Page 13 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

Had to.

Not that I’d usually lose sleep at Ace Maverick’s death, but choosing Thistle meant sharing her with two of the world’s greatest pricks, and that was fucking that.

I returned with a T-shirt to find Thistle standing exactly where I had left her, hugging the towel to her chest, her eyes vacant. She was shivering, her cheeks pink.

I lifted her, setting her gently down on the vanity, cupping her cheek. I was relieved when her violet eyes focused on me.

“Are you stable?” I asked.

I still wasn’t sure what she’d been given. Whatever it was had triggered her heat in minutes.

“I… I don’t know. It’s not like other heats. Bunny settled it for now…” She frowned, and I saw a flash of fear in her eyes as she glanced up at me. “I’m…” Her voice was weak. “I am really… really glad you bit me,” she whispered. “I p-promise. I’m gonna be happy soon.” She swallowed. “And, uh… I think this heat is gonna be normal soon, too, and then we can?—”

“Kitten.” I cut her off. “Stop worrying about me. You just went through hell.”

She frowned, but I didn’t feel trust down the bond from her. Instead, she seemed more panicked.

I picked up the T-shirt I’d brought in. It was far too big for her, but it calmed my nerves to tug it over her head, enveloping her in my scent.

“I will be just fine no matter what you need,” I told her.

“You… promise?”

“I promise,” I told her. “I just want you to tell me what you need.”

Her lip trembled, and she broke. Her teeth clenched, lips drawn, chin quivering as tears flooded her face, and her fingers fumbled for my chest.

I lifted her into my arms, and she clung to me. “He’s… he’s gone.”

I paused, drawing back, but she curled against me harder.

“I wasn’t… wasn’t enough, and now he’s…” She choked on her own breath, a hiccup shaking her tiny frame. “…He’s gone.”

“Shhh, come here.” I stood, knowing I should tell her now. But the fact I’d just dragged Knox Wilde back from the brink of death so that my scent match could claim him was still a truth that refused to settle into something quite as rational as words. So instead, I numbly walked us out to the bed and sat down.

She was curled up against me so tight it was as if she never wanted to surface again.

“Kitten,” I murmured, tucking my finger between us, trying to lift her chin. She tried to dig in deeper. “Look.” The quiet word held the weight of my bark, and her breath caught as I was finally able to nudge her chin up.

She went still as a statue, and her eyes were wide as she stared at Knox, lips parted in shock.

“You didn’t think I would let her take what’s yours, did you?”

Itwasthe reason, I realised. The only thing on my mind as I’d dragged him from Bella’s clutches.

Not even the damn device in my neck set to blow. It hadn’t been in my periphery when I’d intervened, and somehow, that was more unnerving than anything else.

Thistle changed everything.

Her breath caught. There was a choked sound in her chest as she reached out toward him. Her fingers gripped his shirt as if she wasn’t sure he was real. When she found tangible fabric, she broke. Her expression crumpled, another choked sob seizing her body as she scrambled toward him.

“He’s recovering,” I said. “But he… should be alright.”

Well.Physically, he seemed stable.

But I’d just watched him walk into his worst nightmare to protect her.

Her thumb stroked his cheek, carving a divide through the blood flecking his tanned skin. Another ragged breath, and another wave of tears flooded her cheeks as she sank against him, pressing her forehead to his.