Page 11 of Suspicious

Atlas glances up at Montana, who points the cattle prod at his face, and Atlas flares his nostrils. “Oink, oink,” he simply replies, now understanding his place in the ecosystem here.

The rest of us chuckle as Montana withdraws his boot from Atlas’ back, allowing him from the mud to roam around the enclosure with the other pigs. We continue to watch Atlas make a complete fool of himself.

Sometimes I have to admit, revenge on those who wronged us can be so fucking sweet. But we’re not done with this asshole just yet—I’m sure of it.

Wes walks over to the food trough, shovels out a handful of slops, and hurls it straight at Atlas. Some of the messy goo slamming straight onto his face.

The rest of us laugh as Atlas tries to scoop it from his eyes, and at the same time, the other pigs become more and more curious about this intruder in their home. They make their way over to Atlas, nudging him, shoving him over, and pushing him back into the mud. He groans, puffing and panting, trying to keep himself moving, almost racing away from the other pigs while the rest of us watch in delight.

These pigs get hungry.

Especially when someone is covered intheir foodand blood.

There’s a reason we have them in the first place.

I smirk in understanding that this is probably the plan I missed out on in the meeting—irritate the pigs in their own home until they get fed up with Atlas, and thentheywill take care of him.

Just as Atlas tries to scurry away from Salsa, she nips at his calf, taking a chunk out of his leg.

Atlas lets out a yelp, jumping to his feet. “It bit me. Thatfucking pigbit me!” he snaps, pointing at her, racing for the entry where the rest of us are. Sheer panic is on his face, and the rest of the pigs are fresh on his tail.

They have the scent of blood and fresh meat now.

They won’t stop.

Montana and Wes move quickly with him. They don’t want toget caught in the feeding frenzy either. Montana and Wes jump the fence before Atlas can, and then Montana holds out the cattle prod, aiming it at Atlas and forcing him to stay put behind the enclosure fence.

Atlas glares at Montana, the pigs nudging his legs, nipping and gnawing on his skin. Atlas tries to push them away, then turns to face us all. “Help me! They’re gonna fucking eat me.”

Montana shrugs. “That’s the fucking point, Atlas.”

He stares at Montana, the person he grew up with in foster care, and shakes his head. “So this is how it’s going to end for us, huh? You’re gonna feed me to some damn filth-monger!”

Montana rolls his shoulders, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “There could be another way out of this for you, Atlas—”

“Anything. I’ll dofucking anything!Just get me the hell out of this fucking mad house,” he yells.

Montana glances at Alpha, and he nods in confirmation while I furrow my brows.

I clearly missed a hell of a lot more in the meeting than I realized.

This is another part of this plan.

Why the fuck wasn’t I paying attention?

“You have to doexactlyas we tell you, Atlas. Follow our instructions to the letter, and then at the end of it… wewilllet you go,” Alpha tells him.

I snap my head around to Alpha.What the fuck?

My eyes widen in shock at this news.

Atlas nods his head in utter desperation. “I’ll do it. I’ll doanythingyou ask of me.”

Alpha tilts his chin in approval. Montana and Wes each grip a side of Atlas, then yank him over the gate, dropping him to his knees in front of us.

He glances up, panting for breath, his eyes pleading. “Thankyou! I swear I will dowhateveryou want. Just keep those fucking pigs away from me.”

Alpha chuckles, resting his hand on Atlas’ shoulder, a sinister smile crossing his face.He’s up to something.“So, tell me, Atlas… do you know how to drive a truck?”

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