Chapter 27 Jabari #2
Nyx took a step forward before Malachi could stop her. The sound that left her chest was rough enough to scrape the air.
"Tate," she breathed. "I'm right here."
Tatum's expression changed slowly, awareness fighting through the drugs in her system. Her gaze drifted toward the men standing behind Nyx and something like understanding flickered there.
"They… they got you too?" she whispered.
Nyx shook her head immediately.
"No. I came for you."
The Councilman watched the two of them carefully now, like a man studying proof that had just landed in his hands.
"You see," he said, glancing toward the rest of the table, "this is the problem with unsanctioned pack structures."
Several of the Council members leaned forward slightly.
"Unregistered omegas," he continued, "do not belong running around the city attaching themselves to criminal organizations. They belong under Council supervision where their… biological value can be properly managed."
Nyx went very still.
The Councilman tilted his head at her like he was offering something reasonable.
"Your sister has been under Council care for some time," he said. "She has been… productive."
His gaze flicked briefly between them.
"Your younger sister was once considered one of our more reliable assets."
The way he said the word made my stomach turn.
Nyx's voice dropped low. "What did you do to my sister?"
"What the Council always does," he replied calmly. "We ensure the stability of the population. Certain bloodlines produce strong alphas. Strong omegas. We cultivate those lines accordingly."
Nyx's face went white.
"You bred her," she said.
The Councilman did not even bother denying it.
"Your sister has fulfilled her purpose several times over," he said. "For years she produced strong litters for the Council."
His expression did not change.
"Until she stopped."
A few Council members shifted in their seats but none of them looked surprised.
"Fertility declines," he continued mildly. "Complications increase. Failed cycles become more frequent."
His gaze lifted back to Nyx.
"We began looking for genetic alternatives the moment your sister's productivity declined."
The implication settled across the room like something rotten.
"You," he said calmly, "turned out to be a very promising replacement."
His gaze moved slowly down Nyx like he was assessing livestock.
"Which brings us to now."
The room went colder.
"You are unregistered," he continued. "Healthy. Bondable. And currently attached to a pack the Council does not officially recognize."
Nyx stared at him with something that looked very close to murder.
"You want me," she choked on the words, “to be your broodmare?”
"We want compliance," the Councilman corrected smoothly. "Submit yourself to Council authority and your pack may continue operating in this city without interference. Refuse…"
He glanced down at Tatum.
"And we are forced to remind you who actually controls the future of omega bloodlines."
Nyx laughed then. Hard and ugly. "You think I'd let you turn me into a breeding animal," she said.
"You misunderstand," he replied calmly. "You already are one. The only question is whether you will serve the Council… or become an example."
Nyx stepped forward until her hands pressed against the glass.
"Go to fucking hell," she said, her face almost flush with the glass at this point.
Silence engulfed the chamber. The Councilman studied her for a long moment. Then he sighed faintly. "Very well," he said.
That was the moment he decided.
The blade moved.
Not across Tatum's throat.
Down.
Steel drove into her gut with brutal precision.
For one suspended second the room did not understand what had happened.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved. Not the Council. Not the guards. Not even the men holding Tatum upright. It was like the whole chamber needed a breath to understand that he had actually done it.
Then he yanked the knife upwards and we all stood by in horror as we watched Tatum’s guts spill out onto the chamber floor. Nyx made a sound then. Not a scream yet. Something smaller. Broken. Like the first crack running through glass.
Then Nyx screamed.
The sound cut straight through my chest like somebody drove a blade between my ribs instead. My alpha slammed against the inside of my skull hard enough that my vision flashed white for a second.
Every instinct in me said break the glass. Tear through the guards. Kill every man in the room until the one holding that knife stopped breathing.
The only thing keeping me still was the knowledge that if I moved too soon they would finish what they started.
The blade was yanked free and Tatum’s body dropped like a puppet’s strings being cut in front of us. Dark red blood soaked through Tatum's hospital grade gown while the guards forced her upright so Nyx could watch her organs falling from her body.
They didn't even pretend otherwise. Hands tightened under her arms just enough to keep her on her feet while blood ran down everywhere. They wanted Nyx to see every second.
"Nyx…" Tatum whispered. Her eyes struggled to stay open while her hands tried to grasp at her gut to pull her intestines back into her body, but the guards refused to give her that.
Her voice sounded smaller now. Like it had to travel through water just to reach us.
"Don't…" she coughed up her own blood. "Don't let them take you."
Her eyes found Nyx again and held there with stubborn focus.
"You hear me?" her breathing stuttered before she forced out. "You don't bow to men like this."
Her gaze moved past Nyx toward the pack behind her like she was trying to memorize them before everything faded.
"You always were the brave one," she said on her dying breath.
The knife struck again.
Right into her eye silencing her forever, but that didn’t stop the Council. He kept going.
Malachi tightened his hold around Nyx before she could throw herself at the glass.
"Stop," Nyx sobbed.
The Councilman pulled the blade free once more.
He drove it forward again beneath Tatum's ribs. Her body seized. Then it went still, this time it was final.
The guards finally released her corpse and Tatum collapsed to the stone floor. Her organs surrounding her dead body like a macabre painting.
Nyx tore free of Malachi like something had ripped loose inside her chest.
She slammed into the barrier hard enough the glass rang.
"Tate!"
Her palms struck the barrier. Not controlled. Not careful. Pure desperation, like if she hit it hard enough maybe the world would crack open and give her sister back.
"Tate, get up!" she screamed. "Tate please!"
Her voice broke apart on her sister's name.
For a breath nobody in the room moved.
Council members stared at the body on the floor. Guards shifted uncertainly. Even the man holding the knife seemed satisfied enough with the silence he had created.
That was the moment something inside me snapped.
Gunfire exploded, ricocheting off the walls, but I didn’t care. I needed to do something. Stop this somehow. I didn’t even remember reaching for my piece. One second my hands empty, next second the gun sitting comfortably in my grip like it knew where it belonged.
They wanted witnesses so fine. They can start with their own. Southern manners say you return the favor people show you.
The woman holding the pen never saw the shot coming.
Chaos erupted across the chamber as bullets shattered marble and guards surged forward.
Malachi fired one handed while still holding Nyx locked against him. Kairo moved instantly, putting his body between Nyx and the line of guards raising their weapons.
Elijah sprinted toward the control panel searching for overrides.
Nyx twisted in Malachi's hold and reached for the glass where Tatum's blood continued spreading across the stone. Her fingers splayed against the barrier like she might still drag her sister back through it.
"Tate," she cried.
Malachi hauled her toward the exit while bullets chased us into the corridor.
We burst into the night seconds later.
Inside the SUV Nyx held it together for almost ten seconds after the doors slammed shut.
Then the shock wore off.
Her hands started shaking first, then her shoulders. Then the sound came out of her like something inside her had finally torn open.
Then the control snapped and Nyx finally broke.
"She saw me," Nyx choked. "She saw me and I couldn't get to her."
Kairo held her shaking hands while Malachi pulled her against his chest.
"Breathe," Malachi murmured.
Elijah studied the screen in his hand.
"They just signed their own execution order," he said.
I watched the Council building shrink in the rearview mirror.
They thought they had demonstrated power.
Instead they made my omega watch her sister die.
Right then something settled in my chest real quiet and real certain. Not rage. Rage loud. This was colder.
The kind of promise a man keeps even if it takes the rest of his life.
That kind of mistake follows a man all the way to his grave.
And if it don't, I will see to it personally.
Nyx lifted her head slowly. Her face was soaked with tears but her eyes burned with something far more dangerous than grief.
For a second she just stared out the back window toward the Council building disappearing behind us.
"They didn't just kill my sister," Nyx said, her voice scraped raw.
Her gaze moved to each of us in turn.
"They started a war."
"We're going back," Nyx said hoarsely.
"Not tonight," Malachi answered. "Tonight we survive."
"Alive," Elijah added quietly, "so we can finish it."
I leaned back against the seat and looked at Nyx where she sat shaking between them.
Council thought tonight was a lesson for Meridian.
They right about that part.
Only thing they got wrong was who the lesson was really for.