Page 20 of The Omega Trials: Part Two

He smirks proudly and looks down at the nasty pool of blood by Vincent’s feet. “You’re one vicious woman, Sinclair Cerulean.”

My heart flutters at the sound of our names together.

Vincent whimpers through the jagged horse bit cutting into his tongue as his toes drag where they hang on the floor. I can’t imagine the pain from even that minuscule pressure. What, with horseshoes nailed into his soles and all. The tips of the nails protrude through the tops of his feet.

The adoring heat in Ecker’s gaze makes my thoughts cloudy. I’m sure most of it is from the aggression rut he’s been fighting since I picked up the hammer. I can feel it tug on our bond like a fish at the end of a hook.

There’s also something about Ecker’s twisted offering that makes my thighs slicken. Maybe it’s my omega nature preening at the ultimate show of protection.

He’s not just slaying my monsters. He’s handing me the sword to slay my own.

“Well, what’s next?” Ecker asks as if we’re on a shopping trip.What store do you want to hit next,honey?

I consider his question to the sound of crackling coals. My fingers go to my neck and feel the gnarled skin there. I wet my bottom lip then say decisively, “I promised to be fair.”

I return to the workbench and search through the things until I find a rusty dagger. Using a pair of tongs, I set the blade on thehot coals in the forge. I take it out once it’s as orange and blazing as the collar that gave me my scar.

When I face him, Vincent’s eyes are droopy. His face is tear and sweat streaked and blood spills down his chin from his cut-up tongue. I eye him up and down with derision.4

“You really are a pathetic creature.”

“Pleath . . . have . . . merthy . . . ,”he pleads weakly around the bit.

“Out of all the things you deserve, mercy isn’t one of them.” I huff a dry and cold laugh. “You’re not only pathetic but a fool if you thought otherwise.”

Then I drag the heated, flat edge of the blade from one side of his neck to the other.

His throaty screams are a symphony to the rush of blood in my ears. The gruesome scent of burning flesh a tidal wave of retribution.

He writhes on the dangling chains. The taste of vengeance coats my tongue. I thirst for more, for finality.

I hear myself speak as if an outside observer. “Now, you’ll never forget who owns you.”

I don’t realize I’ve slit his throat until I feel the hot spray of blood on my face. He jerks wildly and I blink, unmoving, as more splatters onto me. Everything around me feels quiet and hollow except for the sound of his gurgling last breaths.

For some reason, when I look down, I’m surprised to see the bloody knife in my own hand.

“Sin.” Ecker’s voice sounds like I’m underwater. “Sinclair.”

His hand on my shoulder spins me around and rips me above the surface.

He places both hands on my upper arms as if ready to shake me from a trance. “Are you okay?” Concern drenches his tone.

The bloody knife falls from my hand. My chest swells with another deep breath, the last wave of calm before I throw my arms around his neck and my lips collide with his.

It’s a pyretic kiss, incinerating all reservations and igniting our bond.

I forget about breathing as I knit my fingers into his hair and tug him even closer. I don’t need air when I have him.

He growls against my mouth, and all the lust and aggression he’d been holding back rushes in. It makes me pull on his hair and bite down hard on his lip. I want to tear him apart. I want him to tear me apart. I want . . . I want . . . I justwant.

I want so fiercely, it makes every cell come alive.

But I know it’s more than just the high of the rut and heat I’m riding. It’s knowing, experiencing,enactingjustice for once in my life.

Killing Vincent was so much more than tit for tat. It wasn’t just revenge or to reclaim power, control. It was healing something I’d long thought permanently broken.

I hiss as Ecker fists my hair and tugs my head back. My heavy breaths saw in and out as I look up at him, burning. My stomach drops as I watch his tongue flick out and lick blood from his lip. I don’t know if it’s his blood or Vincent’s. Either way, it makes me hungry in the most primal way.

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