Chapter Fourteen #2
“Do you know what an omega’s heart sounds like when she’s panicking?” I asked, tapping my temple. “It’s sharp. Erratic. Like something dying. I heard it almost every night for a month. When she thought she was back in your fucking basement.”
Their eyes went wide. Good. I wanted them to understand. To know.
“She’s mine now,” I whispered, my grin sharpening as I pulled a blood-soaked knife from the thigh of the one trying to crawl.
“And I promised her I’d bring her your hearts.
” I tilted my head. “I don’t break promises to my omega,” I say as I look around.
Cheering when I find a bookbag. Dumping it on the ground to empty it, I tease, “Not the best gift wrap I could have, but I’m sure she won't mind. Do you?”
One screamed when I lunged. Only one. The one who still had teeth.
The blade bit deep. Flesh split open. Bone crunched.
I carved with precision, not rage, but surgical, methodical.
Humming “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen under my breath as I worked.
The first heart went into the bag with a wet thunk.
The second made a squelch that reminded me of overripe fruit.
The third... oh, the third tried to fight. I respected that. I gutted him slowly.
When it was done, I stood and wiped my hands on the inside of the dead man’s shirt before slinging the bookbag over my shoulder like I’d just picked up lunch.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” I said with a cheerful salute. “She’s gonna love these.”
I turned and strolled out of the room, whistling a jaunty little tune that echoed through the blood-stained corridor. The scent of death clung to me like cologne. I wasn’t in a hurry. I was savoring this.
Rounding the corner, I almost ran into Voss leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting for me.
Bodies littered the hallway behind him, throats slashed, eyes glassy.
We stared at each other for a beat.
“You do all that?” I asked, jerking my chin toward the carnage.
“Nope,” he replied, not even looking. “The girls are playing ‘hide and murder.’ Three minutes before the others find them.”
I barked a laugh. “Gods, I love them.”
He finally turned to look at me, and then looked at the dripping bag over my shoulder. “Is that—?”
“Their hearts,” I confirmed, patting the bag affectionately. “Gonna give them to my omega. She deserves something pretty.”
Voss stared at me before giving me a feral grin.
“Come on,” I said brightly, sauntering past him. “We’ve got a game to catch. I want to see the look on Micha’s face when he realizes they’ve been playing with us this whole time.”
And just like that, we were moving again, two wolves in tailored clothes, chasing the scent of blood and laughter down a hallway paved in vengeance.
War never looked so fun.
Ravik
October 28th
3:43 A.M
We moved like shadows through the corridor—me, Jex, and Romano—methodical, weapons drawn, every sense stretched tight.
The hall was dim, streaked with blood and boot scuffs that told the story of a goddamn massacre.
My heart was in my throat, and fury was coiled so tight in my chest I could barely breathe. They’d taken our omegas. Again.
Romano was the one who saw it first. “You’re gonna want to look up,” he muttered, nodding toward the far end of the hallway.
I did.
And froze.
There they were, Fallon, Violet, and Odette, standing over the slumped body of a guard they’d just taken down. Fallon had a knife dripping red, Violet swung a nightstick with precision, and Odette… gods, my omega was holding a bloodied combat knife like she’d always belonged on a battlefield.
They were breathing hard. Laughing.
I barely had time to process it when footsteps thundered in from the other direction. Micha, Fox, and Jace rounded the opposite end of the corridor, just in time to see the exact same scene.
Micha’s voice echoed like a gunshot. “What the fuck are you doing?!”
Odette looked up, flushed and wild-eyed, her mouth stretched into a bright grin that knocked the wind out of me. “Busted!” she called, completely unrepentant.
Fallon doubled over in a fit of laughter while Violet twirled the bloodied nightstick with a wink.
Jex just blinked. “Well… that explains the trail of corpses.”
Romano dragged a hand down his face. “We really need to stop underestimating them.”
I was already moving, stepping over the guard’s body, trying not to laugh even as the tension drained out of me in one sharp exhale.
Odette looked up at me as I reached her, her cheeks still flushed from the fight.
There was blood spattered across her neck and down the front of her shirt.
I pull her into my arms, leaning down and taking her mouth like a man starving. Thank the gods we found her.
“You alright?” I asked, my voice low.
She smirked. “Better now. He tried to touch me.”
I looked down at the body. Then back at her. “He’s lucky that’s all you did.”
“She also kicked him in the balls,” Violet chimed in, stretching lazily.
Fallon glanced around, then back to the boys. “So... are we grounded?”
Fox crossed his arms. “You’re lucky we don’t lock you three up ourselves.”
Voss and Haze strolled up behind us then, as casual as if the hall wasn’t covered in gore. Haze was still whistling, a suspicious backpack slung over one shoulder.
“What did we miss?” Haze asked innocently.
The girls lost it again, laughing hard enough that tears started streaming down their faces.
Salem
October 28th
4:14 A.M
Malik stumbled backward, his shoulder blades hitting the concrete wall with an echoing thud.
His eyes darted between the three of us, wide and frantic, slick with desperation.
The bitter tang of fear radiated off him, thickening the air around us.
He looked exactly like what he was—a coward who’d run out of room to hide.
Kingston advanced first, moving with chilling deliberation.
His expression was carefully blank, the kind of calm you only saw before something very bloody happened.
Beside him, Dare flexed his knuckles slowly, deliberately, the sound sharp and threatening in the quiet room.
Malik flinched at each pop, eyes flickering desperately between Dare and the cold, unforgiving stare of Kingston Rosetti.
I stood centered between them, arms crossed, my face devoid of any warmth or sympathy. Malik’s gaze landed on me briefly, pleading, but I let him see nothing but quiet judgment. He wasn’t worth the mercy he so desperately craved.
“Start talking,” Kingston said, his voice low and deadly. Each word was precise, cold steel beneath velvet. “Who else is left, Malik?”
“I-I don’t—” Malik began, stammering weakly, “I swear, I have no idea what you—”
His words cut off with a strangled choke as Dare lunged forward, seizing him by the collar and slamming him back hard against the wall.
Dust rattled loose from above, drifting lazily through the air as Dare leaned in, one thick forearm pressed hard against Malik’s throat.
Malik clawed uselessly at the muscled arm, crushing his windpipe, his feet barely brushing the ground.
“Wrong answer,” I said softly, stepping closer, keeping my voice steady and controlled. “Try again.”
Malik’s eyes bugged out slightly, red-rimmed, panicked. He struggled to draw breath, frantically tapping Dare’s arm as he sputtered, “Please—please! Okay, okay, I’ll tell you whatever you want, just don’t—don’t kill me!”
Dare eased the pressure just enough to let Malik breathe, though his grip remained unyielding. Malik gasped, chest heaving, desperation pouring from him in ragged breaths.
“There’s—there’s a list!” Malik croaked hoarsely. “All the buyers, the regular customers—the investors! I kept it, okay? It’s encrypted, but it’s real, I swear! Just let me down, I’ll give it to you. Please!”
Kingston stared impassively, unflinching and unimpressed. “You’re stalling. Stop wasting our fucking time.”
Malik’s breathing quickened even more. He twisted wildly in Dare’s grip, trembling hands raised defensively. “That’s it, I swear! You already took out everyone else! You wiped Mercury Holdings off the map. All the fight rings, the suppliers—they’re gone. I’m all that’s left, I promise!”
Silence pressed heavy between us for a second, louder than Malik’s ragged breathing, heavier than his panicked whimpers. I stepped forward, narrowing my eyes skeptically. “You really expect us to believe we dismantled an entire fucking network in one week?”
Malik shook his head wildly, eyes bulging.
“No! No, it wasn’t you completely. It was your omegas.
They…” he shuddered visibly, fear flickering behind his eyes, “they tore through half the facility before you even arrived. Buyers, guards, patrons. No one was left untouched. Fucking monsters—your omegas are insane! They left nothing but bodies behind.”
Dare chuckled darkly, leaning in closer. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Kingston didn’t smile, but a faint, cold satisfaction flashed through his eyes. “Give us the list. Now.”
Malik scrambled immediately, hands shaking violently as he fumbled inside his jacket.
He nearly dropped the small USB drive onto the grimy floor before Dare snatched it from his grasp and handed it to me.
I turned it slowly between my fingers, studying Malik’s face.
He was pale, trembling, and utterly defeated.
Well, damn. The bastard was actually telling the truth.
My gaze flicked back to Malik, whose chest was rising and falling in rapid, terrified gasps. His pulse fluttered visibly at his throat, and the faint acrid stench of sweat and urine filled the small room.
I tilted my head slightly, regarding him with calm detachment. “Any last words, Malik?”
His eyes widened further, a wild plea filling them. “Please—please, I gave you everything you wanted. The list! You have it. There’s nothing left, I swear!”
I tucked the USB safely into my pocket, casually lifting my gaze back to his. “Oh, you misunderstand. You gave us the paperwork.” I leaned in slightly, my voice dropping dangerously low. “But you haven’t given us satisfaction.”
Kingston stepped forward slowly, a deadly promise in every carefully measured step.
Dare’s grip tightened until Malik was choking again, his face turning an alarming shade of red.
Panic clawed at Malik’s eyes, desperation pouring from him in waves as he realized there would be no escape. No forgiveness.
I watched, feeling nothing but quiet, cold certainty. This man, and all those like him, had broken something sacred. He’d stolen freedom, hope, and dignity. He deserved every ounce of terror he felt now—and more.
“Wait!” Malik wheezed, voice choked and desperate, clawing weakly at Dare’s grip. “Please don’t do this—”
I merely raised an eyebrow at him, calm and detached. “Begging suits you, Malik. But it won’t help. You should have thought about mercy when those omegas begged for theirs.”
His frantic pleading echoed off the bare walls, drowned quickly beneath Dare’s low growl and Kingston’s cold, measured breathing.
In the end, it wasn’t about vengeance. It was about justice and ensuring he would never harm anyone again.
Malik deserved far worse. But tonight, this would have to be enough.