Page 103 of Ruin Me Knot
"How fast can you get us there, Asher?"
"Fast enough to break every damn red light in the city."
We spill into our vehicles. My hands shake as I grip the wheel, but determination is an iron rail in my chest. Engines roar as our convoy peels out.
We tear through streets, nerves a white burn in my veins. If we’re wrong and Leah’s not there, we have nothing. No other leads. No other clues.
We have to be correct.
Asher’s voice crackles through the police radio. "Approach silently. No lights, no sirens. If Hardwick suspects anything, she’ll run, and we might lose Leah for good. Units one and two, take the north and east access lanes. Three, cover the main entrance. Hawthornes, take the south side. Nobody moves until I give the command. We breach ground level first and keep drilling. Keep it tight."
I pull up behind a battered dumpster near the squat derelict target and cut the engine. We step out into air buzzing with anticipation. We press our spines against brick, check our sidearms and knives, and wait for the other officers to get into position. Seconds stretch to oblivion, and I force my hands to stay steady.
I reach for the memory of Leah’s scent, her voice, her heartbeat. In my mind she smiles, reaching for me, asking me to kiss her, bond her, love her.
Then Asher’s voice crackles in my ear. "Go. Go. Go."
We explode across the empty parking lot toward a single, grimy window. Adrenaline flows through me instead of blood. I grab a length of broken timber and smash it through the window. Shards of glass spit into the darkness as my boots land hard on linoleum.
Jax and Gabriel follow, shadows against my back. Only our breathing fills the dark, empty corridor as we move forward and hope to hell this isn’t the biggest mistake of our lives.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Leah
The world is a smear of blinding light and shadow, all edges and hurt. The side of my face throbs and the iron taste of blood is thick on my tongue. My eyes snap open as my heart slams against my ribs. Everything comes into sharp, stinging focus.
I’m stripped and strapped tight to a cold metal gurney. Every inch of me is exposed, chill biting into my bare skin. My breath is shallow, the stink of my own fear crowding out the air. I’m drowning in rose water gone bad. I try to move but straps dig into my tender flesh. Turning my head just ratchets pain through my jaw and skull. An overhead spotlightsears my vision.
Neither bleach nor antiseptic hides underlying mold growing in the corners of the room, or the reek of water damage. Beneath it all lurks the bitter chemical scent of Hardwick’s Betas like those who kept me imprisoned for years.
Wallace is half lit in the glare as he lays out a tray. Metal clinks as he arranges scalpels and surgical tools in precise lines. The glint of steel makes my insides crawl. I can barely breathe, bile souring the back of my throat.
Wallace’s eyes flick up and catch mine before dropping back to the tray. There’s no emotion in his gaze.
He doesn’t seeme. He doesn’t see a person.
Hardwick paces behind him, her heels striking impatient beats as she issues commands. She gestures at me. "Just get it done, Wallace. We don’t have time for your little rituals. Those Godsdamned Alphas will know she’s missing. I want everything you can scrape out of her. This is too important to leave anything to chance."
Hugo is a bruised shadow against the wall. The bridge of his nose is swollen from where I cracked it. He glowers at me, violence simmering just under his skin. Fear whiplashes through me; I know what he’s capable of when Hardwick lets him off the chain. He’s restraining himself. For now. But when she’s finished with me, all bets are off. That’s if I’m not dead before she leaves me to the dogs.
Five Betas stand like statues, over-labored muscles bunching under black uniforms. If Wallace and Hugo don’t finish me, they will.
I can’t stop shaking. Every inch of me screams with shame, terror and helpless fury. I must make a noise, because Hardwick’s mouth curves into a sharp, cold smile. "Ah, you’re awake. Good. At least you won’t be totally useless."
I bite down on my fear, forcing my voice out. "Why are you doing this? You didn’t care if I lived or died before.”
She tips her head, assessing me with the same cold detachment as Wallace. "I developed you to be strong. I didn’t realize how strong until the reports came back." She crosses her arms and looks down at me. There isn’t an ounce of compassion in her gaze. "Unfortunately, Wallace discovered he needs live cells. So here you are, at a great inconvenience to me."
"So sorry to cause you trouble." I go rigid under her glare, but there’s nothing else she can do to me she hasn’t done before.
Her eyes narrow. "Dr. Maverick doesn’t realize how much help he’s been. Your blood, those lovely antibodies, the result of everything we did to you, has come to fruition. You should be grateful. Without my treatments, you’d be nowhere near as strong." She glances down at Wallace’s tray and then at me, her mouth tightening in a parody of a smile. "Perhaps I’ll put you in a footnote. A tiny nod to the specimen that proved so useful."
There’s nothing human behind her eyes. Just hunger and calculation. She’s not normal. Not even close. She’s nothing like my Alphas. I’ve seen what real Alphas looks like in Ronan, Jax, Gabriel. They empathize. Nurture. Protect.
Love.
Hardwick is a butcher. A parasite in a suit playing God. I can’t stop myself from speaking even though it will cost me. I’m not voiceless, not anymore. "You call yourself an Alpha, but you’re not worthy of the designation. You’re sick. Twisted. Nothing like a true Alpha."
