Page 6 of The Butcher

Fleeting.

The moment I walked into the funeral and saw Rex and Ezekiel, saw my brothers and sister sitting in the front row of thechapel, all that unbridled rage came roaring to the forefront once again.

Then watching them allcryas they said goodbye to my mother, as the preacher closed the lid to cover the beautiful face of an even more beautiful person? It was everything I could do to keep myself in check.

And now, carrying her casket out of the church, both of my younger brothers walking ahead of me, my father and his alpha, my grandfather to my side…

Blood will spill.

Bones will break.

Heads will roll.

I will keep our town safe but more importantly, I will avenge every single omega who was taken from it.

I will make those who are responsible pay, I willbethe justice for those who were lost, for those who lost someone, and I will do it in the most brutal, the most painful and gruesome way I can.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, we stop and wait for the hearse to pull up, for the driver to get out and open the back.

I see red as my family steps away from the casket, loading it inside the black steel with tears in their eyes. My stare lands on each of their faces, my father and his mate trying and failing to remain stoic, Titus staring at the hearse blankly as a loan tear slips down his cheek. Zeke presses the heel of his hand into his eye as he wraps his arm around him and holds tight, our younger brother showing no emotion save for that single track on his face.

When they close the door with my mother securely inside, Tempest almost falls as she lunges toward it, screaming her pain as she cries out for the woman who gave us life.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper as I wrap her in a hug, my sister burying her face in my chest as she sobs. “I’ve got you, Tempy, and I promise I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”

The line of black cars behind the hearse idle in the street, waiting for us to get in and follow but I just stand there, staring at the casket through the window while I run my hand over my sister’s hair.

They say I have her eyes, and I can only hope the sick truth in that means she’ll get to see everyone I butcher in her honor.

Because I will butcher every single motherfucker who had anything to do with her death, and I’ll do it with a goddamn smile on my face.

Chapter One

LIKE ANIMALS

Indy

“This one.”

I pull my tattered blanket tighter around my shoulders, curling into myself as I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.

Heavy footsteps slow a few stalls down, the counter’s voice gruff and low as he rattles off a number, he and the herder sharing a brief and hushed conversation.

“Her.”

They stop completely for a few moments, closer to me even though they’re on the other side of the room, pausing for another stern chat before they begin to move again.

I hate this.

Everything about Harden Ranch is terrible, it’s horrifying and fatal but actually listening to the men in charge decide who’s going to essentially live or die? It’s the worst part, and I hate it the most.

But I don’t know anything different.

I don’t know anything different from the fear and the hate, from our day in and day out but I’ve spent the better part of thirty-two years trying not to let them consume me.

Trying in vain.

“That’s four, sir.”

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