Page 64 of Drown My Sorrow

I pull out a knife and carve the message on his skin.

When I’m finished, Beau elbows me, laughing at my pain.

“Feel like a milkshake or beer?”

I consider it for a moment. “Milkshake.”

PresentDay

I stand in the cave and stare blankly at the mattress. I hear him approach, but I don’t give any sign that I have. There’s a part of me that hopes he will attack so I can turn around and kill him and another part of me that’s just tired.

“I want to know why she’s chosen this place as a nest.”

The question throws me. It’s unexpected, deeper than I gave them credit for. Maybe I’ve misjudged them.

And maybe cows will sprout wings and fly. I must have been silent for too long because he clears his throat.

“Please, Shale, I want to understand her.”

I huff a dry, cynical laugh and turn, hitting Ezy with the coldest glare I can muster.

“You can’t put two and two together?” I gesture to the cave. “This is a person who is broken, Ezy. Not her body or her mind like she believes, but they broke her spirit. When you treat someone like shit for long enough, they start to believe. This cave should tell you that our omega thinks so lowly of herself that she doesn’t even think she deserves a nice nest.”

Ezy looks around. “What happened to her?”

“What didn’t happen to her?” I say dryly. “And you can fucking talk to her about it if you want to know details. I’m not betraying her trust.”

“You three really love her.”

The surprise and note of skepticism in his statement irritates me.

I glare at him. “How can you not?”

Ezy swallows hard and looks at the mattress rather than me. For him, he didn’t see her and know what she was. He didn’t see her and have his entire world rearrange itself. For Ezy, she’s not his savior. We’re in different places.

“How can you condone acting the way you do around her? Do you really think that kind of barbaric behaviour helps?”

“Let me be very fucking clear. If any harm or hurt befalls her on this fucked up trip, I will drain the blood from your body and wear your skin as a fucking jacket.”

“That’s really morbid,” Ezy mumbles. “And goes with my point.”

“Don’t test us. The only thing I can promise you is that we are hers. She will always come first, and we will always be there to break the bones of those who make her cry.”

“I’m not planning on making her cry,” Ezy says and steps back as I approach.

I reach out, pausing when he flinches and then brushes his hair behind his ear.

“You know what I’ve found?”

“What?” Ezy’s voice is huskier, wary. He’s struggling to hold my gaze.

“People who have everything seldom remember about promises they made to people like me.”

Ezy jerks. “How do you-”

“Ezekial Boothe. You aren’t hard to find information about. I just needed to nudge a few doors, and the information fell into my lap.”

“I haven’t told them yet.”

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