Page 78 of Carmichael's Omega

"Matt's sister? I didn't mean to hurt her, you know," he rasps out.

I grin at him in a friendly, casual way. "Ey? But, Dylan,cabrón, you did,si?"

I pat his shoulder while he glares at me. "Matt is my mate. I can do what I need to, right?" he claims.

For a moment, all I see is red. I have to fight my wolf down. I don't want Dylan to relax, to feel like he's going to be ended quickly. "Mattie is my Cassidy's twin, did you know?" I ask him conversationally.

He just groans. "Who the fuck cares?"

I make a noncommital noise in the back of my throat. "Twins often have one mate,no? A powerful mate," I tell him."In this case, an alpha," I bare my canines meaningfully.

He stiffens. Baring his teeth, he snaps his canines in my face. "Matt is mine!"

Reaching out, I dig one lone claw into his stomach, just below his belly button. He cries out in pain, but the chains hold him tight as he tries to jerk away. I pull my finger out and watch as blood bubbles up from the wound. I make another hole, a couple of inches away, then another and another, until his entire abdomen is bleeding and pockmarked with deep punctures.

When I'm done, I step away to admire my work. Dylan is pale and shaky, but he tosses me a look of disdain. "Is that all you have?"

I take out the canister from my bag. Twisting open the lid, I bring the can over and turn it over, shaking the contents onto Dylan's belly.

There's a moment, a hesitation, then he screams. Smiling, I kneel again, picking up a long, thin, sharpened stick. I poke one of the spiders as he crawls toward the ground, guiding him back onto Dylan's wounded stomach.

"Get them off!" he screams.

"The brown recluse," I tell him. "Very poisonous. It won't kill a wolf, but if enough of them bite you..." I shake my head, clucking my tongue in disapproval as another spider tries to escape. "They hate being poked. Doesn't everyone,si?"

I can see the spider I'm currently tormenting biting into Dylan's stomach. My alpha-wolf snorts in derision.Sí, it's a pup-trick, but still scary as hell.

"Please, get them off," Dylan begs.

"I got distracted, didn't I?" I frown mockingly. "The brown recluse's bite, especially on your wounds, will cause the flesh to rot and fester. You'll still have a stomach... barely."

"Stop," Dylan pants. The whites of his eyes show.

"It'll take a few weeks for all of the flesh to break down. Less, because of my holes." I watch in pleasure as one of the spiders tries to avoid the stick by burrowing into one of Dylan's wounds.

"W-what, what do you want?"

I meet his pain-filled, terrified gaze. Just like what my Mattie looked like... Sneering, I ask, "who helped you attack my Mattie?"

He shakes his head. "He's mine," he whispers.

I shake my head mockingly, "Dylan,güey, someone helped you with the bodyguard? To enter the building? Don't lie to me."

I crush one of the spider's legs. He goes frantic, biting and scrambling to get away from the stick. I can already scent the venom as more of the spiders bite Dylan.

"Mason," Dylan blurts out suddenly. He's crying, blubbering, really, so I don't understand the name he's repeating over and over again. "Mason let me in," he sobs.

"Mason..." White-hot rage fills me. Viciously, I stab the stick through his foreskin. He was uncircumcised. I think I just changed his religion. Dylan's screams grow shrill, the sound carrying eerily into the empty sky.

Standing, I look down at him. "I'll see you later, Dylan."

A wave of dizziness washes over me. I run until I get to the river. I kill a couple of wild rabbits and eat them before curling up on the bank to sleep for the first time in two days. Ears alert and twitching, I rest.

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20 - Water, Food, and Blow

Cassidy