Page 179 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

“What are you doing?” Rogue’s voice cut into the perfect, suspended silence.

I ignored him, watching Carrion. The masked Alpha paused for only a moment before waving a hand, and the guard handed me the weapon.

It was impossible not to consider turning it on Carrion right now, but I’d be shot dead in a heartbeat.

Instead, I gripped Knox by the hair and smashed the magazine into the side of his face. He sprawled across the marble, a growl in his throat.

I’d barely even flinched in his direction when Rogue moved, seizing me by the arm.

“No!”

I snarled. I didn’t havetime.

“Find somefuckingdecorum, Rogue,” I snarled, shoving him backward. He was huge, though, and his grip didn’t budge—the stupid oaf.

At my side, another of Carrion’s guards pressed his gun to Rogue’s neck.

“I won’t hesitate to put you in the morgue, Manzo,” Carrion said. “You need to learn not to interfere with my entertainment.”

Thistle came to my rescue, pulling from Carrion in a panic and throwing herself between me and Rogue.

That was what I needed.

I’d never felt this energised. Never had someone so entangled with me that we were one. A beating heart and mind.

She would be what I needed—and so, I realised, would Knox. Rogue lived up to his name, and yet, he offered me something in that, too—a shroud of believability.

I might be… whole.

“Kitten—!”

Thistle cut Rogue off. “I don’t want you to die, too.” There was genuine fear in her voice, which was warranted, since Carrion might truly put a bullet in his skull for interfering.

I moved before Rogue could get his bearings.

Knox was already weak, which meant he’d taken the right poison, and I didn’t have time to wonder how he knew which bead of Thistle’s bracelet did what.

Luckily, his disorientation could be passed off as from the blow I’d given him. He threw his weight toward me drunkenly, and I caught him with my fist, easily slamming him back to the ground.

I felt it, the press of something small and hard in my palm as I grappled with him. I grinned, a thrill I hadn’t thought I’d ever feel burning through my veins. This wasn’t just a game I’d created—hunter and prey. Me and them. This was different. Today I was gambling on playing in a team.

And Knox Wilde was, perhaps, a gift I hadn’twantedto see.

Or at least, I hoped for his sake, he was.

A gift she’d found for me…

And now… Well—he’d have to die for it.

He was beneath me, struggles fading as my fists constricted his throat. His eyes were wide, growls reverberating across the ballroom in which I’d once handed him his freedom.

Finally, his body lost energy, eyes bulging before he went limp beneath me.

“Fuck!”I was shoved out of the way by Rogue, who was on the ground beside us, having pushed past Thistle to Knox’s side.

As I got to my feet, I curled the small cluster of beads into my fist.

“How nice to know she can be… controlled,” Carrion murmured.