Page 180 of Carmichael's Omega

"It's not, though,sí? It doesn't have spikes on the inside," I inform them, shaking my head. "I should have made it,sí?"

"No spikes," Teague snaps. "That's just cruel."

"In that one show, on Netflix, they tossed the box into the ocean!" José says with a touch too much enthusiasm.

"Because she couldn't die, José," I explain patiently. They are always playing that show in the AlphaUps House. "She was immortal,sí? We don't want this bitch to die too quickly. Besides, we are not near the ocean,sí?"

"He's a crazy fucker," the Beta tells Alice conversationally.

None of us can hold our laughter any longer. Alice has stopped glaring as silent tears run down her cheeks, soaking the gag in her mouth.

"Here's how this is going to work," Teague tells her in a voice that's no longer mild. "You'll live the rest of your life inside this fucking box. No shifting, can't move, can't do nothing more than breathe, yeah? You'll be tossed food every so often, Alice. I'm not a monster."

Her chest is heaving, up and down. We all step forward, in unison, to untie her. Alice tries to fight when the bindings come off, her clawed hands scraping at our skin, her feet kicking. The last piece of cloth comes free, and her tortured screams echo through the forest.

The lid slams shut on her wordless howls. The metal muffles it the slightest bit, despite the airholes.

"Lower it down," Teague says.

The four males step up and toss the casket into the hole, then slam shut the wooden door above it.

"In a few days, feed her some meat," I tell him.

"Don't want to waste meat on that bitch. I was thinking worms and grubs," the Beta snaps.

I stop walking and turn to look at him, completely serious. "You feed her fingers first. Is she right-handed or left?"

He goes pale but smiles. "You are a crazy fucker," he says to me.

I shrug. I know.

---

46 - Omega Bond

Carmichael

The Loco Lobo is dark and cold when we pull in. I get out of the truck feeling only a little refreshed from the nap I took. My head is filled with war and revelations. My nostrils are filled with the foul scent of pups being abused. My wolf and I ache for our mates.

That bone-deep rage that burns through me towardsmi padrechases away the last of the sleep.Mishermanitascan't even look around, can't take the light and the air of outside the fucking attic they've spent their entire lives captive in. Bembe and Nicoare both beyond fucked up.Mamahas been imprisoned in her own home for decades.

I left Rodrigo guarding Papa, and there's a part of me that wants to rip him into pieces so small they'll never find them all. But then Mama would be hurt more.

"Carm?" Rique speaks quietly. “They’re waiting for you. Let’s shower and head back to LoboGris fast.”

"Sí," I mutter back, finally getting my feet to move again. "Let's go." I lead my team inside the bar as everyone disperses to do whatever job they've decided is important. The lights flicker on, then the air. I hear wolves rummaging around in the kitchen, but I bypass it all to head toward the bedroom and a shower.

I smell her before I'm even close to the door.

“Fuck.”

"I smell it, too," Devel says over my shoulder. "I'll go cover the window."

"I'm with you, Alpha," José says.

The acrid scent of death is more potent as I swing open the door. My alpha-wolf lunges, feinting an attack in an instinctive defensive mechanism against what my eyes see. A snarl is ripped from my gut.

As soon as it creaks open, I'm inside, grasping my sister's cold body in shock. She's stiff, gone. I'm too late. I listen anyway, praying silently to hear her heartbeat under my thundering pulse. Something, anything.