Page 178 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

The last shot we had.

“I want loyalty,” Carrion was saying. “One of your Alphas is going to show me that sacrifice,” he said, looking between Rogue and Ace. Behind us, boots shuffled upon marble, the weight of guns shifting in threat. My pulse hammered so hard it drowned the rest of the room.

“Which of you will do it?”

ACE

Knox had found a way out.

I didn’t feel fear easily. It wasn’t a bravery thing, it just didn’t happen for me like it did everyone else. The world was a cascade of calculations and games that often distracted me enough to think about endings.

But there had been a moment—brief as it was—when I saw Carrion seated on this armchair with Thistle, that I had stalled out.

He was real, and he held all the cards.

Ihadn’tseen him coming.

My intel hadn’t brought up a damned thing, and I would admit that I was wrong in wondering if he was real.

But today I had something I’d never had before—someone else was fighting for her. Knox was just as determined, and possibly,almostas reliable as I was.

“Ace…” Thistle’s voice stalled me for a moment.

I turned to her. “Shut up, Omega. You’ve been mine since the first time I dragged you out of that filthy bar.” My fingers made a gun that I pressed up beneath my chin before mimicking pulling the trigger.

Thistle paused, eyes intense as she stared at me.

She would figure it out—she was my soul match.

Now the heat bond was in place, I could revel in the memory of the most beautiful sight in the world.

“You’ll fix it for me, won’t you, Omega?”

At my request, she’d pressed my gun to her own chin—never knowing if it was loaded. And with the pull of a trigger, she claimed the throne of madness I thought was mine alone.

Perfect devotion.

Perfect insanity.

And at the time, I’d run from it.

That ask I’d made of her echoed across years, saturating everything down to the madness I felt every time I caught the scent of a fresh lightning storm.

I could feel her calm in the bond as if she understood, her belief in me absolute. That feeling clawed its way up my throat, a euphoria the likes of which I hadn’t felt since the day I’d met her. It was a high I’d been chasing all this time without even knowing. I’d asked for her faith, never expecting it for a moment, but she’d given it anyway. And now I could ask for it again.

I didn’t care about Carrion.

He was nothing.

This Omega, she was perfect.

And I saw it finally, fully, in its completion—a truth that had been staring me in the face since the first time I’d met her.

She was mine, and I would make sure the throne she sat on was as gilded as she deserved.

Beside me, Knox was on his knees, gun to the back of his head.

I held my hand out to the guard behind me.