Psycho Alphas, Part Two (An Unhinged Reverse Harem Duet #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

THISTLE

Quiet settled upon the room like a blanket.

I drew a painful breath through exhausted lungs, inhaling sharp, static air.

Lightning.

And with it came the faintest breeze that followed a storm, a gentle wind sweeping across the chaos.

It drowned everything else out.

The cool marble of the ballroom seeped into my skin—my cheek and my fingers. My fist trembled, still clutching the knife.

I couldn’t see much from where I lay, but I could see the source of the frantic patter filling my ears.

Crimson blood splashed onto the marble in a hurry, rushing then slowing, sometimes finding a surge of energy, but eventually turning to a slow drip, drip, drip of what had once been life now seeping from an unmoving form.

The body of a dead Alpha was slumped over the coffee table ahead. His hazel eyes were glassy.

I’d always found it curious how a body looked different after death.

How it became an it—no longer a them, as if flesh was never meant to be more than just a vessel.

I shuddered, feeling a surge of the drug in my system. The one Bella’s Alphas had injected me with. It was vicious and unrelenting, forcing my heat…

I couldn’t do this right now.

My vessel haunted me, chaining me to things I’d never wanted, making sure I had to fight harder for anything I did want.

It made it hard not to hate.

Strong arms wound around me, and every touch of his skin against mine was shocking warmth to my frigid body.

My god Alpha.

Ace had come back for me.

He’d fought and killed for me, madder and more frightening than anything I’d ever seen.

A low growl rolled up his spine, vibrating down to my soul—a warning to the ghosts he’d just brought to life in order to keep me safe.

Everything should be alright now.

My god Alpha had come back.

But the heat drug in my system was making things hazy.

Nothing was alright.

The aftermath was still and peaceful, but the flashes weren’t: the needle jammed into my flesh; Knox kneeling, biting Bella’s outstretched foot.

That was agony, and another terrible whimper shook me.

Rogue was mine. He’d bitten in—bitten me—and my pack was three, so everything should be alright.

But Knox had bitten Bella Morgan. He wasn’t my scent match, and yet so much more important for it.

I needed him like I needed breath.

An Alpha I’d fallen for with no fate involved. I loved him just as much as I loved Rogue, or Ace, or Bunny…

I sobbed.

Ace’s fingers dug into my flesh, another growl shuddering through his body as if needing to find the invisible threat.

But Knox had bitten her to protect me.

He was gone.

She’d fled and taken him with her.

I choked through another surge of tears, curling into my god Alpha’s strong arms. Pain wracked my body, demanding I take more from him, demanding a heat I hadn’t asked for.

The betrayal of a vessel I didn’t want.

ROGUE

The gun sagged in my grip.

I was outside the front of the mansion, and Knox was limp, pressed up against the wall by Bella, but his eyes burned as they fixed on me.

A plea. His lips parted, as if he wanted to speak but couldn’t, and the faint tremor in his jaw sent a spike of dread through me.

I shoved back the terror, the adrenaline, the insanity of the night, and focused on the words Bella had spoken.

“You have her already. You don’t need him.”

She wanted me to back off. To let her steal Knox away so I could return to Thistle.

To the pack I’d already claimed.

She believed I would leave him behind.

A long, drawn-out silence held us all suspended, and finally, Rodrick’s weapon lowered as mine had. His eyes were wild, and I could see the madness of an Alpha who’d just felt the death of his pack mates. His only focus was my gun as I shifted the threat away from his Omega.

Still, Bella’s words echoed in my head.

“Doesn’t she need you right now…?”

But those words didn’t mean what she thought they did.

I knew what Thistle needed.

That truth was etched into me like a laser behind my eyes. After I’d bonded her in the basement, she’d scrambled from my arms, chasing Knox down as he left, and I’d felt her fear when she hadn’t been able to stop him.

I’d felt the agony that had scored her in two when Knox’s teeth had met Bella’s flesh.

It wasn’t just me she needed, and it never had been.

And… for me, he had been a constant. A pivotal piece of my life for years. Something I wasn’t ready to let go of.

This was it.

I had one chance: save Knox, reach Ace—and pray he was protecting her—then get us all to safety.

The basement was my territory—it was safe and sectioned from the rest of the mansion.

And under no circumstances could I let Bella die, or I’d be faced with a pack of feral Alphas who had nothing left to lose.

Let them flee.

I took a breath, realising the risk I was about to take—for an Alpha who hated me.

I flipped the gun so the barrel was in my hand and smashed it into the face of the Alpha at my side. A gunshot split the air.

It missed—or I thought it had, since I wasn’t slowed.

I grabbed the Alpha by his shirt and used every ounce of weight to shove him back. He caught Knox and Bella, and they all went down. I leaped after them an instant later, kicking a stray gun from the tangle of limbs.

I hauled Knox from the chaos before they could pick themselves up, and his dead weight dragged against me.

I didn’t hesitate, though. I needed him. The fact I couldn’t kill her without killing us all was a problem—it was the only thing that would free Knox from the bond he’d just made with her. Without it, he could get over himself and claim Thistle.

His low, vicious growl rumbled through my bones, but he was completely dead weight. I had to throw my shoulder under his arm as I made for the door.

I heard a shout behind me. It was Bella.

She knew what I was doing—stealing away the Alpha that had just entered her bond.

I didn’t give a fuck. He wasn’t hers. He was Thistle’s.

He was mine.

I launched for the door, dragging him with me. The sound of metal against stone caught my ear—one of them going for the gun?

I didn’t wait to find out. The handle was in my grip and I shoved Knox through. I let him drop without ceremony as I turned, ripping the door closed behind us just as a gunshot echoed.

My hands were shaky as I fumbled with the lock.

I felt another spike of fear in the bond.

Thistle…

Finally, a click sounded and the door was secure. Not enough, but it would do for now if I was fast.

Knox’s breathing was ragged, each breath short and sharp as I turned back to him.

Well.

Fuck me.

He’d been drugged to oblivion, and there was no way he was walking anywhere.

I didn’t wait, knowing time was against us. He was in Bella’s pack, and I couldn’t bank on her letting that go, no matter how much danger the chaos in the ballroom posed.

So, with little dignity, I lifted Knox into my arms, almost stumbling a step since he wasn’t fucking light. As I staggered up the hallway he shifted in my grip, ragged breaths breaking into growls.

Was he trying to escape?

I glanced down to see his gaze fixed on me, utter fury in it.

“Stop fighting!” I snarled.

Stupid prick.

We were in the slim hallway that led to the back staircase I’d used to sneak up here.

To my left was the doorway to the ballroom. I glanced down at Knox in my arms, doing a quick calculation. Couldn’t go in like this—not if any of Bella’s Alphas were still in there.

I made for the closet to my right.

Fighting with the door, I ignored another furious growl from him.

“Shut! It!” I hissed as I set him down.

His caramel eyes burned as they met mine. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him so hateful.

Whatever.

He’d get the fuck over it.

I closed the door and backed up to the ballroom, fumbling for my gun and checking it before noticing it was out of rounds. Damn. It had been before I went after Bella. A manic laugh escaped my chest as I realised that.

Knox was the reckless one—I was not built for this.

I shouldered open the door to the ballroom, readying myself for hostiles within, but to my relief, there wasn’t any movement.

My gaze was drawn like a magnet to the figures in the center. I first saw the dead bodies. One was barely recognisable as human, torn to pieces and scattered around. The other was a dead Alpha strewn over the coffee table next to the stage Bella had set up, with the armchair central to the room.

But there was one thing that pulled my focus more than anything else.

Ace was there with Thistle among the gore and blood. He held her in his arms as they curled up together on the floor.

“Thistle…!” I made for her, all rational thoughts vanishing from my mind.

Ace growled, ice-blue eyes burning as he pushed himself up, looking at me. He had a stained golden skull mask on his face and chains on his wrists. For all his fury, he moved like a shield drawn over her, as if she were the only reason he still breathed.

Ignoring him, I crouched, tugging the gun from beside a disembodied hand, and— fuck me— blood and flesh were everywhere as if Ace had torn it from the body with his bare hands.

My sweet Omega’s cheeks were flecked with red, eyelashes heavy.

Ace drew her closer, another growl shuddering in the air as he fixed his gaze on me.

It wasn’t hostility like I’d seen before though. I could feel him in the bond, flickering fury, vengeance, and hatred, all growing duller as his gaze swept over me again. As if he couldn’t quite decide whether I was a threat or not.

“Kitten,” I said quietly, focusing on Thistle and hoping she would be able to calm him. “We have to go.”

She uncurled in his arms slowly. Her cheeks were tear-streaked, creating tracks through gore, and her eyes were wide as they held mine.

Her moonflower scent was strong in the air, a flood of hormones and heat. She was shivering as she clutched Ace.

I dared to reach out, jamming the gun under his chin, instincts insisting I put a bullet in his skull if he got in the way. I don’t know if he sensed that, or if he had enough consciousness to understand the meaning of the weapon.

“You’ll be okay,” I told her, cupping her cheek. “But we have to go.”

It wasn’t safe yet.

It was a task, carrying her and dragging Ace in the right direction by the chains on his wrists, but I let out a breath of relief as I stepped through the basement door, shutting it behind me.

This was my territory, sectioned off with locks, on a different security system by design. No one else would have access to this place.

It meant she was safe.

I had to go back up, but she was safe.

When I reached my room, I made for the bathroom and hauled them both into the shower, making sure the water wasn’t too hot.

When I set her down, her grip curled around my arm to stay upright, and I felt a shock of discomfort through the bond. She shook her head, and I realised she was shivering. Unsettled, I reached for the knob to make the water hotter, and she finally calmed.

She should be craving the coldness, but this heat wasn’t normal. Bella’s Alphas had put her into it—but that injection wasn’t something I was familiar with.

Ace clutched her in his arms again, and she was winding her fingers into his hair, eyes wild with need. There had been a thin chain around her neck before—Knox’s doing—but it had snapped at the base of the necklace. I wondered if that had been Ace, rejecting any symbol of another’s claim on her.

I think she sensed that she was safe at last, relaxing a little in the stream of water.

The benefit of him being completely feral was that he had one directive, and that was to protect her.

But when I pulled away, she let out a whine. I cupped her cheek. “Hey, hey, look at me.” Her eyes found mine at last, a frown creasing her forehead. “I’m coming back, okay?”

“Coming… back?” Her voice cracked. “You’re… leaving?”

I opened my mouth to tell her I was getting Knox, then shut it. I couldn’t promise her he was safe, not when I didn’t know what they’d done to him. I’d seen them press the cloth to his mouth. It shouldn’t be deadly, but when it came to these monsters, I wouldn’t bet anything.

No, it was best to make sure first. She was shivering and still in shock, and I didn’t know if she could handle another heartbreak.

“Promise, Kitten,” I said. “I’ll be back before you know it.”