Page 56 of Knot Shattered
Another voice cut through, dry and unimpressed. Jace, by the tone. “I lost count after nine. You think we should be worried?”
“Are you kidding?” Micha growled, his voice sharp and furious. “What the fuck are they doing?”
I choked on a laugh and pressed my hand to my mouth, ducking into a side alcove. Fallon followed, giggling under her breath, and Violet dragged a half-broken crate in front of us to shield the view.
“Shh,” I whispered, eyes watering with suppressed laughter. “Don’t ruin it. They’ll find us too soon.”
Fallon leaned over my shoulder, whispering, “This is the most fun I’ve had in weeks.”
We were all grinning, breathless, blood-streaked, and high on vengeance when I turned my head and froze.
Voss stood at the end of the corridor. Silent. Watching.
He looked like a god of war in a black tactical shirt rolled to the elbows, blood drying on his forearms. The moment he met Fallon’s gaze, the tension snapped. He strode forward, grabbed her by the front of her shirt, and kissed her like he meant to imprint her into time.
When he pulled back, he kept her pressed close, murmuring low enough I barely caught it, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Winning,” Fallon whispered smugly, her breathless smile framed in blood and lipstick.
I poked my head out and smirked. “We’re playing hide and murder. She’s ahead by two.”
Voss blinked once, then huffed something like a laugh and shook his head. “You’re all insane.”
Violet beamed at him from behind the crate. “A little. Still love us?”
He glanced down the hall as Micha’s voice thundered closer, and then looked back at us. “You’ve got five minutes before they catch up. Make it count.” His grin twisted into something wicked. “Fallon better win.”
Then, like a shadow, he was gone.
The three of us turned to each other, faces lit up with manic glee.
“Five minutes,” Fallon repeated.
I readjusted the grip on my knife, heart racing.
“Let’s make them count.”
Haze
October 28th
2:54 A.M
“Well, well,” I drawled, crouching in front of the one with the shattered leg—what was left of it, anyway. His breath hitched as I leaned closer, watching him try to scoot away like a squashed cockroach. “Don’t tap out now, we’re just getting to the fun part.”
Behind me, the other two were groaning, one gurgling like a clogged drain, the other whimpering through a split lip and a shattered jaw. Pathetic.
“Do you know what an omega’s heart sounds like when she’s panicking?” I asked, tapping my temple. “It’s sharp. Erratic. Like something dying. I heard it almost every night for a month. When she thought she was back in your fucking basement.”
Their eyes went wide. Good. I wanted them to understand. To know.
“She’s mine now,” I whispered, my grin sharpening as I pulled a blood-soaked knife from the thigh of the one trying to crawl. “And I promised her I’d bring her your hearts.” I tilted my head. “I don’t break promises to my omega,” I say as I look around. Cheering when I find a bookbag. Dumping it on the ground to empty it, I tease, “Not the best gift wrap I could have, but I’m sure she won't mind. Do you?”
One screamed when I lunged. Only one. The one who still had teeth. The blade bit deep. Flesh split open. Bone crunched. I carved with precision, not rage, but surgical, methodical.Humming“Another One Bites the Dust”by Queen under my breath as I worked. The first heart went into the bag with a wet thunk. The second made a squelch that reminded me of overripe fruit.
The third... oh, the third tried to fight. I respected that. I gutted him slowly.
When it was done, I stood and wiped my hands on the inside of the dead man’s shirt before slinging the bookbag over my shoulder like I’d just picked up lunch.
