Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
THISTLE
I could feel the solid, slim metal object through the fabric of Bunny’s pouch. The bed shifted under Knox’s weight as he sat down, and I watched intently as he tugged off his shirt, my eyes roaming his beautiful tan skin.
He’d been quiet since Ace left.
I thought the thrill I’d felt when I realised what Ace was offering would be everything, but my feelings weren’t behaving as they usually did. Instead, Knox’s quiet stoniness weighed heavier than my excitement.
“You’re… gonna stay tonight?” I asked.
Maybe he’d seen the trap I’d set for Ace and taken pity on me. These Alphas were killing me. They were claiming me as theirs, but they didn’t wanna share my nest?
The shower was running in my en suite, the warm scent of honied bourbon drifting out with the steam as Rogue got ready for bed.
But there hadn’t been a night with both of them here together, no matter how much I wanted it.
“Yes.” His gaze flicked to the shower, then back to me as he settled against the pillows, lifting his arm instinctively. I burrowed into it at once, tugging on the blankets to cover us. I leaned into his chest, huffing the scent of ink and antique wood, letting it calm my nerves a little.
“So, uh… we’re gonna see…” I swallowed, something catching in my throat. “Her.”
Bella.
Fucking bitch.
Any other time, it would be enough to be Ace’s for the world to see, to know he had a plan.
But looking up into Knox’s caramel eyes, things didn’t fit like they should. He was so beautiful, with rich skin, a sweep of sandy blond hair. More captivating, too, after hearing what the Misfits had said about him.
The puzzle of my life had more pieces now.
More things to figure out.
More things to care about.
And Knox had chosen me, so he had to be mine. That choice—it was one of the most precious things I’d ever been given. But it could still be taken away, and I didn’t know if Ace’s plans had room for Knox.
I had to make sure they did.
Knox brushed my cheek with his knuckle and I looked up at him again. “You’re going to ruin her, Doll. They’re going to make you a queen—and in her territory.”
My pulse sped as I got lost in his eyes. “You think… uh…” I fumbled through Bunny’s pouch and closed my fist around the metal flip knife. “Could I… I give you a mark?” The words came out more of a whine than I intended.
Sometimes I felt like I might throw up, thinking about another Omega in a bond with him.
That Omega.
For a second, I could feel the unwanted hands of her Alpha pinning me down. Agony ripped through my body from the injection he’d given me, but that wasn’t what I was focused on.
I was supposed to be his and he was supposed to be mine .
“You can do anything you want to rub it in her face, Doll.” Knox’s words ripped me back to the present.
Fuck yes, Bunny.
I was so engrossed in working on the little heart I was carving into his chest, that I didn’t notice the sounds of the shower vanish.
The creak of the door made me jump, and I glanced up to see Rogue assessing us both, hand frozen halfway through towelling off his hair, topless and in sweats.
Would he leave?
I wanted them both, but they were so stubborn.
Finally, after a strange silence, Rogue crossed the room to the other side of the bed and began arranging the pillows. Knox was stiff, but he didn’t argue.
“I let our security know where we’re going tomorrow. They’ll wait outside for us since Bella won’t let security in, but I don’t trust Ace’s men alone,” Rogue grunted. “I told him if they want to guard this place, they stay off the grounds.”
I watched Knox’s gaze flick to him as if trying to decipher his mood. Rogue wasn’t bringing up the muzzle, which was like… as good as any peace offering. I’d felt a childlike humour down the bond when Ace had brought it up and he was as bad at straightening his expressions as I was.
Finally, Knox grunted, returning his gaze back to me.
Okay.
Good!
You see that Bunny? Just like a real pack!
As I finished off the little heart, I imagined what that would be like.
All five of us, together…
When I was done, I stared at the wound, blood oozing down his chest. My mark, on his skin forever. A little of that anxiety I’d been carrying around with me since he’d bitten Bella unwound.
“It’s gonna bleed a bit,” I said. He could go grab gauze and tape from the med kit in my bathroom. I’d already raided it a few times for Rogue’s marks. “Do you like it?” I asked, glancing up at him.
“It’s perfect,” he said.
Knox and Rogue fell asleep before me, and they were both in the bed, which was progress. When he’d crashed our hotel room Knox had passed out on the couch. Now I had him on one side and Rogue on the other, with me and Bunny in the middle, draped by their arms.
Perfect.
Well.
Almost perfect.
I lay in silence for a long, long while, not able to sleep.
My brain was being stupid.
I had two out of three Alphas. I was in my nest. Bunny was right here, with my sketchbook, knife, and the strip of photos of me and Rogue in his pouch.
Finally, after forever passed by and even Bunny had dozed off, I caught the faintest trace of a lightning storm.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes to see the doorway was open a few inches more than it had been when we turned in.
He’d been here.
I knew it.
I was very careful tucking both Knox and Rogue’s arms around Bunny.
He always smelled enough like me that they wouldn’t notice.
Then I slipped out of the bed and hurried across the room.
Carefully, I poked my head around the open door into a hallway bright with moonlight spilling from the balcony at the end.
There was definitely a trace of fresh lightning storm in the air. It still crackled like static. But…
I frowned.
Ace had definitely been here, but the trail of s’mores Poptarts I’d laid out from his room to my nest were still present.
Damn.
Those were his favourite.
I crept out into the hall and made for his room. Oddly, though, when I stepped into the space that smelled like a full-blown windstorm, there was no one home.
Hugging myself, I wandered back toward my nest, unsure what to make of it.
Before I fully returned, though, I noticed the doors that led to the balcony were open a crack.
Aha!
I think I had him.
Careful not to squish any of the Poptarts beneath bare toes, I crept up to the balcony and peered out.
Sure enough, there he was.
My beautiful god Alpha.
He was seated on the stone of the broad balcony, forearms resting on his knees, head leaning back against the thick railing. His eyes were closed, and I took a long time admiring how pretty he was, all serene like that.
Finally, he sighed, one eye cracking open to peer at me.
“Can’t sleep neither?” I asked, crossing over and kneeling in front of him, the cool stone saturating my skin instantly.
“ You can’t sleep,” he replied, still not fully opening his eyes.
I frowned, mulling that over.
“ I’m keeping you up?”
Was I that agitated in the bond? I’d tried to close it off, and Rogue had passed out quickly. Maybe Ace was bad at managing it.
Ace just sighed. “Why aren’t you asleep?”
I wrinkled my nose, considering if I wanted to tell him, or if he’d get all high and mighty about it. “Did you see the nest I made here?” I asked instead.
“Yes.”
“And…?” He’d never admit it, but he used to check on my nest. I was always supposed to be there when he came so he could tell if I was lying about what I liked and didn’t like. He’d do anything so I didn’t want to leave the damn place and bother him more.
It’s probably why I hated it so much no matter what he got for me.
He sighed. “Your Alphas have no idea what they’re doing.”
I let out a shrill sound, but it was muffled as Ace’s hand clamped over my mouth. “I will be sick if I have to listen to you defend them one more time.”
“You uh…” I pried his hand away. “Could come back in with me? Set it all straight.” My Alpha had more instincts scoring his veins than he had blood—and he would never admit it, but that meant his Omega-tingle , too.
He’d sense if there was even one misbehaving toy in my nest, and would set them straight.
Sometimes I would make it wrong on purpose, desperate to know he cared.
He’d get more and more tense, battling down growls, until no plushie in the room had a single toe out of line.
Well. That’s how I remembered it, anyway.
He rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you sleep?”
Fine. If he must know. “Cuz one of my Alphas won’t sleep in there.”
I watched the corner of his lip curl slightly and he reached out, his fingers closing around my chin. “I won’t participate in a pack I didn’t choose.”
I scowled.
Rogue and Knox were a million times better than those losers he’d packed up with before. It had been a territory decision for his dumb gang, and nothing to do with the kind of Alphas they were.
He’d already been interested in Rogue, and if I hadn’t picked him first he would have liked Knox. He was just like a summer beach version of Ace, anyway.
Ace was being stupid.
“I participated in your stupid pack even though I didn’t get to choose them.”
The world believed Ace and his pack were all my scent matches. It was a lie that would keep me safe. People couldn’t know we were soul matched—or they couldn’t before.
Now that was all going to change.
But I hated them both. Colt Bishop and Rex Sterling would return for my heat, and I’d tolerated them because Ace had chosen them. Plus, he’d stay and watch at least, even if he refused to participate most of the time.
Until one day, he hadn’t shown up.
I’d grabbed a pen and jammed it into Colt’s arm when he’d tried to touch me. He’d almost lost it, but I think he knew Ace would cut his hand off if he hurt me, so instead, he’d just stormed out.
Rex had never come in after that.
I burned with agony I didn’t have the space to regret. How much time had passed since my heat began?
I hadn’t been touched since Colt left.
I wanted to be like Glade—holding out only for my mate.
The one Alpha I wanted.
Finally, the agony faded as I caught the scent of a lightning storm.
I moaned, still curled up on the bed, trying to push myself up. He didn’t touch me, though, and I could barely move through the pain, each breath laboured.
How long had it gone on for?
He was… there, but still he wouldn’t touch me.
Instead, another scent appeared.
Dark cream cardamom.
I frowned.
Why was she here?
Glade… My… sister, right? My twin who’d come to whisper happy birthday to me. Even when Ace treated her like she was worth more, she’d still done that.
And she still hated him…
Refused to take him from me, even though I know she could if she wanted to.
“She told me she wants to be like you,” Ace was saying to her, a cruel humour in his voice.
I made them both focus in my vision. “I’ve offered Alphas—a tranq—” He waved at the table, where the needle I’d rejected lay.
“But she insists on suffering until I come. You know, I don’t enjoy being manipulated like that. ”
I tried to shake my head.
No…
That wasn’t how I’d meant it.
I tried to tell him that, but he was so angry…
I jumped at a soft touch, and caught the comforting scent of cream cardamom. I clutched her, another stab of pain shooting through my core.
He was in here. I was in heat, and he didn’t want me.
Something was lodged in my throat. “I’m not pretty enough…” I was sobbing, swallowed by hormones. “…Even when he claims me, he doesn’t want to… to look at m-me.”
“Shhh…” Glade drew me closer and I clung to her. “You’re worth more than this, Thistle. No matter what lies he’s told you,” she whispered. “You’re so beautiful. If I was a foolish Alpha too weak for connection, I’d be afraid to look you in the eyes when I was with you, too.”
My lips parted in shock and some of the fog cleared. I could see her bright chestnut eyes, the dark, glossy hair tumbling around her shoulder, tickling my arms.
Had Glade just… insulted him?
I searched for Ace in the room. From the seat he was lounging in, he sat still, and I shrank back beneath the look in his eyes.
Oh… no, no, no…
He was staring at her, jaw clenched. “Of all the pressure points you have, my pathetic little scent match wasn’t the one I imagined.” I could hear the sneer in his voice, the edge to it he got when things were about to go bad. “For that, she will spend the rest of her heat alone.”
Glade’s lips were drawn back in a snarl. “As if anything I said would give you the courage to touch her when she’s like this.”
Like… what?
I whined, another spike of pain was making it hard to focus. All I’d wanted was to show him how much he mattered to me. I wasn’t angry he didn’t want me… I’d just wanted to prove to him I could be as strong as her.
But I wasn’t.
I didn’t think I ever would be, not after what she did next.
Glade reached for the side table, and before Ace could do anything, I felt the sharp prick of a needle in my arm.
“W-Wait!” My voice cracked, but already the world was spinning as she injected me with the sedative. Ace got to his feet, fury in his eyes. He crossed the room.
Oh, he was gonna be so mad…
With me…
With her…
But Glade was on her feet, standing between me and him as she faced him—something most Alphas couldn’t manage.
His hand closed around her throat, voice more dangerous than I’d ever heard it, and that tone promised retribution. Punishment Glade would not escape. “Get. Out.”
Ink seeped into the edges of my vision but I tried to keep her in focus. I’d never seen her like this.
She’d always been quiet. Perfect. Silent when not called on, and deferent when forced to respond. So poised that, even when I knew she was a captive, I’d never caught the faintest trace of her hatred.
It was a mask so absolute I’d been starting to wonder if it was a mask at all. That maybe she was, perhaps, truly his. But that mask shattered now, and I saw the Omega beneath, facing Ace in a way I’d never seen anyone face him.
Before, I hadn’t even been able to imagine it. It was impossible to picture how she resisted him, even if I knew she did.
Blackness was stealing me away now, claws of panic the only thing keeping me from losing consciousness.
Glade… She was gone, I think.
It was only his scent here, now.
“I don’t think you’re weak,” I whispered, my voice shuddering. He had to know that. The world was spinning violently, and finally, it faded, my words the last thing I remembered. “I w-wasn’t trying to manipulate you—I s-swear.”
In the present, Ace’s ice blue eyes were fixed on me, but my own anger boiled to the surface, finding a bit of what Glade had left me with that day. “You lost your pack,” I hissed. “It’s my turn, now.”