14. Graeme #3
The scent was of graveyard roses left out to rot after a squall. It was Linden, Avery’s friend, but instead of his smell being vibrant and alluring, it was fading, and I suspected, so was he. I had to reach him because, more likely than not, he was with my mate.
There was no way to get down the steep basement stairs without being seen unless I could stay in the shadows and leap from the small landing rather than take the last flight to the bottom.
Stripping fast, I left my shoes and clothes in a mound, shifted to my wolf, which was not small, and crept down the stairs, then shot off the landing.
It was far too cluttered to make no noise at all.
“The hell was that?” a woman asked.
I heard a man answer, “It’s probably rats,” and I moved quickly, so when he charged over near where I was, kicking things out of the way, I slipped around the other side, camouflaged in the shadows, and stepped under the stairs, staring out into the room.
I saw him instantly.
Avery was sitting on the end of a faded floral-print couch.
There was dried blood on his face, and his arms were restrained behind his back, probably with the same rope that was around his ankles.
On the opposite end of the couch was Wade, who was restrained the same way, except he was unconscious.
Peck and Ness were on a large rug in front of the couch, not tied up but knocked out as well.
Pacing in front of the rug was Bridget; sitting in an armchair holding a gun was her sister Saoirse; and on the floor, bleeding, was Linden.
He looked like he’d been beaten repeatedly, his right eye swollen shut, and there were bones broken in his once beautiful face.
I suspected that his whimpering was not from the pain alone, but over Lucas Grant, who was lying beside him in a pool of blood.
A man walked by the stairs, over to Linden, and kicked him hard in the chest, which sent him rolling into a puddle of Lucas’s blood.
“Shut the fuck up,” he yelled, crouching beside Linden, grabbing hold of his rose-gold mane and lifting his head so their gazes met. “If you don’t want to be chained in my punishment room instead of sleeping in my bed every night, you better figure out where your loyalties lie.”
He shoved Linden’s face back down into the blood, rubbing it there until he was coated in gore.
“For fuck’s sake, Daw,” Bridget yelled at him, “leave him alone. What kind of a bonding do you ever hope to have if you terrorize him right now?”
“How dare you speak to me like that,” he chided her. “He’s a possession, mine to do with as I like, fuck when I want, beat when I want, share when I want, just as you’ll be when Gansey signs your contract, you stupid sow.”
“And you’re certain he’s going to see my father tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “Even after everything, it’s still all you care about. I swear to God, is there anything as useless and pathetic as an omega.”
“Why kill Trent and Imogen?” Avery asked, and both Daw and Bridget turned to him. “And why kill Colby?”
“I killed Colby because he was outbidding me for Lin’s contract,” Daw explained to him.
“I followed him, used a gun so it wouldn’t look like it had anything to do with wolves, but imagine my surprise when I walked to Colby’s car and found Imogen Lowell and the omega I’ve wanted since I first saw him at the gathering party at Gansey Runyon’s home. ”
Avery turned to look over at Linden. “You and Colby went to Remy Talmadge’s place to pick up Imogen. Why?”
“She was a family friend,” Linden replied softly. Clearly it hurt him to speak. “Her family—her father—is nearly bankrupt. She needed a match now, this year, to keep her family in their home and off the streets. She has two little sisters, both omegas.”
“But this whore was there too,” Bridget shrieked at Saoirse, walking over to her and backhanding her hard.
Saoirse absorbed the blow, made no sound, didn’t speak a word, and then turned her head as though nothing had occurred. It was only then I noticed how dead her eyes were, how broken she appeared, and wondered who, precisely, had shot Lucas Grant.
“You killed Highmore,” Avery accused Bridget. “You killed him because you thought he was Talmadge, and you didn’t want him putting any more omegas into les fausses chaleurs . Why? This is what I don’t get. You’re ten times more beautiful and elegant and smart and funny and––”
“I’m getting old, Avery!” she yelled at him.
“I’m thirty years old. All the alphas my age are looking for new and fresh, and the young alphas all think I’m the same age as their mothers!
The only alphas interested in me are ones the same age as my father, who already have their own children, who want nothing more than a companion they can fuck when they feel like it. ”
“You could’ve come to me and––”
“And what? You would have helped me find a job ?” Her voice dripped with derision, and her eyes were hard and cold as she glared at him. “Jesus Christ, Avery, just because you never wanted the life that Lin and I did doesn’t mean you get to look down on us.”
“I never looked––”
“And the irony of all this is that you, who is the least deserving of all of us to bond with a cyne , is the one he wants,” she announced with a laugh that held no humor.
“Could life be any less fair? I mean, he’s gay, so I had no chance, but to want you over Lin?
That’s astounding; it’s insane . I can’t even fathom such thing. ”
“Stop talking,” Daw snarled at her as Wade opened his eyes, looking around wildly. “We need to kill them all and dump their––”
“It’s his fault,” Saoirse shrieked, and I was moving even before she stood and pointed the gun at Avery.
Wade screamed behind the tape over his mouth, and I saw, peripherally, Daw raise his hand. If he had a gun, I’d be dead, but I had to reach Avery.
“Saoirse!” Bridget cried as her little sister put three bullets in my mate.