Page 94 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two

“Your choice in Alphas.” Ace’s eyes flicked up to me for a moment. “He makes you so much more obedient for me.”

I almost swung at him, but it felt primitive, as if that’s exactly what he wanted. Entirely unfazed by my hold on her neck, Thistle reached up, fist balling in his shirt.

Iconsideredreleasing her just to defuse some of the power he’d somehow managed to flip on its head, but my fist refused to move.

She was still mine.

He was hers.

I tried to remind myself of what Rogue was so sure of.

“They saw me feral, Omega. I want to make sure every Alpha in that room excuses it away,” he said. I frowned, but he continued. “When we arrive at the party, the whole world will know you are my soul match.”

Her moonflower scent almost exploded with joy.

Another growl threatened to escape. I was almost at the end of my rope. I took a breath. He was heat bondedtoher—he couldn’t havelesspower. He just had an uncanny knack for making that easy to forget.

As long asshedidn’t forget that.

The button for the shock collar—still thankfully secured around Ace’s neck—was heavy in my pocket, aching for another use.

“You’ll make me proud?” he asked.

“No.” I cut in before Thistle could answer. “Wrong way around,Bunny.” My voice was icy. “Imade your soul match more valuable in these circles than you can even imagine. She’s the one who needs to be matched.”

And with that, I found the true source of my fury.

It wasn’t just the muzzle, or dragging me back to the time I belonged to Rogue. He wanted to walk into territory that was once mine, before an audience who had seen me claim Thistle, and show them all she had been taken from me.

I’d been tortured, then dragged from a forested arena by Rogue and kept like an animal for years. I’d debased myself by stepping back into the very Ring that had ruined me and forced myself to become one of them.

I was possessive, unbalanced, erratic, but true pride—soul-deep dignity—it was something long dead.

Or so I’d thought.

Yet the idea of being leashed while they claimed her… I hadn’t truly felt, until now, how deep the wound of Bella’s bond had cut. Thistle had been a chance at something I never believed I would get, and Bella had stolen it from me.

Ace didn’t look away from Thistle, but I saw the faintest trace of a smile edge his lips like I’d just presented him with a challenge. Thistle’s small frame was rigid, trapped between the both of us as Ace’s piercing blue eyes bore into her soul.

Finally, his hand dropped and he stepped back, not looking at either me or Rogue as he walked from the room.

TWENTY-FIVE

THISTLE

I could feel the solid, slim metal object through the fabric of Bunny’s pouch. The bed shifted under Knox’s weight as he sat down, and I watched intently as he tugged off his shirt, my eyes roaming his beautiful tan skin.

He’d been quiet since Ace left.

I thought the thrill I’d felt when I realised what Ace was offering would be everything, but my feelings weren’t behaving as they usually did. Instead, Knox’s quiet stoniness weighed heavier than my excitement.

“You’re… gonna stay tonight?” I asked.

Maybe he’d seen the trap I’d set for Ace and taken pity on me. These Alphas were killing me. They were claiming me as theirs, but they didn’t wanna share my nest?

The shower was running in my en suite, the warm scent of honied bourbon drifting out with the steam as Rogue got ready for bed.

But there hadn’t been a night with both of them here together, no matter how much I wanted it.