Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
THISTLE
Bella wasn’t dead.
We were leaving, but Bella wasn’t dead.
Each step felt as if my boots were made of stone. Ace’s fingers were tangled in mine—they were firm.
“I will give you everything you’ve claimed…”
I didn’t understand those words.
Knox was mine.
But… Ace had said something to Bella. Something none of us had heard. A flicker of hope bloomed in my chest, and I fanned it, glancing up at him as we stepped up to the doors to Bella’s home.
If we left, would I ever have a chance to bond with Knox?
Ace’s jaw was set, and he looked as calm as he’d been this whole time.
He won’t lose, Bunny. We gotta believe that.
He has a plan.
We crossed the exit out into the night air, and down the first few steps before Ace drew me to a halt.
“There was a complication.”
I frowned.
What did that mean?
Ace glanced at Rogue. He’d been wounded. I eyed the way he was holding pressure on his side, but he wasn’t in pain so it was hard to tell. If it was bad, there would be more blood, I thought.
We’d made it out alive…
But so had Bella.
And there were so many more layers to these monsters than I’d faced before. My mind flickered to the crimson marker I’d used, something in my chest twisting?—
“You’ll go to the car first,” Ace said. “Deal with it. We are leaving without a scene.”
“What?” I asked, looking back up at Ace.
Deal with it?
Deal with what?
What are they talking about, Bunny?
“What are you waiting for?” Ace asked.
“Ah…” Rogue, who was staring at Ace oddly, seemed to clue in. “Shit.”
“What?”
I looked at Knox, but he was still ashen. The death of his pack mate had taken a toll, and I could see he wasn’t all with it.
“Fuck.” Rogue scowled but began down the steps, tugging that chain and getting Knox to follow.
“What’s… happening?” I asked as they left.
“You did everything right tonight, Omega,” Ace told me.
He didn’t lie. Not ever. And he never told me I’d done well unless he had to.
Still… “It’s not… not feeling like that,” I whispered, voice cracking as I looked back up at him.
I tried to turn—to follow Rogue and Knox, to seek out the limo that was waiting for us—but Ace’s fingers closed around my neck.
“Look at me.” The Alpha bark was a quiet command, but he’d never given me one that hadn’t been almost impossible to ignore. I met his eyes, feeling the panic whisper like a nightmare beckoning, as if I just hadn’t yet turned the corner. I clutched Bunny tighter, fingers shaking.
“You were everything I asked,” Ace said. “You did everything right, and you painted a picture none of them will forget.”
He hadn’t just wanted me at his side. He’d told me to go further—to be bold enough to make her angry. Off balance. Prone to mistakes.
He told me he knew I could do that like no one else.
And I had—I thought I had… I even used his gift, the bracelet still around my wrist.
Everything should be right, then, shouldn’t it?
“But…?” I whispered.
“They’re still watching, and I won’t let you ruin it now. Not when you’ve done so well.”
I swallowed, daring a glance down the steps. My heart tripped, my fingers digging too tight into Bunny.
Why… why would we ruin it?
I heard the faint sound of a car door shutting, and then Ace’s grip was on my wrist as he tugged me down the shallow stairs.
I felt a numbness washing over me.
Have we… messed up, Bunny?
…Badly… somewhere… I could feel it.
Ace didn’t seem angry, and that… that made things worse, because I didn’t know what I’d done.
Finally, we reached the limo, and Ace pressed me back against it. “Kiss me, Omega.”
I looked up, violet eyes locked with ice blue—they were glaciers that gave nothing away—as I leaned up. His lips were soft against mine, passionate, too caring. Caring from Ace was foreign… it was as if he was trying to fix me up.
Like… like he knew we were about to crack into a million pieces…
Then the door was opening, and I stepped in, my heart racing like a hummingbird as I took in what was inside.
The world swayed strangely as the door behind me slammed. The engine rumbled.
And I just… stared.
Knox was holding her.
I didn’t understand.
“…Bambi?”
The horror of what was before me rent me apart.
She was a beautiful Omega with thick blonde hair and curious eyes that had, back in the party, lingered on Bunny for long enough that it caught my attention.
And then I’d seen an eerie, dull deadness in her gaze when Banner had spoken behind us—a silence I’d felt like a knife in my own heart.
An old pencil stub scratching against scrap paper, spiralling happiness as an image came together—until a shadow drifted over us.
It was impossible to forget how much I hated Dan—or how much he scared me… But my fear was the part I hated to face.
I’d hated seeing it in her eyes too, tonight.
I could see the tattoo of a baby deer across her shoulder, but it was the only thing familiar about her.
The white dress she wore was no longer white. It was barely even the colours of the markers that had touched it. The dress was crimson now, to match the blood seeping from the huge cuts across her.
Nasty, angry marks.
Across her chest. Her face. As if slashed in rage. Hatred…
The little red heart I’d drawn on her wrist—I could only just see it between drips of real, crimson blood.
I stumbled forward, a cold, icy terror slamming in as I realised that everything I was looking at… it was my fault.
I shuddered, seeing again the confidence on Bella’s face as she’d re-entered the party late in the evening, wiping her hands on a handkerchief.
“N-no…”
I’d known by the way she’d smiled that something was wrong. I’d buried it, like I did all the things my brain didn’t understand.
Stupid…
My chest caught, breaths not finding a way out. Bunny tumbled from my grip as my knees crashed to the floor of the limo. I was shoving Knox back as I took her in my arms.
She… she was alive.
Barely.
Wh-what have we done, Bunny?
Terrified honey eyes met mine, and I felt her small fist grip my arm.
Tears clouded my eyes.
I never… never wanted this…
I pressed my hand to Bambi’s, fingers weaving with hers, but they refused to match no matter how hard I stared. Her skin felt clammy, still shades darker than the pallor of my own.
This blood wasn’t mine.
My fault , but not mine…
My mind careened back to the party. I’d been with Ace when I noticed Bella was gone. What had I been doing? I think I’d been half-listening to chatter while I drew red hearts on Ace’s cuff.
Stupid. Stupid .
I’d worried about looking bad beside Ace—rethinking my boots. I loved them, but maybe they didn’t fit the outfit. He was still holding me. Nothing had waned in his claim, but what if I couldn’t live up to it?
I choked on a sob, staring at the open knife wounds across Bambi’s chest as Rogue peeled back the fabric. I pictured the blade in Bella’s fist, dragging it across her flesh—while I was worried about my boots?
I’d done this.
My claim—that red mark—it meant something.
I could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry…” I choked.
For a flash, I felt Dan’s eyes on me as he’d entered my room—back when I lived in a time of nightmares. He’d caught me with a pencil and scrap of paper, and I’d known he was going to hurt me. Back then, monsters had circled me.
But I’d never made them angry at someone else…
Just a mark. A crimson heart. A moment of instinct, and nothing else. A tiny dust devil of a dream, like a friend in a different universe sweeping me off my feet.
And she’d paid for how stupid we … I… was.