finally, the door opened again, and Bella’s Alpha reappeared, nodding toward us.

  Ace smiled. “Bella can count her lucky stars today.”

  My mouth remained closed.

  Right now, all the power was with Ace—not our pack, and not even Thistle, who had him in a heat bond.

  None of us had enough information.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THISTLE

  Bella wasn’t dead.

  We were leaving, but Bella wasn’t dead.

  Each step felt as if my boots were made of stone. Ace’s fingers were tangled in mine—they were firm.

  “I will give you everything you’ve claimed…”

  I didn’t understand those words.

  Knox was mine.

  But… Ace had said something to Bella. Something none of us had heard. A flicker of hope bloomed in my chest, and I fanned it, glancing up at him as we stepped up to the doors to Bella’s home.

  If we left, would I ever have a chance to bond with Knox?

  Ace’s jaw was set, and he looked as calm as he’d been this whole time.

  He won’t lose, Bunny. We gotta believe that.

  He has a plan.

  We crossed the exit out into the night air, and down the first few steps before Ace drew me to a halt.

  “There was a complication.”

  I frowned.

  What did that mean?

  Ace glanced at Rogue. He’d been wounded. I eyed the way he was holding pressure on his side, but he wasn’t in pain so it was hard to tell. If it was bad, there would be more blood, I thought.

  We’d made it out alive…

  But so had Bella.

  And there were so many more layers to these monsters than I’d faced before. My mind flickered to the crimson marker I’d used, something in my chest twisting⁠—

  “You’ll go to the car first,” Ace said. “Deal with it. We are leaving without a scene.”

  “What?” I asked, looking back up at Ace.

  Deal with it?

  Deal with what?

  What are they talking about, Bunny?

  “What are you waiting for?” Ace asked.

  “Ah…” Rogue, who was staring at Ace oddly, seemed to clue in. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  I looked at Knox, but he was still ashen. The death of his pack mate had taken a toll, and I could see he wasn’t all with it.

  “Fuck.” Rogue scowled but began down the steps, tugging that chain and getting Knox to follow.

  “What’s… happening?” I asked as they left.

  “You did everything right tonight, Omega,” Ace told me.

  He didn’t lie. Not ever. And he never told me I’d done well unless he had to. Still… “It’s not… not feeling like that,” I whispered, voice cracking as I looked back up at him. I tried to turn—to follow Rogue and Knox, to seek out the limo that was waiting for us—but Ace’s fingers closed around my neck.

  “Look at me.” The Alpha bark was a quiet command, but he’d never given me one that hadn’t been almost impossible to ignore. I met his eyes, feeling the panic whisper like a nightmare beckoning, as if I just hadn’t yet turned the corner. I clutched Bunny tighter, fingers shaking.

  “You were everything I asked,” Ace said. “You did everything right, and you painted a picture none of them will forget.”

  He hadn’t just wanted me at his side. He’d told me to go further—to be bold enough to make her angry. Off balance. Prone to mistakes.

  He told me he knew I could do that like no one else.

  And I had—I thought I had… I even used his gift, the bracelet still around my wrist.

  Everything should be right, then, shouldn’t it?

  “But…?” I whispered.

  “They’re still watching, and I won’t let you ruin it now. Not when you’ve done so well.”

  I swallowed, daring a glance down the steps. My heart tripped, my fingers digging too tight into Bunny.

  Why… why would we ruin it?

  I heard the faint sound of a car door shutting, and then Ace’s grip was on my wrist as he tugged me down the shallow stairs.

  I felt a numbness washing over me.

  Have we… messed up, Bunny?

  …Badly… somewhere… I could feel it.

  Ace didn’t seem angry, and that… that made things worse, because I didn’t know what I’d done.

  Finally, we reached the limo, and Ace pressed me back against it. “Kiss me, Omega.”

  I looked up, violet eyes locked with ice blue—they were glaciers that gave nothing away—as I leaned up. His lips were soft against mine, passionate, too caring. Caring from Ace was foreign… it was as if he was trying to fix me up.

  Like… like he knew we were about to crack into a million pieces…

  Then the door was opening, and I stepped in, my heart racing like a hummingbird as I took in what was inside.

  The world swayed strangely as the door behind me slammed. The engine rumbled.

  And I just… stared.

  Knox was holding her.

  I didn’t understand.

  “…Bambi?”

  The horror of what was before me rent me apart.

  She was a beautiful Omega with thick blonde hair and curious eyes that had, back in the party, lingered on Bunny for long enough that it caught my attention.

  And then I’d seen an eerie, dull deadness in her gaze when Banner had spoken behind us—a silence I’d felt like a knife in my own heart.

  An old pencil stub scratching against scrap paper, spiralling happiness as an image came together—until a shadow drifted over us.

  It was impossible to forget how much I hated Dan—or how much he scared me… But my fear was the part I hated to face.

  I’d hated seeing it in her eyes too, tonight.

  I could see the tattoo of a baby deer across her shoulder, but it was the only thing familiar about her.

  The white dress she wore was no longer white. It was barely even the colours of the markers that had touched it. The dress was crimson now, to match the blood seeping from the huge cuts across her.

  Nasty, angry marks.

  Across her chest. Her face. As if slashed in rage. Hatred…

  The little red heart I’d drawn on her wrist—I could only just see it between drips of real, crimson blood.

  I stumbled forward, a cold, icy terror slamming in as I realised that everything I was looking at… it was my fault.

  I shuddered, seeing again the confidence on Bella’s face as she’d re-entered the party late in the evening, wiping her hands on a handkerchief.

  “N-no…”

  I’d known by the way she’d smiled that something was wrong. I’d buried it, like I did all the things my brain didn’t understand.

  Stupid…

  My chest caught, breaths not finding a way out. Bunny tumbled from my grip as my knees crashed to the floor of the limo. I was shoving Knox back as I took her in my arms.

  She… she was alive.

  Barely.

  Wh-what have we done, Bunny?

  Terrified honey eyes met mine, and I felt her small fist grip my arm.

  Tears clouded my eyes.

  I never… never wanted this…

  I pressed my hand to Bambi’s, fingers weaving with hers, but they refused to match no matter how hard I stared. Her skin felt clammy, still shades darker than the pallor of my own.

  This blood wasn’t mine.

  My fault, but not mine…

  My mind careened back to the party. I’d been with Ace when I noticed Bella was gone. What had I been doing? I think I’d been half-listening to chatter while I drew red hearts on Ace’s cuff.

  Stupid. Stupid.

  I’d worried about looking bad beside Ace—rethinking my boots. I loved them, but maybe they didn’t fit the outfit. He was still holding me. Nothing had waned in his claim, but what if I couldn’t live up to it?

  I choked on a sob, staring at the open knife wounds across Bambi’s chest as Rogue peeled back the fabric. I pictured the blade in Bella’s fist, dragging it across her flesh—while I was worried about my boots?

  I’d done this.

  My claim—that red mark—it meant something.

  I could barely breathe.

  “I’m sorry…” I choked.

  For a flash, I felt Dan’s eyes on me as he’d entered my room—back when I lived in a time of nightmares. He’d caught me with a pencil and scrap of paper, and I’d known he was going to hurt me. Back then, monsters had circled me.

  But I’d never made them angry at someone else…

  Just a mark. A crimson heart. A moment of instinct, and nothing else. A tiny dust devil of a dream, like a friend in a different universe sweeping me off my feet.

  And she’d paid for how stupid we… I… was.

  THIRTY-SIX

  KNOX

  The limo around me lurched, the world fading and hard to pin in place. It felt like a pillar had been ripped out, and the bond I was trapped in burned with the loss of an Alpha as central as Banner.

  Still there. Still chaining me, but agonising.

  I’d believed when Ace got to his feet before Bella and made to exit the party that leaving her alive was a slight against me. Something to hold over my head for whatever stupid fucking plans he had next.

  But I’d been wrong.

  The reason was harder to reckon with as I watched.

  The Omega had been dumped at the front of our limo like garbage. A bargain from Ace in exchange for Bella’s life.

  She should have passed out by now from the amount of blood she’d lost. She had to be in shock, and she was still clinging to Thistle, even as her skin drained of colour.

  I glanced at Rogue. He’d been shot, but he seemed stable. It was hard to tell with him, since he easily forgot his own injuries. Right now, he was cutting his shirt into strips with a knife and shoving them towards me.

  Right… I think he’d said something. The urgency in his voice still echoed in my mind. It was hard to focus, but I had to.

  So many wounds…

  “Fucking coward.” I didn’t realise I’d said the words aloud.

  These wounds were anger for me—for Thistle. And Bella had vanished from her own party so she could take it out on a defenceless Omega Thistle had left a claim on.

  It was overwhelming, staring at the wounds again and again, trying to figure out what the fuck we were supposed to do. We couldn’t deal with all of them. I wasn’t squeamish around blood—never had been, but the Omega’s fear saturated the space, and with the bleeding wound in my bond…

  “Daddy.” Thistle’s violet eyes dragged me down to earth. My chest tightened, instincts overriding disorientation as she held onto this Omega.

  “It’s… it’s my fault.”

  That agony in her voice, I knew that pain, right down to my very soul.

  “No, Doll.” I took a breath, picking up the strips of cloth Rogue had given me. I needed to focus.

  “Which are bleeding the most?” Ace’s question grounded me, and I looked at them again. Some were bad, but blood wasn’t pooling around them—not like the one across her stomach. I reached for it.

  “Are w-we going to a hospital?” Thistle asked as I began wrapping the wound, shoving aside hesitation at the whimper the Omega—Bambi—made as I did.

  “Can’t,” I said.

  “What?”

  “The Ring will know.” I grabbed the next strip, hating the way Thistle jumped as Bambi shuddered with pain. “It’ll undo everything we did tonight⁠—”

  “But—”

  “Tonight was protection, Omega,” Ace cut in. “That includes protection for her.”

  “It’s not gonna matter if she’s dead!” Moonflower spiked with anger, mixing with the desperation that saturated the space.

  “I don’t think the wounds are deep,” I said. “She should be okay if we get the bleeding under control.”

  Was that truth, or desperate hope?

  I imagined Bella’s rage. I hadn’t felt it at the time—she could lock the bond down when she wanted to. But I knew her rage. Her hatred. Her jealousy.

  This Omega wasn’t dead—but if that’s what Bella had wanted, she would be.

  Thistle nodded, using her dress to wipe off Bambi’s hand. “This is Bunny,” she whispered, pushing Bunny into her fingers. “He’ll keep you safe.”

  Bambi’s grip closed on the toy, but her gaze snapped back to Thistle as she shifted, reaching for Rogue, who was tearing off the next strip.

  The frightened whine that sounded from her was enough to set my hairs on end. More tears tumbled down her cheeks as she fumbled for Thistle, Bunny still clutched in her hands.

  “O-okay,” Thistle stammered, shifting straight back to Bambi, eyes wide. “I won’t go nowhere.”

  She held on, burying her face into Thistle’s side and not letting go. Slowly, Thistle wove her fingers through her blood-matted hair, stroking it gently, eyes still lost and unsure.

  As I secured one of the strips of cloth over one of the worst gashes, Ace’s phone rang. He snatched it up. “I need to talk to Cypress,” he said. There was a pause, then his tone sharpened. “Now.”

  Thistle spared a glance at him, then looked back down at Bambi. “Cypress is the best in the business,” she whispered. “You’ll be all patched up in no time.”

  A doctor, if I had to guess. Maybe one of the ones he’d had on call with the Brotherhood. I hoped they weren’t far.

  “I need you tonight,” Ace said. There was another pause, and a faint response. He snorted. “Bad luck. You’ll have to put up with me a bit longer.”

  He typed out a few things after he hung up, glancing at Bambi analytically before tossing the phone at Rogue. “Need the address.”

 

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