Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
THISTLE
I found Rogue in the basement in his cage and with the muzzle on —which seemed like overkill, but then again, this whole place was overkill central.
I hurried across the broad, cool room toward him. Bunny was in my fist, and I was hyper-aware of the little sketchbook and pencil I had tucked into his pouch.
Everything was different, now—because of the sketchbook, and because I think Knox might… might really like me.
“Knox said I could visit tonight if I wanted,” I said as I reached the bars. “Said he didn’t mind at all.”
Rogue had, to my delight, got to his feet to meet me. He raised an eyebrow, glancing between the bars and me with a snort. “Bet he didn’t.”
For a moment, I was totally swept away by his looks again. Honied bourbon lingered in the air. His sweep of pale hair was pushed back, and I could see the dark bruising on his neck, dipping into the neckline of his shirt. There were two split wounds on his cheek that were scabbing over, blossoming dark bruises around them. From the beating he’d taken for me.
It was almost dizzying, looking up at him and those rugged scars, with those teal eyes holding mine. Next, maybe I could ask Knox for some coloured pencils, and I’d be able to recreate the fascinating way the tan of his skin turned to purple and green.
“Are you okay?” he asked, palm brushing my cheek through the bars. I leaned into the touch, feeling a breath of relief at the contact.
I’d been with Knox all day, but Rogue’s touch was different.
Because he was my scent match?
Or just because I needed more than one Alpha?
I wasn’t sure.
“How much do you think he’s gonna want for the cage and the muzzle?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted a blowjob for the muzzle, you think I could?—”
“No.”
“But I could get you out?—”
“I’d rather rot.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Did you guys used to fuck?”
Rogue’s eyebrows shot up and his touch dropped, finger curling beneath my chin. “Did we what ?”
“You hate each other waayyy too much, and you were into seeing him bang me. Did you break his heart or something?”
A grin was spreading on Rogue’s face. “I haven’t fucked Knox, no.”
“ Would you fuck Knox?” I prodded. “You did say he was good looking.”
Rogue chuckled. “I’d be in a better position by now if our issues were romantic.”
“Oh.” Huh. “You think so?”
“I can be charming when I need to be.”
“So, uh… you don’t want anyone else?”
“Just you, Kitten.”
I smiled, a pool of warmth coiling in my tummy at those words. “Wanna play a game?”
“A game?”
“Uh huh.” I was already backing up, peering around until I spotted what I’d noticed only briefly the last time. “Why’s there a Monopoly board on the wall?”
“Because Knox is fucking odd.”
“You didn’t put it there?”
“Nope.”
I hurried over to it, peering at the mounted box curiously. At the bottom, all the playing pieces were scattered.
It looked intact enough to me.
I almost toppled over with the size and height of it as I lifted it from its mount, but I managed, and then I was prying open the edge and carrying all the pieces back to Rogue’s cage.
“Where’s the dog?” I asked, as I laid it all out.
“Missing,” Rogue said. “I think everything else is in there, though.”
I pouted. “I wanted to be the dog.”
I picked the boat, instead, the shoe for Bunny, and handed Rogue the top hat, because he looked like he’d dress up clean.
I used to play all the time with Bunny, back at my dad’s house. My brothers hated it, but we had a good time with whatever other plushie was lying about. I realised after the first few turns with Rogue, however, that I couldn’t really remember all the rules. It seemed pretty straightforward, though, so I don’t think he noticed.
“So, he wasn’t too angry?” Rogue asked me as I rolled the dice for Bunny.
I glanced up at him before realising he must mean Knox. “Well, he was… Kinda. But he didn’t hurt me none,” I said. My pulse picked up as I thought about the craft store. “And he got me a—” I cut off, realising he might not wanna hear that.
“Got you a what?” he asked. His attention was on me, so it was easy to add an extra count to Bunny’s roll to land him on Rogue’s property.
“Um…” I began counting out Bunny’s money and pushing it his way (I added an extra hundred). “He took me out and bought me a gift.”
“He bought you a gift?”
“Just a stupid thing. Didn’t mean nothing,” I said, pressing the dice into his hand aggressively. “Your roll.”
We played another few rounds, and Bunny already had to mortgage his first property to stay afloat—fucking loser.
I tried really hard not to say it, but he kept giving me pretty, teal-eyed looks and eventually I cracked. “It was a sketchbook. And I’ve never… I’ve never had one before.” I was already tugging it from Bunny’s back pouch and opening the first page to show him my half-finished sketch. “And he doesn’t even seem to mind if I draw in it.”
He took it, and his honied bourbon scent seemed to wilt.
Oh… I’d got ahead of myself.
This was a mistake.
Huge mistake.
I opened my mouth, then shut it, scrambling for something better to say. “Thank you for um… for saying you’d get one for me. I don’t think he’d have done it if you hadn’t. So, it’s kinda like… like your gift, too,” I added weakly.
There was a charming half smile on Rogue’s lips even if I could still sense his slight sadness. “Tell you what, Kitten. If that worked, I’ll help you to wring him dry.”
“Really?”
“And I love it,” he said, peering at the sketch. “Is it a storm?”
“Yup. One’s hitting soon.” Storms were beautiful, and I only wanted to draw the most beautiful things in the world. “You’re next, then… then Knox, if he says he’ll bite in.”
Rogue shot me another charming grin at that, and I tried to take a mental snapshot for his portrait.
A couple more rounds and Bunny was really drowning in debt.
“You know, I don’t know if this win is going to be entirely honest.” Rogue snorted, shooting me a raised eyebrow. “You cheated poor Bunny.”
Ah. Shit.
He’d noticed.
“If you knew Bunny, you’d be cheatin’ him, too.”
“You don’t like him?”
I scowled, opening my mouth to answer, but cut off as the door to the basement opened.
I glanced over to see Knox wandering in, peering at the three of us. “You’re playing games, and I wasn’t invited?” he asked.
I cocked my head, peering up at him suspiciously. “You only get to play Monopoly with me if you’re gonna bite in.”
And he’d said he’d only bite in if I heat bonded Rogue, so it didn’t count.
Knox’s eyes slid from me, to Bunny, who was surrounded by half a dozen mortgaged properties. “Has Bunny bitten in?”
“Bunny’s pack lead, stupid.”
Knox opened his mouth as if to respond, then shut it again as if thrown off by that. “Right… Well. I was coming to let you know I’m turning in. If you want your cuddles, you come to bed with me.”
I froze, staring up at him, then glancing back over to Rogue.
Cuddles?
I wrung my fingers together. It was gonna be pretty hard for Rogue to cuddle me through the bars. Plus, he’d basically won; he was about to bankrupt Bunny, and I was next…
“Go on, Kitten,” Rogue said.
I met his piercing teal eyes, then peered back up at Knox, who’d folded his arms, now leaning against the cage. I imagined those warm arms folded around me.
Snuggling in beneath the covers with Bunny, drowning in the scent of ink and antique wood that was quickly becoming mine—even if destiny hadn’t made it so.
But he bought us a sketchbook…
And that forever ache, ice shards through my very bones, would be gone all night.
Knox kept his promises, and I knew he’d do it just as much as I knew there’d be no cuddles at all if I didn’t take his offer now.
A sound night’s sleep… Full breaths.
Safety.
“I’m gonna…” I swallowed, voice cracking and fingers aching with how hard I was squeezing them. “I’m gonna finish the game.”
He was just tryna piss on Rogue’s territory, but Rogue had said he’d be happy to be in a pack with Knox.
Knox was being the stubborn one.
Him and his stupid heat bonding shit.
I dragged my gaze from him and picked up the dice, rolling for Bunny and ignoring the clip of Knox’s shoes as he left the room.
The board blurred a little, and I tried to focus. Bunny had rolled a six. That was one of my hotels.
I stared down at my properties, trying to find it, but all the letters were scrambling up.
“I’m getting tired for the night,” Rogue said. “Thinking of turning in. You can probably catch him if you hurry.”
“I don’t need him,” I said. “I have you and Bunny. And it used to be like this every night, and I was just fine.”
“Like what?”
I scrunched up my nose, still fighting back the stupid tears.
We don’t need it, Bunny. We have Rogue.
This is A-okay.
“Just don’t have a body that wants me, you know?” Never had. My body hated me. “And cuddles make me feel wanted. It’s not Knox , it’s just that he… he’s there…” My gaze drifted up to the cage.
Rogue shifted toward the corner so he could lean against the back and stick his arm through one of the gaps in the bars.
I scrambled over to him and felt a flicker of relief as his arm fit clumsily around me. Too bad he was so huge, or he might get more through the bars.
Still, it was something.
“Is that better?”
“Uh, huh.” I wriggled closer, shutting burning eyes and letting the touch free up my lungs.
“Why are you so touch starved, Kitten?”
I swallowed, making a non-committal shrug as his thumb gently traced my arm. “Never really been with Alphas who want me around, you know? But I still have all those Omega hormones. And the heats. Well, I’m uh… not a very good Omega and I’ve just never been able to adapt.”
“Adapt?”
I shrugged.
Another thing I knew was my own fault. “Dan and his stupid pack were always all over me on heats, and then with Ace it was like… as little as he could get away with before he was gone. And his pack mates were there sometimes, but I hated them. I don’t know. Didn’t seem to matter how, I just never came out right on the other side.”
“Have you ever had a heat with Alphas that actually took care of you?” he asked.
“Oh yeah! There was a lot of knotting and stuff. Everything that’s supposed to happen.”
I glanced up at Rogue, but his expression didn’t give the impression he was convinced.
But the heats had to be right in some ways because my orgasms always hurt less during them. The fact that I seemed to become more and more touch starved with each one that passed, that was because Dan was right, even though Knox tried to deny it.
I was broken.
Broken, broken, broken.
It was so obvious that Ace didn’t want to be near me between heats, and it all got worse. That had been when the never-ending ache had begun.
When I lived in the same home as him.
My mate.
My other half.
Knowing he didn’t want me.
I looked up when Rogue said nothing, suddenly nervous. He was pretty unstable, so he might not think I’d be able to manage him. “I think I’m better now, though. If you bite me, I can keep you together.” I’d always thought Ace hated me because he didn’t think I was good enough to balance him, but then when I’d proven I could…
I shoved the thought away.
No use crying over it.
Knox had said he wanted me to heat bond Rogue, but he didn’t get it. No way could I manage that on top of—“I want you no matter what your hormones are like.”
“Really?” I perked up.
Knox had said Rogue had to want me because it was his only shot at freedom. I’d given that some thought, and I’d decided it was okay.
Good actually.
If I was a rubbish Omega, I had to have some way of getting the bites.
“Do you have any family?” he asked me.
Boy, were the Alphas curious today, but I’d never had anyone ask much about me. That’s why I loved Bunny so much, ‘cause he had to listen. “Sure do.”
“Parents?”
“Only ever knew my dad, but he’s dead now.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “I’m not. He didn’t think I was worth nothin’.”
“Oh.”
“Ace found him for me and he admitted everything. He said I was too evil to be his blood—too evil to be an Omega.”
That’s why he sold me off to Dumb Dan and his pack…
“Ace killed him?”
“Nope. Put the gun in my hand and told me he wanted to see me do it.”
“And did you?”
“He sold you.” I shivered as I felt Ace’s touch at my waist; rare and earth shattering. His breath tickled my neck as he took my wrist, lifting the arm he’d placed the gun in. “Show me blood, Omega.”
He wanted a show. He wanted it so badly he was touching me in front of everyone. His guards, his pack. And Glade was in here watching, too.
I couldn’t look weak.
I hugged Bunny close to my chest, warmth spreading through my veins at the memory. “One of the only times I think he thought I was worth being his mate. Fucked me that night and all, and I wasn’t even in heat.”
Wild, with passion so fierce it could almost be hatred. His touch was molten enough to thaw the most deadly pain.
This was bliss.
The bed was at my back, a low growl in his chest as he claimed me the way I always dreamed, the sharp tang of blood tangling with the scent of a lightning storm.
I blinked up at Rogue in the present, hoping he wasn’t looking at me funny. His brow was drawn in a frown, but he looked reserved more than shocked.
“Sounds like your old man deserved it,” he murmured.
I nodded.
I remember how he’d begged me to spare him, his voice cracked with fear. But he’d known Dan and his pack, he’d admitted that. He’d known where he was sending me.
“What about other family, any siblings?” Rogue asked.
“I… do.” I winced. I didn’t really want to tell him about the stupid brothers I’d grown up with. Brayden, Porter, and Caleb had thought I was strange and stupid and tried to pretend we weren’t related in school. I doubt they’d blinked when I vanished.
But I’d found better family since then.
“Best sister in the whole wide world, and…” I trailed off, a little twist of sadness in my chest as I realised that was it. But then I felt a smile spread on my lips. “ And I have three big brothers who are super protective and smart.” Well.
Kind of.
But Glade had said we were twins, so her Alphas were like my brother-in-laws, right?
Even if they didn’t really know me.
But I knew each of them by name, Kyan, Zed, and Knight—if only because I’d hugged Bunny close some nights with whispered pleas for them to appear and steal Glade so Ace would be mine.
And those prayers had come true in the end.
One of her Alphas had even been there the day she’d given me the best gift in the whole wide world.
Kyan Quinn Beaumont had helped with that.
Yup, Bunny—I’m pretty sure that’s what big brothers are supposed to really be like.
I paused, eyes going wide as I looked back to Rogue. “Wait! I could try and call them—they could bust you out of here?—”
“I don’t think you want them involved with Knox.”
“Knox’ll be a piece of cake after—” I cut off, clamping my hand over my mouth. “After stuff,” I mumbled through it. Ace was still all mine, and I didn’t want to share too much.
“Nah. I don’t want you bringing your family into this, alright?”
I pouted. “Okay…”
Still, I should figure out how to get a hold of them if I needed to.
After the Brotherhood had fallen along with Ace, it had been hard to shake Kyan’s tail. Not that I wanted to (I knew he was just trying to make sure I was safe for Glade) but I’d needed a fresh start with uh… with what I had left.
Besides, I’d always planned on letting Glade and her pack know I was safe once I’d got all my bunnies in a row.
And we were getting there.
“What about you?” I asked Rogue.
“Nah. No siblings. Parents are dead—and good riddance. Spent my life trying to stay as far as I could from my family’s legacy.”
“Did you?”
“Nope.” Rogue snorted, tapping my arm with his finger. “Come on. You’ll get a pressure sore if you sleep down here.”
“But I wanna stay.”
“It’s cold and uncomfy, and I’m not too proud to admit I don’t love you seeing me like this.”
I frowned. “But… how long’s he gonna keep you in here?”
“No idea.”
“Are you gonna starve? I could go and get you some food.”
“Nah, I’m no fun to him dead. Go on, Kitten.”
I thought to Knox. He might be sleeping by now, but maybe I could get around that? “Can I… um. Can I give you a gift before I go?”
“Yup.”
I got to my feet, poking around the rack of muzzles and weapons before picking out a knife and sitting back down beside him.
To my delight, he seemed quite happy to offer his arm to me.
Carefully, I carved another little heart beside the first, warmth spreading through my veins as I did it. Then, for good measure, I left a little bite on his forearm beside it.
There were bars and a muzzle between us, but his fingers still wove through my hair for a moment, tilting my neck and holding me close like he would have kissed me if he could.
Finally, he let me go, but when I scooped up Bunny and hurried from the room, I couldn’t stop myself shooting dazed glances back at him as I left.