Page 158 of Queen of Diamonds

But true to my word, I wouldn’t be the one to decide.

I slid onto the bed where he lay and straddled him, fingers digging into his chin and making him look up at me. “I’ve done to you once, what you’ve done to me over and over again,” I whispered. “But my turn is almost over.”

Almost being the key word.

I watched with satisfaction as his eyes darted between mine. The slightest, faintest sound came from his chest as I hooked his arm over my shoulder and hauled him onto his back.

Ace had tortured and hurt so many people in his life. But there were two I’d seen him keep and scar. So when I drew my blade out and drew lines across his flesh, like he had enjoyed doing to me, I made sure to leave space.

His whole frame shuddered beneath me, low, useless whines slipping out as a trail of crimson dripped down pale skin. When I drew back, I was finished.

I didn’t need more.

What I left was the simple, singular line symbol for Omega. For me, and every other he’d tried to crush.

“How did it feel, Alpha?” I whispered, mirroring a question he’d asked me a million times before. “Are you ready to beg?”

Beneath me, I felt just the slightest hitch in his breathing, but he could do no more. I grabbed his hair and dragged his neck back viciously before I pressed my lips to his. I don’t know if it was sick, truly. All I knew was the way it made me feel like I was alive as I felt him helpless beneath me. Every instinct purred, almost making me wish it wasn’t over so soon.

At my kiss, a low growl rose in his chest, but there was no true threat in it. I caught his tongue between my teeth and bit down until I tasted the tang of iron. I scooped the pill from my cheek and pressed it into his. The drug would do nothing to me, but for him—the moment it hit his bloodstream, it would take effect.

“The guards are gone,” I breathed when I leaned back at last, releasing his chin and cupping his neck instead. My hair pooled around us, creating a silent world where it was just me and wide, ice-blue eyes that had, for so long, been my nightmare. “There’s no one here but you, and her—not for as far as the property reaches, and there are hours and hours between now, and when this poison will finally end you. That drug will slow your death. You’ll still be conscious, unable to move or speak.”

That was the pill. The same drug he’d threatened on Zed. To torture him while I watched.

What came next for Ace, I didn’t need to watch.

It wasn’t mine. A gift from me to her, and the faint hope that it might give her the same closure I’d already claimed.

“What do you think?” I asked. “She could speed up your death—even save you if she wanted to.”

I felt a smile curve my lips even at the idea, and leaned close once more, drawing my chin along his, leaving my scent so she would know where the gift came from.

“Do you think she will?” I asked as I drew back. “Because if I were you, I would pray to choke on my own blood before I was found.”

Ace’s eyes were wide, darting between mine with nothing but pure terror as I let him go at last. “Someone will be here tomorrow to deal with your body. If there’s anything left of it.”

He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. He couldn’t do anything as I slipped from the bed and over to where Kyan waited for me.

I was almost through the door that led to the ground floor when I heard the faintest footsteps in the distance. I glanced back just in time to see the figure appear around the corner. Slender and timid, with long, straight dark hair that hung to her waist. Her eyes were just as haunted as I remembered. But Thistle went absolutely still as she caught sight of the helpless figure of the Alpha on the bed.

Drugged and helpless.

The scent match who had broken her.

EPILOGUE ONE

GLADE

“Lucy had kittens?”

My voice was a high-pitched squeak.

One more surprise, they’d told me. One more fucking surprise.

And I really hadn’t known what to expect, because the word ‘surprise’ in this pack could mean getting a manicure, being gifted the blood of my enemies, or tiny little hairless creatures all stumbling around my Lucy’s nest.

It did, I supposed, explain why she’d been so territorial about the cupboard since we got her back.

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