Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
ACE
Bambi had claimed the nest the Misfits had made.
It was the early evening, and she’d been in there all day. Not that I was usually tracking a random Omega’s nest time, but Thistle’s anxiety had been rattling me to the bone since Bambi had left.
So, I joined them, since Thistle had been happy at the idea of a full pack visit, and because they lived a bit too close for comfort considering how little I knew—especially since there were Alphas and Omegas among them.
When we got inside, Thistle set her gift box down at Bambi’s door at the end of the hallway off the kitchen.
On top of it, I saw her place a picture she’d drawn of them both.
She stood in front of the door, unmoving, as if she might open it—which she definitely was considering.
The hallway glowed with a soft, homely light, warm wood panelling making it feel closer and cosier than it should have.
“You’re Maverick, then?” asked a tall, slender Beta. Vance, I think, from what I’d gleaned of them. He held his hand out. “You made quite the entrance.”
I glanced at his hand, then back up, not taking it. I looked from him to the rest of the room.
On the couch lounged a female Alpha—that would make her Petal. When we’d entered, she’d shot us a few looks, her expression tight enough to make me wonder if she might leave, but she seemed to have relaxed.
A male Omega rummaged in the fridge, and slouching on the kitchen island on one of the bar stools, was a female Omega.
Callum and Tanisha. I’d pried as much out of Knox as I could but he was tight-lipped, only mentioning a few names and details.
There were enough scents in here that I didn’t think those in the room made up all of them.
They were from the Ring, though, that I knew.
Were they a bonded pack?
How stable were they?
If Thistle was going to vanish inside to visit Bambi, I needed to know.
“Ignore him. He’s a freak with everyone,” Knox snorted, sliding onto a bar stool beside the island as Vance lowered his hand.
Rogue, dragged in by Thistle, leaned against the fridge, looking like he wasn’t sure what to do there.
“Are you helping with the hunt for Bella?” Vance asked me.
“He’s not very useful.” Knox grimaced. “Doesn’t even believe Carrion is real.”
I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was real, but I was starting to wonder if he was a single person.
“Haven’t you seen him?” Callum, the male Omega, asked as he poured himself cereal.
“Yes,” Knox replied.
“Only wearing a mask,” I said.
If he wasn’t real, that would make things far simpler. I was in contact with a few informants from my time in the Brotherhood, but I was working from a disadvantage. I hadn’t found out one way or the other. If he was real, he kept a low profile.
“The Ring takes orders from him,” Knox said.
“They could just be using the idea of a single entity to cover their asses for decisions people don’t like.”
Thistle returned down the hall, leaning on the counter beside Knox.
She had, it seemed, fought her instincts to barge into Bambi’s new nest—which told me a lot about how hard she was trying with this Omega.
I knew first-hand Thistle treated instincts as law—and now that it wasn’t a constant threat, since the worst had happened to me, I could admit it was obscenely attractive.
I glanced at Petal as Thistle returned, but the female Alpha stayed engrossed in her book, not flinching as my Omega walked in.
Knox glanced at the others. “Has Bambi spoken yet?”
Vance shook his head, looking uncomfortable. “No. And she won’t.”
“What do you mean?” Knox asked.
An odd silence stretched until Thistle broke it. “One of Bella’s Alphas— Banner .” Her expression twisted on the name. “She told me he cut her tongue out.”
“He…? Fuck.” Knox looked sickened.
I worked through that, processing what I’d seen of Bella and her pack. What else were they doing beneath the surface?
I logged it.
This was important.
There were a lot of things I had to swallow in this new life I’d been dealt, but one thing I knew for sure: without an outlet, I’d go mad even without Thistle’s pushing me off that cliff.
I needed the thrill of the hunt.
“I can arrange sign language lessons,” Knox said. Thistle’s eyes brightened as she watched him. She was utterly infatuated in a way I didn’t understand. But the fact Knox wasn’t her mate didn’t make it any less real, which was a pain in my ass. Especially because he wasn’t as stupid as I’d hoped.
“Juliet is coming Thursdays starting next month. We could do it that day?” Knox asked the others.
It drew my attention. Who was coming into our home? “Who’s Juliet?” I asked.
“Their therapist,” Knox said. “Her clinic closed down, but she agreed to come to us in afternoons once a week.” He clearly read my tension like a book. “And she’s coming here, not the North Wing.”
“Can I join the signing lessons?” Thistle asked.
Knox nodded. “Maybe I can set up some online sessions so she can pick it up quicker, and anyone can join. She’s got a lot to work through. It will help if we can communicate.”
“She knows I made Banner wet himself before he died…” she said. “Not that it… gets her tongue back.”
“ Could explain why she’s doing better than we’re used to,” Tanisha mused. “She’s already settling in. No… episodes. It was, what, three weeks before Fang could be taken out of chains.”
Chains?
No way could that be anything but an Alpha, then.
I apparently needed more information about this Wing. “How many Alphas are here?” I asked.
Knox rolled his eyes. “Three. Petal,” he thumbed at her where she still sat. She glanced up at the mention of her name, then went back to reading. “Fang and Saint. Saint stays in his room downstairs and Fang lives in the safe room.”
He watched my finger tap the table, narrowing his eyes. “And the East Wing is their home, so it’s not your business in the first place.”
I scowled. If my Omega was wandering into other homes, I damn well wanted to know how many Alphas were in them.
The Misfits didn’t seem much of a threat, though—I saw that.
“What do you mean, that I… helped her?” Thistle asked, glancing back at Tanisha.
“I heard what you did to Banner.” Tanisha looked pleased. “Felt a lot better after Knox killed the Pences. Would’ve felt better if I’d known they’d been scared enough to piss themselves.”
“Joshua Pence did a lot more than piss himself,” Rogue snorted.
Tanisha eyed him curiously. “You were there?”
“Knox dragged me along.” He shifted off the fridge at last, shoulders loosening as if being pulled into the conversation despite himself.
I looked from him to Rogue, scratching my chin. He’d taken Rogue with him on a hunt? I wondered if that was a necessity, or if he didn’t mind splitting the experience…
I usually enjoyed solo hunts, but sharing with Thistle was… rewarding. And I was sure now Rogue wasn’t the type who would want to join in on those games…
“So… they were scared?” Tanisha prodded.
“You want details?” Rogue asked.
She looked at him as if he were mad. “I didn’t know we could ask for details.”
I tuned them out, considering my options. Before, I’d dealt out vengeance freely, but I had an unfortunate leash to contend with now. Thistle was on the other end of it, but if I couldn’t get a solid grip of pack lead—that might end up being Knox.
It was a tricky situation. So far, I hadn’t seen evidence he’d made progress tracking down Bella…
Didn’t bode well for him.
But if things went sideways and he ended up calling the shots…?
The thought alone made me grind my teeth.
But…
I could see it in his eyes right now as his gaze flicked to Bambi’s room while the others went on talking.
There was a twisted side to him that felt much more like a reflection than I was used to seeing in others.
It had limits, but they vanished around the Ring.
And that meant if the people we hunted were deprived enough, no one in this fucking pack would get to argue with…
well, whatever I wanted to do in return.
The Ring might be the perfect prey…
Could I survive with that if I had to?