Page 182 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

He fell back against the chair easily, and Thistle gripped his chin, forcing him to look at her. “And for the record,” she added, “you’re way too ugly to join.”

A faint growl rose in his chest, part rage, part panic, but then his eyes rolled back and he went limp.

What happened next was beyond my ability to understand.

Nothing made sense.

The first gunshot snapped me into high alert. The guard behind us dropped, the shot coming from the balcony above. I heard Ace shout something.

I think… Ithinkit was his security team.

They were supposed to be gone, but… well, we weren’t dead yet.

With the guns trained up to the balcony, and Thistle behind Ace, all I could think about was the Misfits.

I remembered the sleepless nights. The bags beneath his eyes. A flickering lighter in the art room, deep into psychosis he couldn’t even process. Even then—when I’d hated him, it had been hard to ignore the way he fought to free just one more from the Ring.

It was why I hadn’t been able to let Vance fight when Bella had come. It wasn’t love, or softness, it was reverence for a fight I could never comprehend, a drive and purpose I hadn’t glimpsed until her—and it was one I envied.

They were Knox’s legacy.

Thistle was with Ace, and nothing else mattered.

I made for the east wing, barrelling through the doors to the Misfits’ quarters to find Vance pointing his weapon at me from the open safe room door.

“Why the fuck aren’t you inside?” I demanded.

“Bambi wouldn’t come!” Vance snapped. “We couldn’t fucking leave her.”

“Then youmakeher come in.”

I turned, only to see Bambi pressed into a corner of the kitchen, a shaking steak knife pointing between me and Vance. Her cheeks were tear-streaked, her skin ashen.

Ah.

Okay.

“She’s alive,” I told her.

Thistle was.

Knox…

I shoved the thought away.

The relieved sound that shuddered from Bambi shook me soul deep. It was a relief I might never feel.

The knife sagged to the floor, and Vance was across the room in a moment, taking it from her.

“Where’s Knox?” he asked as he hauled her back across the room.

“I…” I shook my head. “It’s fine. We have to make sure there’s none of Carrion’s men left. Go inside and wait until I tell you it’s safe.”

When I got back to the ballroom, though, it was to find the scattered bodies of more of Carrion’s guards, and Thistle and Ace crouching over Knox’s still body.

FORTY-NINE

THISTLE