Chapter 55
This was all seriously fucked up, and also so damned hot. Knight looked ready to blow a fuse when Zed returned with two severed fingers. They were treated and set in resin, and she scrambled toward him, seizing them from him in an instant.
Right.
Those were definitely rose tattoos.
Ha.
What a fucking gift.
She set them carefully down on either side of Ace, the most content sound rising in her chest as she stepped back to examine it.
“There you go, Baby,” Zed breathed, dragging her close. “I broke my rule for you.”
I grinned.
Now. Now we were really set.
Pillows and blankets, check.
The scents of her pack, check.
A pool of dying rose petals and thorns, check.
The drugged body of her enemy, chained to the wall, check.
And the last touch, dismembered fingers: Zed’s gift to her.
I glanced at Knight with a grin. Pear grove was a nice scent and definitely shouldn’t be able to give off violence, but I had the distinct impression that he was ready to take both me and Zed out back and finish us off for encouraging this behaviour.
How was he so goddamned sane?
He’d been raised Brotherhood, just like the rest of us. And her heat hormones were like a drug. She was my girl, and if this is what she wanted, who were we to argue?
She turned to me, pupils blown, lips parted. Now everything was in place, I could practically see the heat sweep her away.
Wave number two.
My brain lagged.
Glade didn’t want to leave the new nest, and I didn’t have a problem with that at all.
Apparently, screwing our Omega in front of an out-of-pack Alpha wasn’t Knight’s thing, and that was fine.
She had passed the most intense stage of heat, and we didn’t know how long this was going to last, so maybe it was best if he went and passed out.
Ace was awake and I could almost feel his agony in the air, the furious growls slipping from him with every breath.
It seemed to do nothing but spur Glade on.
She was trapped between me and Zed. Her hands and cheek pressed to his chest, dark waves sticking to the sheen of sweat on her cheeks, bright eyes fixed on Ace as I drove into her.
He was losing it, pupils constricted, snarls tearing from his chest as he watched. The rut wouldn’t allow pride to hide the claim he so desperately wanted. Ace’s mask was cracking, and beneath was nothing but weakness and obsession.
I tilted her hips so I could drive deeper, and I felt Zed speed up his circling of her clit.
She moaned, shuddering with an orgasm, which sent Ace into a frenzy, and—in response—drew her climax out longer.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” I breathed in her ear as she melted against us.
Zed seemed to have maxed out his desire to be around his brother because he dipped out, saying something about ordering food.
Good.
I wanted some private time with my Omega.
I could fuck her in front of this piece of trash all day—and I thought she’d let me. It wasn’t just thrilling for her; it was cathartic, as if the insanity of it all was healing pieces of her soul that had broken over equal and opposite insanity.
I understood that.
So I worshipped her until the room was a lightning storm with no roses, until her eyes were dazed and her lips curled up in a smile, her fingers tangling in my hair as I made her climax so many times even her heat-hazed body was done.
And then I pinned her to the mats and knotted her to his snarls and insanity as he suffered just a fraction of the pain he’d made her feel.
Finally, when I’d held her against me and let her recover, and our bodies were no longer connected, I drew her up to her knees to face him, pressing my chest to her back so she knew she wasn’t alone. She was shivering with exhaustion, but my hand closed around her neck as I held her still.
Her breathing hitched as my knuckle brushed her back, and she shivered as static danced between us. I felt her rush of anticipation as I trailed my lips down her neck, below her shoulder blade.
Through the bond, I felt a fissure down something that had been entombing her for too long.
I lowered my free hand, running it down her arm and then her wrist, taking her hand in mine, my thumb grazing the scars she had there, too.
There was another fissure, and this time cracks webbed outward as my lips drew down to the mangled marks upon her back. Ridges that marked pain as much as they marked a choice she’d made so that one day this tomb could break and inside there might still be life.
Goosebumps rippled along her skin as my lips traced the marks.
Zed.
Knight.
And finally, my name.
As I sank my teeth into that mark, I felt the tomb shatter at last.
Glade didn’t know I’d woken when she slipped from my arms in the middle of the night.
Of course I’d woken. I would never allow her to be stolen from me again—especially not with his scent lingering.
She’d never asked us to get rid of it, no matter how deep into her heat she was.
Right now she wore the sheer gown we’d stolen from the High Roller. It shifted over her body like liquid gold, barely hiding anything beneath, but she didn’t seem to mind as she vanished into the cell.
I was silent, following her. Instincts telling me whatever this was, I shouldn’t interrupt it.
Ace was on his knees, hands tied behind his back. There was a trail of blood down his chin from where he’d fought the gag so hard it had rubbed his skin raw.
I felt nothing for him: no pity, no kinship.
The only emotion that stirred as I watched her approach him was the faintest itching of envy that I wouldn’t get to be the one that dealt with him. That was the Alpha part of me, demanding retribution, demanding to see this problem solved with my bare hands, but I would stifle it.
It was hers.
She’d earned it.
His head was bowed, the rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive. When she stopped before him, though, I saw him shudder. He was still in the rut and his scent held the agony he felt. Bitter thorns of roses rolled from him in waves.
Slowly, he looked up as if he couldn’t stop himself, constricted pupils, gaze trailing every inch of her body, breaths becoming deeper. Her scent was thick in the air, the trailing end of her heat turning it into a siren’s call.
A rutting Alpha, and a touch-starved Omega who’d gone through the most intense heat I’d ever heard of.
He must be in agony.
When she reached down and brushed his chin, the faintest whine rose in his chest, his breathing picking up.
The smile that lit up her face was beautiful, and through the bond, I felt it. A moment of pure freedom as she looked down at him.
“It’s almost disappointing, watching you break so fast.”
Carefully, she sank to the floor before him, tilting her head slightly, regarding him like she might a toy. Her pupils were still so wide, the heat and instincts burning strong.
“Are you still here?” she asked.
I couldn’t take my eyes away as she wove her fingers through his hair, dragging his neck back. He let out another pathetic whimper at her touch, though it was quickly followed by a growl.
Her laugh was light as she drew herself up so she was looking down at him, her nose an inch from his, her free hand cupping his cheek and stroking her thumb along it. I felt her enjoyment as more shuddering, pained noises tore from him with every exhale.
“I won your game,” she whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. “And all the games you made me play.”
His lips drew back in a snarl, something more aware in his blue eyes. Glade lowered herself, and I frowned, unsure what she was doing until she stopped beside his neck. With one hand holding his hair taut, she pressed her teeth to his neck.
The sound he made was pure madness, and he tried to struggle from her grip. All she did was pull him tighter, and I watched the blood trickle down his neck where her teeth dug in.
When she drew away, there was a smear of that crimson on her cheek, and her eyes danced with delight.
Then she reached for the box waiting at his side.
Crossing her legs, she unscrewed the cap from a bottle. I knew Kyan had told her what all the drugs in that box did. I watched as she crushed one of the pills between her fingers, then reached toward Ace. He fought harder this time, eyes wild, but the bindings held, and Glade was easily able to smear the powder across the bite she’d left.
I wondered what it was that she’d chosen.
“I’m done with you,” she whispered. “I won, but choosing to kill you now? That wouldn’t be fair.” She stood, but Ace was limp now, breathing short and sharp, head lolling. “That choice isn’t mine.”