Page 129 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

“Figuredwhatout?”

“This,” Ace said, gesturing to where Thistle was settling in beside the body like it was another plushie, humming to herself, “is how she nests.”

I stared at her, feeling her through the bond. She was a harmonious buzz of static as she clambered onto her knees and staggered to her feet.

Ah—damn. Ace, the fucking prick, was completely right.

“Woo-wee.” She sighed, just loud enough for the cameras to pick it up. “That was a lot of work, Bunny.” She peered around the room, which had a few doors along the walls. “Now, where did we come from?”

Her eyes fell at last on the one they’d entered through.

I noticed one of the guards who’d flipped on Bella for Ace unlatched the lock.

Thistle hurried up to it and tried the handle. When it opened a crack, she shut it again, frowning and glancing back at the body.

Patting her dress down a little, she clasped her fingers together.

“Hmm…”

She tried to wipe her hands on her arms, but just smeared more blood around for the effort. Finally, chewing on her lip, she turned back to the door and, very slowly, turned the handle.

Of course, she didn’t know we’d all been watching.

She ducked down and slipped through the door, careening right into the guard waiting for her on the other side.

“Hi.” Her voice cracked as she half straightened, glancing down at his gun, which was lowered. “I’m just, uh… gotta get back to my Alphas.” Anxiously, she smeared another layer of blood around her arms before taking a wobbly step back. At last, she turned to face the room—filled with her own Alphas, the stunned onlookers, and the many security guards with guns pointed at Bella and her remaining pack.

I watched as her gaze roamed to Bella—pale now, with a gun jammed into her neck, seated at our side—to me, then to Knox, who still clutched the back of his chair to stay upright; and finally to Ace.

As if the sight of him freed her lungs, she stumbled forward, darting her gaze about once more—a little uncertainty upon her features—her footsteps faster and faster the closer she got to him.

To my surprise, he reacted like a human being for the first time in… well, ever.

He got to his feet as she reached him, catching her as she all but threw herself into his arms. Then her bloodied neck was in his fist, and he was kissing her with more passion than I thought Ace Maverick capable of.

When he drew back at last, cheeks smeared with crimson, Thistle had transformed. All her nerves were gone and her eyes shone. “They tried to take me away from you,” she whispered, breathless. “Couldn’t have that, could we, Bunny?”

Her gaze flickered for a moment between Ace’s piercing ice-blue irises and the limp plushie he’d left on his chair. I caught a spike of his irritation in the bond, and his fist became tighter as her attention drifted—pulling it back to him like a magnet.

“No.” Before the entire party of keen onlookers—and for the first time I’d witnessed—Ace responded to the title she’d given him. “We certainly couldn’t.”

Thistle turned to me, eyes wide as she unstuck herself from Ace. “You okay?”

“’Course, Kitten,” I said, mussing her hair, and she grinned—wrapping her arms around me and adding to the blood on my shirt with a great big Omega print of crimson. The gunshot I’d received seemed to be just a graze, the pressure from my hand was doing a decent enough job at containing the bleeding.

“What a show,” Ace said, returning to his seat.

Thistle went to grab Bunny before sitting, but noticed the smears of blood on her wrists. She frowned, looking around, before darting over to Bella, and wiping her arms off on her red dress. Bella remained stock still, head craned away from the gun pressed to her flesh, as Thistle ruined her attire.

“I think you should know,” Thistle said as she sank back down onto Ace’s lap and finally plucked Bunny from his seat, “your Alpha wet himself… that’s, uh, pretty embarrassing. Just sayin’.”

Bella stared at her, face sickly pale, unable to find a reply for the Omega still all but swimming in her dead Alpha’s blood. “You have your revenge,” she hissed.

Ace cocked his head. “Do we?” He looked from Thistle, to me, to Knox.

Bella cleared her throat, shrinking back into the seat, looking at Knox quickly. “Take him.”

“Can we take him, Omega?” Ace peered down at Thistle.