Chapter 40
FORTY
KNOX
I don’t really know why I’d insisted on joining Rogue. I was bored, but bored enough to spend my afternoon with him?
Turned out, it had been a great choice. With an aching cheek and jaw, I felt excellent. Energised. And now I had the brilliant memory of the fury on Rogue’s stupid face as the police shoved that waiver before me.
Ha.
The dumb fuck still wasn’t free of me yet.
When we got back, we found Ace in the kitchen, rummaging through tea. He’d spent most of his time hidden in his room like the vampire he was. We were in an odd building phase, not quite complete or consolidated, and it made it hard to feel sure about anything.
I wasn’t sure what to do with that, but it brought me comfort knowing that however odd it was to me, it would be a thousand times more disturbing to the heat-bonded weasel stealing my tea.
He looked at us, then at the toy store box in Rogue’s arms, then scowled. “Oh God.”
“What?” I demanded.
“Did you go shopping together?”
“Yes?” Rogue said.
“You’re worse than Colt and Rex.”
“Why?” I asked. Those were the Alphas in his old pack.
He looked disgusted. “You’re… normal…” He trailed off, the next word twisting in his mouth like it tasted foul. “ Functional .”
“No, we’re not!” I snapped.
How dare he. There was nothing functional about me and Rogue together. We’d just earned ourselves a lifetime mall ban.
Well. Rogue had. I could go back in a year.
Ace paused. “Why do you both look so… beaten up?” He was eyeing my face—which was fresh with bruises, then his gaze slid to Rogue’s side where the half-healed gunshot wound was blossoming blood through its dressing.
“Because we aren’t functional,” I snorted.
Ace shrugged, not seeming to consider tea valuable enough to stick around, shutting the cupboard before starting to leave.
“Sit the fuck down,” I said. “We need to talk.” He’d sat around listening in on the one meeting he’d joined, but offered almost nothing. He was scheming, I just knew it.
“Now?” Ace asked.
“Now.”
He rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue as he slid onto a barstool.
“You know what I’ve been wondering about?” Rogue asked, leaning against the counter. “Why did you save Bambi?” he asked. “I mean, I’m glad, but you don’t seem the type to care about random Omegas.”
“My Omega claimed her,” Ace said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I didn’t have the cards to raid the rest of her house and drag out slaves in front of the Ring. I had a choice. I could have killed Bella, but Bambi would be forfeit.”
I stared at him in silence.
“Did I make the wrong choice?” Ace asked. “I went with the one I found the most idiotic. Thought that would be a good barometer for you soft-hearted?—”
“It was the right choice,” Rogue grunted. “Though I’m sure it had nothing to do with keeping Knox out of the pack for longer.”
Ace grinned, glancing from Rogue to me. “Why do you think I have it out for him?”
But I was with Rogue. I got the impression Ace had it out for any Alpha near her. I didn’t doubt he’d get rid of Rogue if he could get away with it.
“Do you?” I prodded.
“I am, unfortunately, dependent on her stability, so I have a use for Rogue. You—” He shot me a wicked grin. “I’m still undecided about whether you’re… integral. My parents never did teach me to share.”
Rogue rolled his eyes. “I’m sure your upbringing is the core of all your issues.”
“Are you so sure it’s not?”
“You have a brother, right—is he as fucked up as you are?” I asked.
I knew a little about it already, but I was curious to hear his take.
Ace mulled the question over. “The night my pack mates died, they were in different cities. My brother stuck a poisoned crown on one, then hunted the other and waited until the right second before he jammed a Queen of Diamonds down his throat and suffocated him. I lost my entire pack at the same moment.”
Rogue raised his eyebrows, but I snorted. “Was that because he’s a psychopath, or because you did something unspeakably horrible to him?”
Ace opened his mouth then shut it again, finally nodding with a so-so motion.
“Do we have to watch our backs for them, too?” Rogue asked. “What did you do?”
“Nothing too terrible,” I put in. “Tortured their pack’s Omega for a couple years, give or take.”
“You’ve been doing your homework?” Ace asked, amusement in his tone.
Of course I had.
“Great. So another pack to keep on our radar,” Rogue said.
Ace shrugged, his eyes cold. “They got their revenge.”
“Is there enough revenge in the world for that?”
“From what I can gather, his… situation with Thistle may have something to do with it,” I said.
Rogue barked a laugh. “I stand corrected.”
Ace was giving me a strange look, but that was all I’d give up.
I needed any advantage I could get with him.
He was good, as much as I hated to admit it, but I didn’t just want to beat him to wipe the smugness from his attitude.
I needed to. Thistle saw him as the pinnacle of all things incredible in the world.
I knew Rogue didn’t give a shit about matching Ace—but he was scent matched to her. I was determined to stake an equal claim.
Beyond that, I needed her safe. Heat bonding did a lot of heavy lifting for keeping Ace in line, but I didn’t trust him. There wouldn’t be a move he made, a gift he gave her, or a place he took her that I didn’t want to know about or understand. Especially not until I was in a bond with him.
“You could have told us your plan at the party ahead of time,” I said.
Ace’s smile was mischievous as he looked back at us. “Your ignorance was keeping her safe.”
“How’s that?” Rogue asked.
“If none of us had flinched when they dragged her away, they would have assumed something was wrong. Instead, you took a bullet for her. It made for a perfect finale; they weren’t expecting a second.”
I mulled that over, hating that it made sense. He might be good, but with the limitations of his current resources, I knew Ace had used every piece on the board with that plan. At Bella’s party, that had included us.
“So has anyone decided on what we’re doing next?” Rogue asked.
“We find out where she is and kill her.” That, I thought, was obvious. The Ring wouldn’t blink if she turned up missing now, and wouldn’t interfere when they didn’t have to. I’m sure many had even taken bets on the outcome.
“You two can carry on with your little plans. I’ll carry on with mine,” Ace said.
“What?” I glared at him.
He just gave me a cold smile.
“What does that mean?” Rogue pushed.
I frowned. What did Ace plan to do next?
I knew, whatever it was, I didn’t trust it. I was the one trapped in this rotting pack. I was the one who would pay if he was wrong—and I believed him when he said he wasn’t sure if he had a need for me.
Ace, who seemed to consider himself finished with the conversation, was rifling through the toy store box before picking out the pink Bunny. He examined it, then shot us both a flat look.
“Nice, and ah—!” He spotted the deer, tugging that out. “Covering my Omega’s bases, too. How disturbingly… well thought out.”
His Omega? I really hated when he spoke like—wait. What did that mean?
Rogue was frowning, as if he didn’t know either.
Whatever.
Ace turned the plushie in his grip. “I was wondering what would happen when Bambi has to leave—she’s very attached to the toy. Thistle doesn’t cope without it.”
“Him.” Rogue snatched the stuffed deer from Ace. “Bunny’s a him.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it.
Ace sneered, but Rogue clearly didn’t give a shit. Instead, he turned and made his way toward Thistle’s nest, deer in fist.
Guess that was the end of planning. I grabbed the pink bunny and followed him.
Rogue knocked, not looking at me.
The door cracked open, and a violet eye appeared.
Then Thistle’s expression lit up and she opened it all the way.
She stopped herself from giving us a big hug as she spotted what was in our hands.
I knew she felt guilty she hadn’t spent more time with us.
When she’d visited, she’d apologised for not staying long, muttering something about the Alpha scents making Bambi nervous.
I wasn’t offended.
This wasn’t my first time dealing with a survivor of the Ring. Most of them didn’t come out and speak to Alphas—or even Omegas—for weeks. Vance was a good balance, offering safety sometimes only Betas could.
Bambi was, however, creeping up behind Thistle, eyes darting between the plushies.
She was either healing faster than I was used to, or she trusted us more because we were Thistle’s Alphas—which would say a lot about the work Thistle was putting in.
She wore biker shorts and an oversized hoodie from Thistle’s wardrobe, so I couldn’t see any of her dressings aside from the one on her face.
It looked intact, with fresh tape along the edges.
I’d been stockpiling instructions for Thistle and dumping them on her every time she poked her head out.
Hmm… which stuffie was Bambi’s gaze most drawn to? She was glancing between them.
Had to be mine.
“You guys are awesome!” Thistle declared, seizing them both. Then, to Rogue’s delight, she kept the pink bunny but handed the deer to Bambi.
“Ha,” Rogue muttered to me. “I fucking knew?—”
He cut off, as Thistle scent marked the bunny, Bambi did the same with the deer, and then they traded them back.
Uh.
What?
I blinked, but that seemed to be that. In Bambi’s arms was the bright pink bunny I had chosen.
“That was extra thoughtful!” Thistle said. “We were talking about her nest. I think she’s ready to move into it, but this way—” She held up the deer— “she can stay with me here, too.”
Ha.
I had been right.
“Talking?” I asked. She hadn’t spoken a word as far as I knew. I had heard a lot of chatter from Thistle’s nest this afternoon. Made me wonder if Bambi had fully come out of her shell. But Bambi shook her head quickly.
“Oh… no…” Thistle’s face fell a little. “But that’s okay. I can talk enough for both of us.”
“It’s normal,” I said.
“No…” Thistle trailed off, glancing at Bambi, then shrugged. “You know, she doesn’t have to talk ever if she doesn’t want to. That’s okay, too.”
I nodded, unsure what to make of that.
“Okay. We’ll finish off the art pieces we were working on, then…” She swallowed, clearly a bit nervous. “I guess she’s ready to see the nest.”
“That sounds good,” I said. I thought she would shut the door, but she shot a look at Bambi, before eyeing us as if she were on a mission.
“Did you both go out together today?” she asked. “Like… bonding?” Her eyes snagged on the bruises across my face, and the open cut on my collarbone. She brushed it off quickly, though, eyes meeting mine.
“To the mall,” Rogue muttered.
“I told you!” She glanced back at Bambi and Bunny. She was glowing and I didn’t have the heart to correct her. I mean, we weren’t bonding . I’d just been bored—that was literally it.
“Knox said you claimed him when you first met him?” she asked Rogue, and her eyes slid back to Bambi, if only for a moment.
“Uh…” Rogue scratched his head, not looking at me. “Yeh. That’s… kinda what happened.”
Kind of?
Piece of shit.
He’d just sauntered into my nightmare and staked a claim like the selfish, arrogant Alpha waste of space that he?—
“And that means friends for life?” Thistle asked Rogue.
Uh.
Friends?
“Even if Knox tries to get on your nerves—you wanted him to be a part of it. You chose him, so you can’t really hate him.”
Rogue opened his mouth, then shut it, and I was acutely aware that Bambi’s eyes were beaming into us like lasers.
“Like when you take me on an awesome date to the Fair and then he still turns up in the middle—you kinda have to love him anyway ‘cuz he wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for you.”
Love ?
“And you like… know each other better than any two Alphas I’ve ever met…”
Uh…
This was getting out of hand.
I mean. I guess we knew each other. Kinda. Not by choice—and it certainly didn’t mean anything.
Rogue was stiff, but seemed to be scrambling for a reply.
I could read between the lines, and I think he could too: Thistle was trying to comfort Bambi.
“I… Yeh.” The words came from Rogue with obvious difficulty. “You could… say that.”
Thistle looked crestfallen. “But you don’t actually resent him for being around after you claimed him, right? That would be silly.”
Um, of course he did—he better , anyway. That was the whole point. I was supposed to make his life hell until the day he kicked the bucket.
Rogue, clearly locked down by Bambi’s intense stare, edged out a reply so strained it sounded like it was squeezing through closed blinds. “No.”
Thistle’s smile was breathtaking. “Told you!” She spun back to Bambi. “Not that you’re annoying,” she added quickly. “Knox makes a special effort?—”
The rest of her words cut off as the door slammed in our faces.
There was a long, long silence.
“Huh. You don’t resent me?” I asked, sarcasm dripping from every word. “I never knew, bestie .”
Rogue looked ready to leap on me again.
I mean… I could go for round three. Even a mall trip was nothing compared to a good brawl. Sadly, he kept his composure, giving me a bitter look. “ Never call me that again.”
“Noted, Mutt. Though—” I said. “Bambi took my bunny.”
“Wipe that stupid smile off your face,” he growled, jabbing me in the chest. “I got our Omega a gift.”