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The truth that had jarred me most that day hadn’t been that her father had abandoned her. Or that when I’d put a gun in her hands and told her to show me blood, that she’d pulled the trigger on her own family without pause.

It had been the only part of the story she’d left out.

When I’d first discovered Thistle, she’d been trapped with a cruel pack for years, and I’d believed—or wanted to believe—that it shaped her. That when I gifted her that Alpha, and she’d carved him into pieces, leaving me with dreams of her I’d never been able to shake, that it had been vengeance.

But the story her father told painted a different picture.

What he’d told me of the bodies he’d found, of what she’d done to them—from an Omega with no trauma to feed from…

No.

Thistle wasn’t just a product of her darkest moments. This part of her—the part that drove those around her mad—that matched me in every way.

It was innate.

Thistle Maverick—my soul match—had never been drawn to blood to impress me. That drive was a core piece of who she was right down to her bones.

One she’d been taught to hide. To be ashamed of.

Chaos swept across Bella’s party, but I didn’t move from Carrion’s chair. The play had gone through each stage perfectly. Bella had even locked them in the room together.

A gift.

I’d caught the moment Thistle’s teeth had sunk into the Alpha’s flesh. Not for one moment did I doubt she had done what she was supposed to. If she’d used the blue gem on the bracelet I’d given her, everything would go perfectly.

Sure enough, the tide shifted—each new note that played, a perfect harmony.

A smile curled my lips as the Alpha stumbled, crashing to his knees in front of Thistle.

My Omega took a breath in the bond.I’dbeen sure—but Thistle had never been a sure creature. It was where I fit so perfectly into her equation, and when given that balance, she rewarded me with a show I couldn’t find anywhere else.

That day, four years ago, I’d pressed the gun into her hands as I faced her father. I’d stepped dangerously close, unable to help myself—my body had encircled hers as I’d nudged her gun arm up.

I’d leaned in, her chin in my hand so I could feel the warmth of her body, her back pressed to my chest. Perhaps he’d said something or looked afraid, but I never found out. There had been nothing else in that moment—just wind and rain, and the flash of lightning electrifying the air.

It had been a guilty, dangerous thrill I’d indulged in as I’d whispered, “He sold you. Show me blood, Omega?—”

The words were barely out of my mouth before, with abang, she’d pulled the trigger. Her father had dropped to the floor, unmoving, with a hole between his eyes.

Unlike every other time she’d killed, she hadn’t been excited or happy.

The tremor in her whisper had given her away. “You… you weren’t supposed to see that.”

That had unsettled me.

Today I would show her she never again had to be afraid of who she was.

I hadn’t realised how rewarding it would be, just seeing her confidence—matching my move without question. Unlike Knox and Rogue, she’d never wavered.

Through the screen, it was clear when the poison began to take effect. Her relief turned quickly into sparks of excitement as the Alpha collapsed entirely.

The chorus.

A beautiful dance, just for me.

The room around me shifted.

“Open it!” That was Bella’s voice—interrupting the harmony.