Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
THISTLE
My fingers gently brushed the tacky surface of the leather strap as I tugged it tight.
Ink and antique wood hung bitterly in the air as I secured the muzzle on Knox’s head. Then I crawled around him, looking up into caramel eyes fogged with thunderclouds that parted as he took me in.
Today was the day we were going to appear before the Ring as a pack. I’d showered the blood from all of Ace’s bites away when I woke. Rogue had left, though I didn’t know if he was being nice and giving us space, or if he thought Knox would shoot him dead if he tried to stay and watch.
I felt a bubble of pride in my chest that he was letting me help, even though I knew he hated it.
“Everything you dreamed of?” Knox asked as my eyes roamed the metal caging his face.
“Uh… huh.” I couldn’t take my gaze away. Something about it was way too sexy.
He put us in a chain, Bunny—honestly, this was only fair.
“You gonna be okay?” I prodded.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
I cocked my head. We both knew he was allergic to muzzles or anything that made him think of… well… “You uh… used to be Rogue’s?”
Neither of them talked about it much, though I was curious.
Knox narrowed his eyes, and I could see I was treading into dangerous territory.
Rogue was gentle with me, but I shared a bond with him, and I could feel a much more jagged side lurking in the shadows.
I liked that—I didn’t think I could trust someone who was soft all the way through.
Knox had one too, but his softer side was real deep.
I saw it sometimes, a flicker of life that sparked in his eyes when he was looking at me.
Still, their history burned to the touch, and he was already changing the topic. “I’ll be counting, Doll. Each time one of your pets tries to humiliate me tonight, you’ll be banking punishment.”
Punishment?
My lips parted, cheeks flushing with heat. “I can’t control Ace,” I said indignantly. Well, that was half true. Rogue, though, was very… distractible.
Knox smiled, even if it was stiffer than usual. “You’re clever. And I think he’s more malleable than you think…” He brushed the angry bite on my wrist and a chirp slipped from me.
Mine.
They were a hundred live electric trophies, dancing with sharp jolts each time my clothing brushed skin, and when they did, I was rewarded with a flash of the moment Ace sank his teeth in.
Not mine.
Ours.
Mine and Bunny’s.
“You want to give me one too?” I asked hopefully, lifting my arm. We could take the muzzle back off for a moment… His eyes lingered on the mark, and I saw the dark jealousy there, but he shook his head.
“Not until it’s a bond, Little Doll.”
I swallowed, unable to help the way my face scrunched up as I thought about bonds.
Stupid fucking bonds.
“What?” he asked.
I dared a glance back at him. “We’re gonna see her tonight.”
“I can’t bite you—I won’t make promises I can’t keep, but I want another mark in case something goes wrong?—”
“It won’t .” My chest tightened.
It wouldn’t.
Couldn’t.
Ace was planning it. He’d said it last night—he didn’t lose to anyone but me?—
“Doll.” Knox’s fingers closed on my chin, and he tilted it up to face him. I realised I’d frozen solid, and I swallowed, trying to loosen up my limbs again. “I want your mark,” he said. “In case Bella?—”
He cut off again as I let out a strangled noise.
Why is he saying her name, Bunny? That stupid fucking bitch who ? —
Knox’s grip dug in harder. “Doll.”
I could barely breathe, my ribs balling like a fist over my heart. The world was spinning, everything detaching like the room was in a slow-motion tumble dryer.
A low growl vibrated in the air, and I jumped, but it wasn’t Knox.
That was me.
How long had passed?
“Thistle.” The Alpha bark was a directionless weight that slammed into me, making me focus. “I want your claim. The others have me beat.”
I stared at him, still unsure, the world swaying.
“O-okay.” I could do that part—needed to, if he wanted it. Rogue and Ace both had them. Marks that made them mine forever.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he made to unstrap the muzzle.
“There is no way in hell you’re leaving a claim on me if I can’t kiss you after.”
“Oh.” I felt a smile on my lips. Well. Duh . That made sense.
After it was off, I shifted to the edge of the bed, tugging him with me. He didn’t argue as I led him into the closet and dragged him down and onto the floor. It was darker here. Calmer. The scents from the room—from Knox—felt buried deeper. More permanent. Immovable. This was his house, after all.
I dug around in Bunny’s pouch, finding the stuffing hole and prying out Glade’s flip knife.
Then I peered at him, eyes roaming his body until they fell on the thick muscle along his neck. I fumbled with the top few buttons until I had better access.
Perfect.
Now I was here, I needed to leave another mark—a tell that couldn’t be undone.
The moment the blade drew its first bead of blood, the world went still at last. I took a breath, ink and antique wood stronger now with the tang of iron in the air.
My breathing eased, the fog fading from the world, rich crimson blood turning brighter with every second that I dragged the knife across his skin.
There.
Now everything’s as bright as rain, Bunny.
“Good girl,” Knox purred, and a warmth spread in my chest as I glanced up into his intense caramel eyes. “Keep going.”
Mhmm.
I focused on the next stroke of the knife, crossing the ‘+’ I was leaving on the side of his neck.
“Tonight, where are we going?”
Dark clouds flooded my brain at his question, the warm bubble of air in my chest deflating. I froze, heart racing, first mark finished as I stared at his blank skin.
Unfinished.
I had to finish it, or it wouldn’t make sense. I narrowed my eyes, taking another breath. Warmth. Peace. My Alpha and nothing else.
I’d barely made a scratch when he asked the foul question again.
My hand shook, another low growl rattling to life in my chest.
Why was he ruining this?
“Tell me.” His command seized me with no ceremony, as vulnerable as I was in my skin-cutting ritual.
“Bella’s home.” The name escaped my lips half strangled. For a moment, I considered driving the knife all the way in. He’d never mess with this process again if I did that.
“And you’re leaving her a message?”
I scowled. “She won’t see it.” My mark would be clear, but his collar would hide the full details—those were for us.
“If you thought that was impossible, you’d have no reason to do it now and not later,” Knox said.
Another whine slipped from me.
I hate him, Bunny.
“Why are you being such a cunt?” I asked.
Not the sharpest crayon in the box, is he, Bunny? Saying horrible shit when I have a knife an inch from his jugular.
He barked a laugh. “Born that way.”
I glared harder at him.
“Doll, tonight is a performance on a tightrope. If you can’t even say her name out loud, I’ll be the one tumbling off.”
I grit my teeth. “ Nothing is going to happen.”
“That depends more on you than it does on me.”
“This is Bunny’s thing .” Ace wouldn’t let nothing happen tonight.
“I hope you’re right.”
I narrowed my eyes at his lack of faith. “This is his bread ‘n butter.”
“Good. Now tell me again where we’re going.”
I took a breath, but her name came easier this time. Less frightening. Less… world-shattering. “Bella’s house.”
“Good.”
“Hopefully to kill her,” I muttered.
He snorted, but didn’t argue, and I looked back down at the blood oozing down his neck and felt better. Now, he’d better let me finish without ruining it again.
Once we were done, he headed straight for the bathroom mirror.
I watched, suddenly nervous, as he examined the mark. I couldn’t stop staring now it was there—the prettiest ‘N+T’ carved into his skin.
Me and him, immortalised forever.
There was a long, long silence as he stared at the mark, and it went on so long my heart started racing.
“Is it okay?” My whisper came out more nervous than I planned.
Did he… hate it?
Then he turned, lifted me onto the counter, plucking Bunny and the bloody knife from my hand, and drew me into a kiss that stole my breath. His fingers wound through my hair as his tongue drove into my mouth. His ink and antique wood scent was possessive, and happier than I was used to.
I was dizzy by the time he drew back, a smile wobbling on my lips.
“It’s perfect,” he said.
My eyes drifted down to it again, and heat flooded my cheeks, eyes burning with tears. I loved him so much.
“You’re mine, Little Doll,” he told me. “Forever. And you’re going to do amazing tonight.”
As we drove to the party that evening, Knox was still, head resting against the window of the limo, not making eye contact with the others. I was tucked under his arm, and he softened when he looked down at me, but with the muzzle fixed to his face again, he was on edge.
“Remember what I said, Little Doll,” he whispered to me. “I’ll be watching for how much you keep those mates of yours in check.”
My cheeks heated, and I glanced at the others.
Oh boy, that would not be easy, Bunny.
Rogue had reached for the chain when we’d entered, humour dancing in his eyes, but Knox let out one of the most vicious growls I’d ever heard. Rogue backed off, but I got the impression by how unbothered he was, that he still thought it was more amusing than anything else.
The only downside was that Ace had said one chain only—he wanted emphasis on Knox’s fall from power. So I didn’t get a pretty golden chain to tug on if Ace wandered too far from me.
Not that he would…
He was still wearing the slim black band around his neck. To Ace’s irritation, earlier Knox had said that it didn’t look enough like a shock collar on its own to need removing.
Revenge for suggesting he wear the muzzle, so I supposed that was fair.
They were such a circus, and I found it endlessly entertaining. I know they acted like it was all serious, brawling all the time and shocking the pants off each other, but I think it was all bonding.
“Is there a plan for when we get in?” Knox asked at last, not looking at Ace.
“This is the plan.”
“Walking into Bella’s territory with her scent-matched and bonded Alpha after murdering a good number of her pack?” Knox snapped.
Rogue had one leg propped up on his knee, a lot more chill than Knox was. But then, this would be his first party as a free man for… well, I wondered how long.
“We either run from them or we turn the tables back on her,” Ace said.
“Confidence could only get us so far.” Knox scowled. “She might just put a bullet in our skulls the moment we enter.”
“She might,” Ace agreed.
I tried not to let Knox’s anxiety get to me too much. There’d be more of them than us, though, and I’d heard Rogue mention to Ace that bodyguards wouldn’t be allowed inside the house…
I glanced down at the bracelet around my wrist, turning the coloured beads and watching them flicker in the low light, drawing comfort from them.
“We’ll have our weapons,” Rogue muttered.
“Why doesn’t Thistle have one?” Knox asked.
I cocked my head, considering that.
Could definitely use a gun, Bunny.
“Not the look I’m going for,” Ace said.
Oh.
Well, that made sense—or, at least, it did to me.
I caught Knox and Rogue exchanging a look that suggested it didn’t to them at all, but I was going to be announced as Ace’s tonight.
Knox had picked out my dress which meant it was definitely top notch.
He’d noticed the bracelet Ace had given me so I knew he’d made it match.
I’d chosen my favourite black boots, my makeup was done the way my god Alpha liked it, and my buns were slightly less lopsided than usual.
Everything was going to be perfect, and after all the bites he’d given me—with the white-hot tension between us in the bond right now, I knew it was a special day.
So if Ace didn’t want a gun with my outfit, then I didn’t need no gun.