Page 66 of The Piece You Stole

“I amnotyours,” I bite out the words he never wants to hear. “You think I am, but I haveneverbeen yours. And I never will be.”

I’m nothing to him but a thing to possess. Whatever broke us wasn’t me. It was him.

I wait for him to kill me for what I’ve done, or for what I’ve said. He studies me in silence as he pins me to the wall, one hand wrapped around my throat, as blood from my left arm drips steadily to the floor.

“Alpha, what should we do about…” Eva’s voice trails off.

Her soft words remind me we’re not alone in the bathroom, that behind Rylan’s back is the rest of the pack who are so silent I’d almost forgotten they were there.

I drag my gaze over Rylan’s shoulder and take in the sight that still doesn’t feel real.

Nathan is on his back, face starkly white and his arms by his side, as if he were swimming in a pool of his own blood.

He did so many cruel things that I force myself to feel—and show—nothing but satisfaction he’s dead.

Fingers probe painfully into the wound in my arm.

I suck in a gasping breath, agony searing my mind as I jerk my gaze back to Rylan’s face.

I killed Felix, but he was getting clingy. He was becoming attached, forgetting that I belong to Rylan and not him. So sooner rather than later, Rylan would have ripped out his throat. But Nathan was valuable. Nathan was Rylan’s right hand. He was the pack member he trusted above any other.

He was Rylan’s hunter.

And I killed him.

Rylan shifts his focus to my arm, his fingers like hot knives digging and digging into the place he stabbed me. The longer he does it, the dizzier and sicker I feel. The drips continue, coming faster now as I choke back the scream that wants to burst free.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Sickness roils in my gut. I swallow the bitter taste back down again, relieved not to have any food in my stomach. There’s no way I’d have been able to keep it down.

I bite my tongue, fighting to control my whimper as tears stream down my face. The seconds tick by and I can’t anymore. My mouth falls open and a sharp gasp slips out.

At the sound, Rylan lifts his head. His expression is so still that my heart clenches in fear.

“Eva, get a needle and thread.” Rylan’s tone is flat. “Chance, get rid of the body. You know where in the playground. Jacob, go with him.”

If I hadn’t seen that photograph, maybe I would have thrown myself out of the window and never thought twice about doing it. But there are some things you can’t unsee, and there are some things that call out for blood. This was one of those. Even knowing what’s coming, I don’t regret what I did.

I couldn’t leave Nathan alive. I just couldn’t.

“You're going to live for a long time, Saige. And at no point will you know a minute's peace. You will feel every single thing I do to you, and I intend to start with sewing up this cut on your arm.”

I swallow a gulp as fear invades my mind.

Rylan leans closer and continues his threat in that same flat, emotionless tone. “When you faint, as the pain will undoubtedly make you, I will slap you awake, and we will continue. Do you understand me?”

I don’t hesitate before I nod. The look in Rylan’s eyes is too terrifying to even think of arguing.

He digs his fingers into the wound high on my arm until I cry out. “I said, do you understand me?”

“Yes!”

“Alpha, I have a needle and thread,” Eva calls out, malicious glee filling her voice.

She would do it herself if Rylan let her, and if she did, I wouldn’t survive it.

“Good.” Rylan never breaks his dark stare.

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