Page 184 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

Then Ace came in, and he picked up a box that I hadn’t noticed on the foot of the bed. When he handed it to me, I caught the dull scent of absinthe.

“Planned for better circumstances, but it’s my gift to Knox—and you,” he said.

“Is that…?” My eyes widened as I tilted the box until I saw it. Within was a dull, pale foot, and upon it was the greyish mark of a bite—Knox’s bite.

There were tears burning my eyes as I flung my arms around Ace. “He can bite me!” My voice wobbled, and his arms held me tight.

“He can,” Ace murmured.

He wasn’t much of a hugger, so I sank into it, clinging to him and enjoying the moment.

Finally, when I peeled away, he pressed his lips to my forehead. He was unusually gentle right now. It wasn’t his strong suit, but I sensed just the slightest bit of unease seeping from his end of the bond. As if maybe, for a second, he hadn’t been completely sure there was a way out.

“You and Rogue can stay here. I’ll make sure the security is dealt with. My team came back—said they got a text from one of Knox’s contacts warning them they’d been compromised. Still need to make sure there’s no trace of Carrion anywhere.”

I let him go after a long while, then dug myself a little cove beneath the blankets and curled up in Knox’s arm. “You’re gonna be able to bite me, Daddy!” I whispered to him.

Finally.

I pulled Rogue in close on the other side, feeling the dam break. Rogue’s purr rumbled to life as I sobbed, sending vibrations down my spine.

Almost…

I’d almost lost it all.

But now…

“He’ll definitely bite me when he wakes up?” I whispered. “Right?”

He had to. I couldn’t wait any longer—and we’d fought enough.

“‘Course he will.”

“He didn’t want to last time,” I said, my voice wobbling with worry.

“He did want to, it nearly killed him—it was me he had a problem with. And he’s not had a great track record with family. Struggles to believe in it, even if he loves you.”

I nodded.

“This is going to be round three for him,” Rogue said.

“What?”

“Starting over…” Rogue rubbed his jaw. “Second time was meeting me. Didn’t go so great.”

“First round?” I asked.

“He didn’t come from any place good. He presented late as an Alpha and the first thing that happened was that his brother handed him over to the Ring to pay off gambling debts. The only family he had.”

Oh…

I hugged Knox a little closer.

That wasn’t all that different from my dad.

He hadn’t… deserved that…

Rogue cleared his throat. “Would be… pretty shit luck if his next chance at one starts off on a bad foot.”