Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
ROGUE
Bambi’s presence made for an unusual few days. The two Omegas stayed in Thistle’s nest while the Misfits put one together for Bambi in the east wing, but Thistle said she wasn’t ready for it yet.
My gunshot wound was only a graze on my side, and today I’d poked it a few times to test. It had closed up enough for me to walk without bleeding all over. It would leave a gnarly scar I hoped Thistle would love.
I’d sat in with Knox on a few meetings with the Misfits about the Ring. Ace had joined one, but the cocky bastard seemed to think he had everything worked out already.
Bella was still out there—and she’d apparently fled her mansion by the morning after the party.
Knox was pulling in every resource he had to locate her. Then there was Carrion, the leader of the Ring that we had to make sure wouldn’t be a problem.
The question in my mind was whether the display we’d put on—parading Knox around in a muzzle and chains—was enough to stamp out further issues.
Carrion didn’t show himself often, and to Knox’s fury, Ace had asked if he was even real. We had seen him turn up at a few events, but he was always in a creepy bone-bird mask, so we didn’t have a name or face.
We’d put on the show we’d intended to, but we didn’t know if it would be enough, and with Carrion, there was no way to know. Knox had never had direct contact with him.
Still, I was pretty fucking useless here—aside from my insider knowledge from growing up in a family in the Ring, but Knox had long pried all that out. I didn’t have the reach or resources the others did.
By day three, after twiddling my thumbs and hovering anxiously for too long, I decided to force myself out of the house.
It should have been a pleasant trip, but—“What the fuck are you doing?” I demanded as Knox slid into the passenger seat beside me.
“I’m bored.”
“Out,” I grunted.
“Make me.”
I looked around the garage, doing the math. Could I drive the limo to the mall? To get away from Knox, I would.
“I’ll follow you,” he said, tracking my gaze.
I scowled. Not if I knocked him out he wouldn’t…
“Besides, I locked all the cards except mine,” he added, flashing his black credit card as if reading my mind.
Fuck.
“You can’t come out to the mall with me. What if the Ring is watching?”
“Oh yes, Silverdunes Mall—the true territory of the Nevada Trafficking Ring.”
“You know what I mean,” Knox snorted.
“Don’t be stupid. The Ring knows we can’t walk around with chains and a muzzle all day. That would raise suspicion.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why?” I ground out.
“It’s been three days without my Omega,” he groaned. “I’ll end up tossing Bambi out on her ass if I don’t do something.”
“You won’t touch Bambi.” I might be a room separated from my Omega, but I could sense how important this was to her.
“Her nest’s been ready for a day,” Knox muttered. “She should go nest in it or something, right?”
“You know, you’ve always been needy, Knox, but I don’t have to put up with it anymore.”
“Needy?” he asked, offended.
“Like a sick puppy.”
“How?”
“Couldn’t leave me alone for more than a fucking day. Always had to find a way to bug me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Uh—yes, you did.” I knew because that had been an adjustment. When I’d been the one calling the shots, I’d sometimes go weeks without seeing Knox. I’d just let him rot in the basement.
I’d thought, at first, he bugged me more often because he knew I hated it—a punishment to make me miserable. But now, with him leaning back and folding his arms like he wasn’t going anywhere—I was second-guessing that.
Was he one of those people who did better around others—a ‘ Quality Time ’ kind of Alpha? God, how insufferable.
“What…?” he asked, peering at me oddly.
I realised I’d been silent for a while.
What was I doing? Psychoanalysing Knox’s love language?
Ugh.
“Get out.”
Knox grinned, tapping the credit card against his cheek. “Start driving, Mutt—and don’t pretend you’re not going out because you miss her—you’re as needy as me.”
I scowled, starting the engine. “Call me Mutt again, and I’ll shove you out the window.”
He was annoyingly right, though. To be honest, there wasn’t much difference in how touch-starved we both were.
Now I’d been exposed to what it was like to have an Omega, I was unsettled when I couldn’t be near her—especially knowing she was just in the next room. She’d even dropped by to scent mark me and give me a kiss a few times. Her cheeks had always been smudged with graphite.
How much art could they do—or how many TV shows could they watch?
They’d get sick of it eventually, right?
It was fine—I just needed to do something while I waited.
The first stop at the mall was a toy store.
“Why are we here?” Knox asked.
I shrugged, browsing until I found the stuffed animals.
“Oh…” Knox trailed off. “Right.”
I tried ignoring him as he poked through the stuffies beside me. I’d get what I needed then leave.
Finally, I found a cute little deer stuffie that seemed perfect.
It was a looming issue. Bambi liked Thistle’s stitched-up Bunny, but Bunny was the soul of Thistle’s nest. Bambi couldn’t keep him forever.
So, I’d fix it before it was an issue.
I plucked the deer off the shelf, only to see Knox doing the same with a pink bunny toy a few feet away.
I scowled. “What are you doing?”
He gave me a funny look. “What are you doing?”
“It’s… Bambi,” I said.
Dumbass.
Knox scoffed. “Why do you think Thistle thought they were friends? Bambi’s best friend is a bunny, duh.”
I folded my arms. “That’s not how this works.” She was a deer. She got a deer.
Wait. Was… Thistle supposed to be a rabbit?
Now I was confused.
Omega logic wasn’t my strong suit.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Knox said.
“Put it back.”
“What? Scared I’m going to out- Omega you?”
“No—just put it back. ” I reached out, but he danced back, grinning.
“Now you’re sabotaging Bambi’s healing?”
“No—!” Just— dammit . “Fine. You’ll see.”
I wasn’t so sure, though, as we got to checkout. The bunny he’d picked was very pink. Much brighter than the deer I’d chosen…
Next stop was for me, which was good because Knox’s scent of ink and antique wood was shortening my fuse.
I just wanted to get my Omega and her best friend a gift—and some time out of that house without a parasite leeching my life force.
So, while I looked over the games in the electronics store, pulling far too many from the shelves and tossing them into the cart, I ignored Knox. I grabbed a portable gaming device for Thistle along with a variety of games, since I didn’t know what she liked.
The rest was for me. I hadn’t kept up with new releases before, which was for my own sanity. I could get away with the occasional food delivery with Knox’s card, but if I’d ordered myself a game, Knox would have smashed it. He’d even locked down my online game store accounts.
It took effort on his part.
Pure spite.
So, for too long, I’d been stuck playing decade-old racing games.
Next, I made my way to the laptops, since I wanted one of my own.
“When are we going to fix the accounts?” I asked as Knox’s voice cut through the stone wall I’d put up between us—he was doing the math on the price tag I was racking up.
Knox straightened. “What do you mean?”
“Well. It’s my money.”
He scoffed. “No, it’s not.”
I side-eyed him, hefting a display laptop. “Ace stole it from me and gave it to you.”
“So… it’s mine.”
I opened my mouth, blood pressure rising, then shut it, taking a breath. “I want my own account.” My fist dug into the keyboard I held.
I didn’t care what he thought. I wouldn’t spend another day begging him or Ace for a dime.
Knox considered me. “I was going to arrange an allowance for her. Maybe I could carve a bit out for?—”
He cut off as I lost it with a growl and smashed the demo laptop straight into his stupid smug face.
Fifteen minutes later, security escorted us from the shop. I’d apologised a lot, and Knox had paid for the damages—it was just enough that they didn’t kick us out of the mall.
But now I wasn’t getting my games.
Or Thistle hers either.
He ruined everything .
“I’m deducting it,” Knox muttered.
“What?” I asked, spinning on him, trying to calm my breathing as the security guard outside the electronics shop shot us suspicious looks.
“From your allowance,” Knox said. “I’m deducting the laptop.”
I froze.
“If you add that, and rent—and groceries, because fuck do you eat like an elephant, and damn , I think you might owe me?—”
He cut off as I seized him by the throat.
Put. Him. Down. The rational plea in my brain was faint.
I was probably close to a rut.
Ah— Fuck it.
“A lifetime ban?” Knox’s cackle was nails on a chalkboard as I hit the gas down the highway. He was in silent hysterics, undeterred by the bruises blooming across his cheeks.
I’d pummelled him across the mall, and he’d almost gone over a railing to the floor below. I’d seen red. Enough that the screaming—from unsuspecting Betas and Omegas as I’d tried to tear Knox apart through six different shop displays—hadn’t slowed me.
But the lifetime ban from a mall wasn’t the part that grated.
What grated was that I hadn’t been arrested because—and I almost cracked a tooth thinking about it, the speedometer revving too high— Knox had signed a fucking waiver that he’d have me fucking checked by my fucking doctor.
And the wound on my side was leaking again.
He was still breathless in the passenger seat, shaking with mirth.
In the eyes of the law, he was still my legal guardian. Ace had left me labelled unstable and dangerous, and my ‘ freedom ’ depended on Knox signing off that he’d take responsibility for me.
We’d had to wait until the officers were out of sight before I dared take the driver’s seat. It was worth the wait, though, because Knox’s driving today would have fully sent me over the edge, and I’d ruin Thistle’s time with Bambi if I went into a rut.