16. Can’t Let Go
Can’t Let Go
Evangeline
Lila is without a doubt the best driver ever. Not only did we tail Alpha Cassius successfully, but she figured out that he was tailing someone else. Also, she has snacks.
She parked up a dirt path, close enough that we could see both my mark and his (though I’m pretty sure this is not a legal place to stop). But he didn’t spot us, so that’s a win.
I watch him watch the house, and even from here I know he’s seething with anger. My focus should be on him. That’s what I’m here for. But the sight of that Alpha sent a shiver down my spine, the one that tells me he’s evil.
Red spills down his neck, pouring too quickly to stop, but slow enough that he can feel his death coming. His head drags back, the weight too great to keep up. He thuds to the floor, a lifeless pile of flesh. The child would be safe. I would be safe.
Something salty coats my tongue, and I blink back into reality.
“Good right? Homemade pretzel bites. I always need something salty after something sweet.”
Slowly I chew the soft bread and nod.
Lila points with the end of her liquorish stick out the window towards the house. “Did you get a bad vibe from that Alpha?”
“I don’t trust him,” she sharply tuts.
A sickness settles in the pit of my stomach and it has nothing to do we the tonne of junk food I stuffed in my mouth.
“Yeah. Neither do I.”
I know this feeling. It won’t go away until he’s dead.
Lila smacks my arm. “Look! Your Alpha is on the phone. He looks ready to leave. We should get closer and listen.”
We slide from the car, keeping to the dirt path, and make our way closer. The mud causes my feet to slip, and I grab hold of Lila. Arm in arm, clutching each other, we finally hear him.
“Fuck. He could be hurting them right now, and I’m just sitting here.”
Lila gasps, then throws her free hand over her mouth. We share a look. We were right.
He moves back and forth between getting ready to leave and refusing to move.
The rain pelts down around us, soaking me to my bones, but it’s the thought of a violent Alpha so close to me that makes me shiver.
“Yeah,” he grunts. “I’m here.”
He stares off at the house, shaking his head, hoping to change the decision he’s made.
Eventually he leaves.
It should deter me. Knowing that an Alpha won’t take him on, that something is stopping him. But evidently, I’m broken because inside my brain all my thoughts come to the same conclusion. Him watching me kill an Alpha would be hot.
“We’re not going to leave, right?” Lila says through clenched teeth.
I don’t know how to navigate this. Do I tell my brand new friend to leave it to me and I’ll take care of it? Do I tell her exactly what I have planned for him? Or do I pretend to be normal and let the scumbag live?
“We could crash the car into the gate.”
“But then what would we do…”
“I could pretend he called for a taxi, refuse to leave and then we could hit him with my car.”
I stare.
Nothing could have prepared me for this.
The first friend I make, and she’s equally twisted.
My silence makes Lila gasp and cover her mouth with both hands, one over the other.
“—weird—sorry, forget—”
My arms ache from the cold and rain drips off my skin, but I don’t give a single fuck and pull her into a hug.
“Lila. I have a plan. I’ve done this before, can you be my backup?”
My hair is plastered to my face and neck.
My usual pale skin is sickly red and blotchy where the cold has turned to pain.
I rip the front of my shirt. Buttons pop off, tearing holes in the fabric.
I grab onto Lila and balance on one foot, pulling off my shoe.
My socked foot lands in the cold, squelchy mud, and I hand her my shoe.
“What are you doing?” She whispers in awe.
“I’m going in there.”
I’ve waited long enough, and even if Alpha Cassius clocks me in seconds, he would still arrive back too late.
“Are you going to kill him?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes,” she answers quickly, no hesitation, no thinking, but pure instinct.
“Then yes.”
She helps me hobble closer to the house. In hindsight, I could have lost my shoe a lot later.
“What do you need me to do?”
“When the kid comes out, get them somewhere safe. I don’t want them around for this. It’s not something a kid ever needs to see.”
“You got it! But I’m coming back for you.” She jabs a finger into my shoulder.
“Of course. You’re my getaway driver.”
I wait for Lila to be out of view, and with one bare foot, I jump up and down.
Heat rises on my cheeks, and I slam myself into the gate with a loud cry.
My cold, stiff fingers grab the metal bars, and I scream, pulling myself along, limping over to the intercom.
Frantically, I ring the bell, my breath puffing out of my lips.
A light flickers on in the house, and the sound of my screams only increase.
“Help!”
I don’t wait for them to speak.
“Please. Let me in. Help me!”
The buzzing drone changes, telling me they are listening to my pleas.
“I’m an Omega, please.”
That changes everything. With a groan, the gates slide at the same time the front door opens. A tired Omega peers out. Keeping up my ruse, I limp over. Her face is guarded, but the sight of my dishevelled appearance causes emotion to swell in her eyes.
I grab onto the front of her nightgown, wrapped tightly around her.
“I’m going to kill him,” I whisper, keeping my face hidden and my voice quiet. “Get the kid and go out the gate. On the dirt path down the left side of the house, my friend is waiting. Get in her taxi. She will get you somewhere safe.”
Her eyes are wild, and I can tell she doesn’t believe my words. I can’t wait for her to get with the program, so I scream.
“Help. I need an Alpha. Please, Alpha, help me.”
She runs, her bare feet slapping on the stone stairs. I can only hope they both get out before they have to see something neither of them wants.
Unnecessarily heavy footsteps echo through the ceiling. He sways and stumbles down the stairs, holding onto the banister to keep himself upright. He stinks of whiskey, cheap, sour, and acidic.
I cry out, running to him.
“Thank you. You saved me! I would be dead without you!”
He smiles, clearly pleased with himself, taking credit for something he doesn’t deserve without a second thought.
He’s uglier up close. I’m sure once he would have been classed as handsome, but now with his yellowing teeth, greasy hair and disturbingly beady eyes, I can’t imagine anyone letting him near them voluntarily.
With a sweaty hand that feels more damp than my rain soaked skin, he guides me through the hall to what I’m assuming will be an office or bedroom. I’m putting a bet on the office. He seems like the kind of unemployed loser who would still have an office.
“Letssss talk in my office,” he hisses, his words slurring under the weight of the alcohol.
Called it.
A sense of calm washes over me, the ache in my stomach leaves, and my limbs warm, forcing the shivers away. The door closes behind us and his hand reaches back, sliding the lock into place.
I grab his hand and snap his finger. It crunches under my touch, and each pop fills the deep black hole inside me. He grunts, the alcohol delaying the effects of the pain.
That won’t do at all.
I pull out my penknife and leap. I land on his front.
Wrapping my legs around his torso, I puncture his eye with the knife.
With one hand on the hilt, I push with the other.
It slides about halfway before I stop (as to not penetrate the brain) and yank it out.
The sound is sickening, but my body relaxes the more he screams.
He falls back, bringing me with him. I land on top of the whining, screaming pig of an Alpha. Taking the head start, I jump up and get in a couple of kicks to the balls.
Never stop fighting, Eva.
He tries to roll over his drunken body, completely focused on his current pain despite what is yet to come.
The room isn’t large, but it is clearly well taken care of, or infrequently used.
A fully stocked liquor bar is within reach, and I lean over, grabbing what looks like the most expensive bottle.
It’s not like he deserves it, anyway. The wax seal easily peels away as I twist off the top and pour it slowly over his face.
Blood mixes with the amber liquid, and he chokes, sputtering and wiping, but I keep going until the bottle runs empty.
I ignore his shouts of anger and step over his soon to be corpse. With a crack, I bring the bottle down on the edge of the desk, shattering the end. Glass sprays. The tiny shards are invisible in the liquid flooding the floor.
With the remaining larger shard in hand, I circle him. A sense of calm washes over me.
“Where next?” I mutter with a soft, euphoric smile on my face.
He covers his eye, cowers on his side, and curls his legs into his chest.
I plunge the glass into his side. He screams and blood bubbles from the wound. It rips through his flesh easily. His cries die down. I twist and leave it there, sticking out of him.
There are so many options.
With a flick of my penknife, I grab his unbroken hand and slice off a finger. Well… that was my intention, but bones are hard to cut through.
Ears, though. Ears don’t have bones.
Dropping down beside his wiggling body, I pinch his ear between my fingers and in one clean slice. I cut it off. It’s gross. All limp and useless, I throw it at him.
A buzz sounds off in the distance, followed by a clang of what I can only assume is someone getting through the gate.
Time to finish up.
I imagine what it must feel like for an open wound to be doused in alcohol, for splinters of glass nicking my skin as I try to escape, for my stomach to be butchered, my hands broken, and my ear cut off.
It’s not enough.
I lower myself. Count to ten and breathe. Slowly, in. Hold. Out. Hold.
Fear courses through me, trembling my bones.
Pain pinches at my skin, burning hot, yet so cold, and I push it out.
I stare, watching as it reaches him. He convulses with both physical and mental pain.
Time slows, and it’s almost as if I can see his heart giving out.
His eye catches mine, helpless, alone, afraid.
Perfect.
Taking one last look at the guy, I slide the knife into his carotid artery. Blood spills quickly from the wound and sprays me with the disgusting, sticky stuff.
I really need to find cleaner ways to do this. Alpha’s bodies are way too full of people juice.
I don’t wait for him to die. I watched the fight leave his eyes. He’s already dead.
I prop the window open, climb through and run.
Hopefully, the locked door will delay whoever is behind me. Here’s hoping there’s nothing tying me to this kill. I cannot sit through another lecture from the Council, or Auggie. And I really don’t want to lose my chances of mating my Alpha.
The further I run, the clearer my head gets.
As promised, Lila’s taxi is ready and waiting.
She practically pulls me in and takes off before saying a word. I must look a sight. I hope she hasn’t changed her mind when faced with the reality of what I’ve done.
“You. Are. Badass!”
So she hasn’t changed her mind.
“Did you get the woman and the kid out?”
She waves me off. “Yeah, and a bunch of others. They’re at a friend’s house, safe and sound.”
“Good.”
Adrenaline plummets inside me, and my eyes droop closed.
“Eva?” she whispers.
“Are you really an Omega?”
I force one eye open and smile.
“Yeah.”
“Wow… Eva?”
I hum in response, even my tongue feels too tired to talk.
“Let’s get you home, okay?”