Page 125 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

I don’t believe her. She is up to something—she has to be. Seeing me be electrocuted wouldn’t have made her change her mind that easily. She wants us on her side, but, Tenshi, two can play at that game.

“Let’s just focus our energy on bringing the man down. We can all agree that we want him gone, and I want to meet his brother. I don’t want to replace evil with evil. It makes no sense.”

“Jolie, what they do at Olympia wasn’t created for a good purpose,” Kai reminds her.

“I figured as much, but after our little mission, it has me thinking. If Olympia was restructured, it could be used for good, not just for those who have pockets of cash. Martin is a bad man and clearly the cops haven’t been able to catch him. Is creating humans to have superhuman abilities wrong? Possibly, but imagine how much good could come from it.”

Chester laughs. “Such an angel that you still want to see the good in monsters. We were created to be killers.”

“I think you were trained to be killers, but also that you were created to be able to beat them at their own game. You’re stronger, faster, and smarter than any normal human. I’m surprised that the government hasn’t tried to take over and create an unstoppable army.”

“They probably have, but first, let’s all go shower and get a few hours of sleep,” Brennan says, standing up. He still looks worn out, the exhaustion he must be feeling bringing him down. One by one, everyone else gets up. I lock eyes with Jolie.

“Wanna help me feed the snakes?” Her nose screws up at the thought. “I have dead rats. Laughn told me about your issues with live food after you took one on as a pet.”

Her and that damn rat. I hear her talk to it a lot, especially at night when she takes it out of its cage. There is a shed out the back where my brother was breeding them as food, not that I will tell her that. Instead, I pre-killed and froze some in case she insisted on making sure the snakes were fed and wanted to watch.

“Think I will pass—I need that shower. I can’t get the smell of urine out of my nose.”

Nodding my head, I agree that’s for the best. Maybe since they’re hungry, I can take them downstairs for a visit with my friend in the morgue.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I let myself into Laughn’s room. He has a nice collection of venomous snakes. I take his large-ass tongs and open the tiger snake’s cage. It really is beautiful, but one bite and it will cause pain in the hands, feet, and neck, as well as debilitating tingling, numbness, and sweating. Then all of that is followed by breathing difficulties and paralysis. The venom also damages the blood and muscles, leading to renal failure. I know I was going to donate his organs to raise money for the girls, but fuck it. I will donate the cash myself since this will be way more fun and is a legitimate way to die for his autopsy report.

“Let’s go, little buddy, and make this man snake food. I hope you’re feeling extra bitey today.”

Chapter Ten

Jolie

It’s been over a week since our mission and managing to bust the guys out of Olympia. I’d expected Mr Z to contact me, but nothing. He gave me the go ahead to try to break them out, even though he clearly didn’t think that I could, so the fact I succeeded is on him. Also, the guys have been reluctant to believe that I could so easily forgive them, and they’re right. I can’t fully forgive what they did, but I can understand it. What he does to them is vile. Watching Creed strapped to that chair and electrocuted was painful just to observe. He isn’t immune to pain like Laughn was; I can understand wanting to test their abilities, but torturing them is plain wrong.

“Are you ready?” Trace pops his head into my room. We have training today, and unlike the other savages, Trace lets me have lots of coffee first.

“Yep,” I say, gazing into the mirror and looking at myself in my Olympia uniform. Everyone admitted through the gatemust be wearing them—the Olympia logo sewn on the front with G.O.D.S underneath.

I grab my sports bag and head downstairs, stopping in the kitchen to fill up my drink bottle. Trace and I haven’t had much of a chance to talk, but it needs to happen today.

Trace patiently waits, also dressed in his uniform and combat boots, with his sports bag slung over his shoulder. Once I’m done, we both head out to his car.

“How have you been feeling?” he asks me as he backs out of the driveway.

“A lot better. My heart still hurts”—I rub my chest—“but I understand now why it happened. I kept thinking you could have just not done it, but then Mr Z would have tortured you all until one team was left standing. Doing it yourselves was more humane.”

“Have you really forgiven us? . . . Me?”

“I have, Trace. I can’t spend forever hating you, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

“I don’t ever want you to forget—none of us want that. We just want you to be happy and safe. It’s all we have ever wanted.”

“You all have a funny way of showing it,” I quip.

“When you’re created to love someone so blindly, it’s easy to fuck things up.”

“Tell me about it.”

I wholeheartedly understand and can feel it with them. That love prickles under my damn skin and even when I want to hate them, I can’t. Feelings fester and I have no control. The average person could hold on to that anger and hatred, but for me, everything is compartmentalised, rationalised, and all the emotions are directed to where they need to be. It’s how I was created. They know that and have been waiting for me to realise. I don’t think they believed it would be so easy, not having accessed my abilities in so long.

Trace drives us into Olympia and we both walk in the direction of the older gym. All the guys choose to bring me here instead of the nicer place Colt was talking about; maybe it’s quieter here, fewer disruptions.

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