Chapter 56
Icouldn’t breathe.
Disorientation made everything fade in and out.
My head grew lighter. If I didn’t get out from under the weight, I would suffocate.
I forced my knee up, pushing against the mattress and hiked my hips with the muscles of my thighs.
The body on top of me toppled off me. I gasped in a breath, filling my pained lungs as I sat up.
A syringe rolled against my leg, the milky liquid moving inside the tube.
What the fuck?
Demi groaned from the floor, a pillow lay by her side, and the guys were passed out on the ground. It didn’t take me long to connect the dots on what was happening.
I rolled off the bed, rushed over to them and shook their shoulders, but they didn’t react.
Fuzzy cuffs bound Elias’ ankles, and his hands were ducked taped together.
Kyan snored next to him, leaning against Elias, similarly trussed up.
They didn’t move. I put my finger under Elias’ nose and relaxed once a puff wafted across my finger. Then I checked Kyan.
Both were alive.
“You fucking bitch,” I said through gritted teeth.
Her steps thundered across the wood floors. I turned and socked her across the mouth. She staggered, clamping a hand on her bleeding lip.
“You should have drugged me before you tried to kill me.”
“I wanted to see you writhe,” she spat at me, her eyes crazy.
A wave of uninhibited rage swept through my veins, and I hit her again and again.
She managed to land a punch to my ribs, but I didn’t feel anything past the anger.
I shoved her again, and she stumbled, tripping over her feet.
I took the opportunity to throw myself on top of her, bringing her to the floor.
She shoved at my thighs, bracing her waist, and I slapped her hard enough for her to stop struggling.
“What did you inject them with?” I spat, bunching the front of her shirt to tug her up to my face.
“Anesthesia.” She could barely move her jaw, so it was half garbled. I’d messed her face up, but seeing her all beat up didn’t soothe the anger. It only fueled it. I grabbed the pillow she’d tried to suffocate me with and smashed it over her face, pinning my weight on it.
She flailed against me and tried to push. Her nails raked the top of my arms, but the sting wasn’t enough to stop me.
I gritted my teeth, pushing even harder. She was a fucking annoyance from the start, and she couldn’t continue to be around, not with this stunt. I shook my head to push away the fogginess. Demi finally stopped thrashing, but I didn’t climb off her.
She had to die after this. She had to.
A soft snore from behind wrenched me out of the murderous thoughts. I let go of the pillow, sitting up with a gasp. Demi didn’t move.
My hand shook as I reached for it and nudged it until it plopped to the side. She didn’t move. I pressed my finger under her nose—nothing. So I pressed my fingertips to her pulse.
I’d finally done what I’d been accused of from the start—killed an Omega. I shoved off and stumbled back. Panic made my movements jerky.
Now I could add Omega Killer to my record.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
I turned to look at Elias and Kyan. Kyan let out another snore . . . but Elias? His eyes were open the slightest bit, but he still hadn’t moved.
Would they think I’d lost it?
After all they’d suffered at the hands of Jennifer, after everything they’d been through, would they resent me for this?
I lifted a shaking hand, staring at the crimson adorning my hands and back to the still body. She’d left a few scratches along the top of my arms, and they had started bleeding. My knuckles also had cuts from how hard I’d punched her.
I turned back to Elias.
“Get this off me,” he mumbled, slurring his words as he twitched his hands. I licked my lips and turned back to Demi without acknowledging him. I had to get rid of the body.
My hands started shaking from the lowered adrenaline. Falling apart right now wouldn’t do me any favors.
Numb, I staggered from the bedroom. Sinclair lay on the hallway floor. Gasping, I ran to him, pushing his big, heavy body until he was flat on his back. His ankles were cuffed and wrists duct-taped, too.
But he was alive.
Relieved, I exhaled.
So she was only trying to kill me. I let my head dangle. Getting it together was a priority because I had to clean up my mess. Once the guys woke up, we could talk about the next steps.
I stood and swiped my bloody hands on my shorts and took the stairs down to the first floor. The smell of gas reached my nose and grew stronger the closer I got to the kitchen. All the knobs were turned on with no flame in sight. Fucking bitch.
Any guilt I’d felt evaporated. I rushed forward and turned them all off. The hiss of the gas tapered off. I ran to open the windows and doors, and the freezing air wafted inside.
With the flurry of the blizzard, the smell of gas quickly faded. There was a small shed behind the house. I could drag her body out there, but I had to wrap her in something to make moving her body easier.
A blanket would work, and then I could wrap the duct tape around her. I scanned some more and zeroed in on the tablecloth made of half cloth, half plastic.
I yanked it off the table, hugged it to my chest, and climbed back upstairs. I avoided Elias’ gaze, and with a bit of navigating, I spread it out enough to roll her onto it.
“I’ll do it,” Elias slurred, his head dropping onto Kyan’s. I ignored him, worried about how he’d look at me. Had he been watching me snuff the life out of her?
I rolled Demi into the fabric, grabbed the tape, and wrapped it around her ankles until it was snug tight. She lay in a still bundle.
“Briarrrrr,” Elias slurred.
His voice ripped me out of my daze, and I grabbed her ankles, dragging her out of the room with more effort than I had anticipated.
As small as she was, she was heavy. I pulled again, past a snoring Sinclair, to the top of the stairs.
I pursed my lips and went to the other side of her body and nudged it down.
It tumbled to the ground. The tape kept her tightly bundled inside the wrap.
Once downstairs and across the hall, I dragged her past the kitchen to the back door. My bare feet sank into the ice, but I dragged her until she was to the side of the house. I couldn’t stay out here to get her to the shack without risking frostbite.
I entered the cabin and closed the door behind me, figuring it had been enough time for air to billow into the house. For extra precaution, I checked the stove again, then padded across the cabin, closing the windows and the front door.
Hesitating at the bottom of the stairs, I lifted my numb hands.
I’ve killed someone. My breathing hiked up. I’d murdered Demi with my bare fucking hands.
“What the bloody—” Sinclair groaned, wrenching me to the present. “Briar!” he roared. “Elias, where the fuck is Briar!”
Sinclair flopped onto his back, hoisting himself upright just as I got into his view.
He stopped moving.
“Briar.” The relief in his voice was palpable. His focus snagged on my bleeding arms. I crouched in front of him and slid my fingers over the duct tape, trying to find the edge.
“Your arms.” He hissed out a breath. “That cunt Demi.”
I found the edge and tugged it.
“Where is she?” Anger flashed across his face.
I opened my mouth and closed it.
“Briar? What did she do to you? Where are Elias and Kyan?”
“They’re okay. Demi is outside the cabin.” I swallowed without elaborating. I finally got the tape to the end, but some of it was still wound around his arm.
“Briar,” Kyan shouted, his voice groggy. I let go of Sinclair, and he finished pulling the tape off.
“Go.” He jerked his chin in their direction.
I stood and shuffled to the bedroom. Kyan slumped against Elias’ side.
Elias cut off whatever he was saying.
I knelt beside Kyan and undid the tape and then worked on Elias, whose focus hadn’t wavered. He’d seen me lose it on Demi.
My face heated under his attention, and it made me twitchy.
Sensation was beginning to prickle my feet, and I shivered.
“Briar.” Elias’ voice was gentle, his tone so soft it made me want to hunker into my skin. “Are you—”
I stood up so quickly I made myself dizzy. “I’m going to shower.” I shuffled away, panic squeezing my throat. He would tell them what I’d done. Would they look at me differently?
I swallowed with effort.
It wouldn’t matter, right?
But, God, it did. It mattered to me whether they still wanted me, and with what I’d done, I didn’t know how they’d react.
Sinclair was mid-shuffle, holding onto the wall to get inside, his ankles still cuffed.
“I can pick the lock, I just need something sharp.”
“I’m going to shower,” I blurted and ran past them, locking the door behind me. I yanked on the water. Hopefully, the spray would drown out my vomiting. I bent over the toilet, and bile dripped. When I gagged again, nothing came out.
Once I spat, I straightened and flushed the toilet, shucking off all my clothes and climbing under the hot water.
My hand shook as I squirted soap into my palm.
It wouldn’t be enough. I lifted the bottle and squirted it on my head.
Then I set into rubbing every inch of my body with hard swipes.
Suds mingled with a pink tint, and I closed my eyes, scrubbing under the water.
Only when the pink was gone did I stop rubbing my raw skin.
“Are you okay?” Elias’ soft voice echoed through the door.
“Yeah, almost done,” I shouted back. If I didn’t finish up, they’d all be in here. I shut the shower off and wrapped my hair and then my body in towels.
I stepped out from the bathroom, and they all straightened, approaching me with anxious expressions.
I held up my hand to stop them, and amazingly, they slowed.
“I . . .” I couldn’t continue; the words stuck in my throat. “I killed her.” I licked my lips. “I could have stopped. Or tied her up or something.” I kept shaking my head. “I killed an Omega.”
“Briar,” Elias murmured.
I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle the dry sob. Elias exhaled, and I was in his arms before I could blink.
“You’re okay, Briar.” He rubbed my back. He was so warm. I clasped onto him, clinging.
“You were so brave, baby,” Kyan murmured, his hand cupping the side of my face.
Their acceptance caused a visceral relief that weakened my knees. Elias held me tighter, rubbing my back. I gasped against his chest, overwhelmed, but no tears came.
“I’ll be back,” Sinclair whispered and kissed the top of my head.
“Where are you going?” I hated the uncertainty in my tone.
His smile widened.
“To get rid of the—” I tensed, and his mouth pursed. He leaned down to kiss me on the lips. “Don’t worry, my sweets, no one will find a bone.” He winked and trailed away.
Kyan shook his head at Sinclair’s retreating back.
Meanwhile, I gawked. “We’re not calling the authorities?”
Kyan squeezed my hand, and Elias tilted my chin up.
“Want some hot chocolate?” he asked. Without waiting for my answer, he lifted me into his arms. I gasped, finding myself cradled against his chest. He strode down the stairs, easily carrying me.
“Some hot chocolate sounds nice.”
He smiled, a glint in his gaze.