Page 39 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two
“Look at you,” she whispered, bright chestnut eyes holding mine. Long nails dug into burnt skin as she curled a delicate grip around my chin.
I shuddered, fury spiking.
This wasn’t real.
She. Would. Never.Dare.
But Gladehaddared, and now her voice was a low taunt. “A real Jonah and the whale. You tried so hard to convince us we were nothing that you fell right back into our jaws.” She leaned close, her whisper sending a chill through me. “Owned by the very creatures you so desperately wished to control.”
I lunged at her, a growl tearing from my chest, instincts howling.
Howdareshe?
She was nothing.
Free by luck alone.
Free becauseI’dgiven her too much leash.
But my fist closed around nothing, and I heard her voice from behind.
“You lied,Alpha. To me. To yourself. I was neverjusta claim, was I?”
I snarled, turning, but I couldn’t find her.
Instead, her voice was a faint whisper in the air.
In her hand was the brittle stem of a rose, its petals fallen, surrounding us, andshewore nothing but a sheer gown of gold.
I heard her final taunt.
“I was a crutch—a bid to defy nature. But you ran so far that you didn’t just fall for her claim.” Glade sounded so victorious. “Youbecamehers, from body, to mind, to soul.”
Finally, as I watched, she was gone, and in her wake was an eerie silence.
A cool mist rose like a nighttime frost destined to vanish in the morning sun, and with it I heard the faintest tune of a song.
“All the king’s horses, and all the king’s men…”
Thistle’s low singing was torture.
Pain tore open my back. I couldn’t move. I knew I was dead, and yet she never dealt the final blow.
Instead, she whispered on.
A promise.
A claim?—
“Get up.”
My eyes snapped open as I woke back in the cage to a low voice. I was seated in the corner, head leaning against icy stone, fist closed around nothing. My chest heaved as I tried to find footing in reality.
From the corner of my eye, I saw something shift. A shadow stood over me in the cage.
I didn’t move.
It wasn’t her. Instead, the scent of ink and antique wood hit my senses.
