Page 134 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

Stupid.Stupid.

I’d worried about looking bad beside Ace—rethinking my boots. I loved them, but maybe they didn’t fit the outfit. He was still holding me. Nothing had waned in his claim, but what if I couldn’t live up to it?

I choked on a sob, staring at the open knife wounds across Bambi’s chest as Rogue peeled back the fabric. I pictured the blade in Bella’s fist, dragging it across her flesh—while I was worried about my boots?

I’ddone this.

My claim—that red mark—it meant something.

I could barely breathe.

“I’m sorry…” I choked.

For a flash, I felt Dan’s eyes on me as he’d entered my room—back when I lived in a time of nightmares. He’d caught me with a pencil and scrap of paper, and I’d known he was going to hurt me. Back then, monsters had circled me.

But I’d never made them angry at someone else…

Just a mark. A crimson heart. A moment of instinct, and nothing else. A tiny dust devil of a dream, like a friend in a different universe sweeping me off my feet.

And she’d paid for how stupid we… I… was.

THIRTY-SIX

KNOX

The limo around me lurched, the world fading and hard to pin in place. It felt like a pillar had been ripped out, and the bond I was trapped in burned with the loss of an Alpha as central as Banner.

Still there. Still chaining me, but agonising.

I’d believed when Ace got to his feet before Bella and made to exit the party that leaving her alive was a slight against me. Something to hold over my head for whatever stupid fucking plans he had next.

But I’d been wrong.

The reason was harder to reckon with as I watched.

The Omega had been dumped at the front of our limo like garbage. A bargain from Ace in exchange for Bella’s life.

She should have passed out by now from the amount of blood she’d lost. She had to be in shock, and she was still clinging to Thistle, even as her skin drained of colour.

I glanced at Rogue. He’d been shot, but he seemed stable. It was hard to tell with him, since he easily forgot his own injuries.Right now, he was cutting his shirt into strips with a knife and shoving them towards me.

Right… I think he’d said something. The urgency in his voice still echoed in my mind. It was hard to focus, but I had to.

So many wounds…

“Fucking coward.” I didn’t realise I’d said the words aloud.

These wounds were anger forme—for Thistle. And Bella had vanished from her own party so she could take it out on a defenceless Omega Thistle had left a claim on.

It was overwhelming, staring at the wounds again and again, trying to figure out what the fuck we were supposed to do. We couldn’t deal with all of them. I wasn’t squeamish around blood—never had been, but the Omega’s fear saturated the space, and with the bleeding wound in my bond…

“Daddy.” Thistle’s violet eyes dragged me down to earth. My chest tightened, instincts overriding disorientation as she held onto this Omega.

“It’s… it’s my fault.”

That agony in her voice, I knew that pain, right down to my very soul.

“No, Doll.” I took a breath, picking up the strips of cloth Rogue had given me. I needed to focus.