Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
ROGUE
Free of the grip of Bella’s Alphas, I—like most of the room—was staring at the screen in utter shock.
Thistle, with no idea that the whole room could hear every little hum or whisper to Bunny, took her sweet time. She blazed with burning energy in the bond—happier than I’d ever felt.
That was… unsettling…
The Ring was depraved, but I don’t think we’d ever seen a show like this one. Thistle was one of a kind. Well… seeing how enraptured Ace was, his end of the bond blown open with utter pride, I might be off the mark on that one.
Two of a kind.
Bella was shaking, her ragged breathing the only thing I could hear over Thistle’s muttering and Rodrick’s groans.
I remained standing while Knox slumped against my chair, his fist tight.
He seemed torn between feeling the destruction of another Alpha in the bond he shared and the need to watch every moment of Thistle’s madness on the screen.
Finally, Thistle set down the knife, poking at the limp form of an Alpha who had to be seconds from death.
At last, it was over. I started to rise, but Ace waved me down.
“What?” I asked.
“Wait for her to come to us,” Ace said.
“Why—?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” Ace asked, breaking his gaze from the screen.
“Figured what out?”
“This,” Ace said, gesturing to where Thistle was settling in beside the body like it was another plushie, humming to herself, “is how she nests.”
I stared at her, feeling her through the bond. She was a harmonious buzz of static as she clambered onto her knees and staggered to her feet.
Ah—damn. Ace, the fucking prick, was completely right.
“Woo-wee.” She sighed, just loud enough for the cameras to pick it up. “That was a lot of work, Bunny.” She peered around the room, which had a few doors along the walls. “Now, where did we come from?”
Her eyes fell at last on the one they’d entered through.
I noticed one of the guards who’d flipped on Bella for Ace unlatched the lock.
Thistle hurried up to it and tried the handle. When it opened a crack, she shut it again, frowning and glancing back at the body.
Patting her dress down a little, she clasped her fingers together.
“Hmm…”
She tried to wipe her hands on her arms, but just smeared more blood around for the effort. Finally, chewing on her lip, she turned back to the door and, very slowly, turned the handle.
Of course, she didn’t know we’d all been watching.
She ducked down and slipped through the door, careening right into the guard waiting for her on the other side.
“Hi.” Her voice cracked as she half straightened, glancing down at his gun, which was lowered.
“I’m just, uh… gotta get back to my Alphas.
” Anxiously, she smeared another layer of blood around her arms before taking a wobbly step back.
At last, she turned to face the room—filled with her own Alphas, the stunned onlookers, and the many security guards with guns pointed at Bella and her remaining pack.
I watched as her gaze roamed to Bella—pale now, with a gun jammed into her neck, seated at our side—to me, then to Knox, who still clutched the back of his chair to stay upright; and finally to Ace.
As if the sight of him freed her lungs, she stumbled forward, darting her gaze about once more—a little uncertainty upon her features—her footsteps faster and faster the closer she got to him.
To my surprise, he reacted like a human being for the first time in… well, ever.
He got to his feet as she reached him, catching her as she all but threw herself into his arms. Then her bloodied neck was in his fist, and he was kissing her with more passion than I thought Ace Maverick capable of.
When he drew back at last, cheeks smeared with crimson, Thistle had transformed. All her nerves were gone and her eyes shone. “They tried to take me away from you,” she whispered, breathless. “Couldn’t have that, could we, Bunny?”
Her gaze flickered for a moment between Ace’s piercing ice-blue irises and the limp plushie he’d left on his chair. I caught a spike of his irritation in the bond, and his fist became tighter as her attention drifted—pulling it back to him like a magnet.
“No.” Before the entire party of keen onlookers—and for the first time I’d witnessed—Ace responded to the title she’d given him. “We certainly couldn’t.”
Thistle turned to me, eyes wide as she unstuck herself from Ace. “You okay?”
“’Course, Kitten,” I said, mussing her hair, and she grinned—wrapping her arms around me and adding to the blood on my shirt with a great big Omega print of crimson.
The gunshot I’d received seemed to be just a graze, the pressure from my hand was doing a decent enough job at containing the bleeding.
“What a show,” Ace said, returning to his seat.
Thistle went to grab Bunny before sitting, but noticed the smears of blood on her wrists.
She frowned, looking around, before darting over to Bella, and wiping her arms off on her red dress.
Bella remained stock still, head craned away from the gun pressed to her flesh, as Thistle ruined her attire.
“I think you should know,” Thistle said as she sank back down onto Ace’s lap and finally plucked Bunny from his seat, “your Alpha wet himself… that’s, uh, pretty embarrassing. Just sayin’.”
Bella stared at her, face sickly pale, unable to find a reply for the Omega still all but swimming in her dead Alpha’s blood. “You have your revenge,” she hissed.
Ace cocked his head. “Do we?” He looked from Thistle, to me, to Knox.
Bella cleared her throat, shrinking back into the seat, looking at Knox quickly. “Take him.”
“Can we take him, Omega?” Ace peered down at Thistle.
She clasped her hands together. “He’s got the bond.” I could hear the pout in her voice.
“I won’t come asking,” Bella hissed.
Ace snorted. “And that’s the same thing?”
“I want to live.” Bella’s voice was rough.
There was a pause, and then Ace said, “There’s only one way that happens.”
The smug happiness slid from Thistle’s face in a second. “What?”
At my side, Knox shifted just slightly.
Ace went on, not noticing, or caring for our response. “There are two things you have left to bargain with—two things my Omega has claimed.”
Bella stared, and I could almost see her mind working a million miles an hour.
Shit.
This wasn’t right.
Bella had to die.
And it wasn’t like last time. The others in here were afraid of Ace. We could do it—they’d just seen her try to kill Thistle. This would be fair revenge in their eyes.
But I couldn’t shake the part of me that worried Ace might consider Knox disposable. Knox said nothing, but I got the impression it took every ounce of effort. Ace leaned in, and the words he spoke to Bella were for her alone before he leaned back.
Bella’s voice was shaky. “Agree to leave my home, and I will deliver. Kill me, and you’ll never see half that deal.”
Ace narrowed his eyes, but Bella dared lift a hand, peering back to one of her Alphas. Ace nodded at the guard holding a gun to his head, and he lowered it. The Alpha hurried forward, and Bella spoke to him in a low hiss. He listened, then backed away, vanishing from the room.
“Give them a few minutes, then go.” Bella’s voice was shaking.
“Bunny…” Thistle’s voice was annoyed as she tugged on Ace’s shirt. “She has to die.”
Ace smiled as he slid his eyes from Thistle back to Bella, who was stock still. Ace’s thumb pressed to Thistle’s lips. “Perhaps not.”
“What about Daddy?”
Ace shrugged. “She promised she wouldn’t chase.”
A strangled sound came up Thistle’s throat, and she had her dainty little hand around Ace’s neck in a flash. “He’s mine,” she hissed. “He’s mine . Not hers.”
“Shh, Omega. I will give you everything you’ve claimed.”
I frowned, parsing through that.
Knox was still tense, but if he argued with Ace right now, he’d break the illusion. The one thing that would keep us safe after we left was the belief in his destruction. If he didn’t say a thing, there would be no one left in this place with a shadow of a doubt that he had been subdued.
I couldn’t help noticing Knox’s eyes slide to me as if demanding I say something. Could I come up with a reason that wouldn’t sound suspicious?
Perhaps…
I wanted Bella dead, too.
Knox needed to join the pack—for Thistle. They were as inseparable as any scent match now. But I couldn’t work out if this was part of the plan… Or if he was trying to put real dominance behind that pack lead title he had.
If it was a dominance play, we’d have a million more chances to upend it—but tonight, we needed to walk out of this party alive first. Something else played at the edge of my mind, though—a piece of this puzzle that wanted to fit but just wouldn’t quite.
Finally, the door opened again, and Bella’s Alpha reappeared, nodding toward us.
Ace smiled. “Bella can count her lucky stars today.”
My mouth remained closed.
Right now, all the power was with Ace—not our pack, and not even Thistle, who had him in a heat bond.
None of us had enough information.