Page 104 of Ruin Me Knot
Hardwick’s lips curve as she leans down. I hold my breath against her Alpha stench. It’s always turned my stomach. "Want to know a secret before you die?" The words slice through my terror. "I’m not an Alpha, Leah. Never was. I’m just a stupid little Omega like you. Only I grew balls. Decided I didn’t want anyone controlling me. Power belongs to those who take it. The whole human race will thank me for eradicating the weakest link in evolution. After this, Omegas won’t exist.”
Shock drops through me, firing every nerve. She’s anOmega? One of us? Disbelief claws at my throat. She’s betrayed every Omega in the world, called us weak, called our existence a problem to be wiped out.
“Why would you do this?” I rasp.
Hardwick’s mouth twists. “Because no one ever protected me. Not my father. Not my mother. Every day I learned what it meant to be powerless. Disposable. Less than nothing. I swore I’d never be that again. I made myself untouchable. Destroyed every weakness. Omegas are bred to kneel, Alphas to rule, and I’ll bedamned if I’m chained. I made myselfmore, and now I’m scrubbing every scrap of weakness from the world. Call it revenge. Or call it evolution. I don’t care.”
She’s twisted her own ruin into a gospel of power, feeding on the brokenness she infects into others. She’s so empty. Terrified and starved. Her control and cruelty is a shield for her sick core.
She has no idea what it is to have people who care. Who show gentleness and safety. Who want to be loved. She has nothing to live for when I have everything.
"You’re not a God. You’re just a coward. You can call it evolution but it’s just rot. That’s all you are. Rot and ruin, and there’s nothing left in you to save. I might die here, but you’ll be caged in your own emptiness forever."
Her face twists into something brittle. "You know nothing! You’re a stupid Omega. Weak. Pathetic."
"I’m so much more than that. I amloved. I belong to Alphas who would tear the world apart. For me." I want her to know how wrong she is. Even if I die today, I want my words to torture her for the rest of her life.
Her lips peel back from her teeth. "Love? Love is for the weak. The only way to survive is to be the most powerful. Omegas are useless. Bred to be used. To be thrown away when drained dry."
"Senator, you’re holding everything up,” Wallace interrupts. “If you want this procedure to succeed, stop wasting my time."
The words yank Hardwick back from the edge. Her composure clicks into place. She adjusts her jacket and smooths her hair. The mask drops back over her face as her eyes turn cold and empty. "It doesn’t matter what you think. Once we’ve harvested your stem cells, I’ll personally see your body buried so deep the world will forget your name. Your precious Alphas will never know what became of you."
My fear thrums, but defiance cracks my usual shell of terror. My voice is steady in a way it never has been before. "I’ll be waiting at the gates of hell with every other Omega you slaughtered, and applauding your descent when your turn comes."
"Step away, Evelyn. Unless you want me not having enough time to manufacture your drugs?" Wallace doesn’t look at her as he opens the syringe packet and flicks air bubbles free.
Hardwick sniffs and adjusts her jacket, but what’s worse is how I now view Wallace. He’s her right hand with syringe and scalpel, but also so much more. He didn’t blink at talk of genocide, because he’s the engineer and enabler of her horror.
"Youchanged her," I choke out.
He’s an even bigger monster than her.
His smile is a cold, savage thing. "Iperfected her change. It’s just as well you won’t survive this. You have no one to tell now my secret is out."
Sudden commotion tears through the corridors beyond the door. Hardwick whirls, her eyes widening, mask slipping. "Fuck! Hurry up! Get what you need from the little bitch now, Wallace."
"If you had shut the fuck up, Evelyn, I’d already have what I need." Wallace lines the syringe against my vein.
Every nerve shrieks to get away, but I’m bound tight. My muscles strain against the gurney as shouts and boots pound on concrete. Hope and horror wrench through me. Hope that somehow my Alphas have tracked me here, and horror they won’t make it in time. All Wallace has to do is slide that needle into my vein and everything will be over.
Hardwick’s voice slices the air. "What are you waiting for? Stop them! Kill anyone who tries to come through that door." Her command cracks through the guards as a shout sounds so close it echoes off the walls. Hugo gives me a vicious grin as he charges past.
I choke on a sob, hope combusting in my chest so strong it hurts. My Alphas are here.
It has to be them.
Please, let it be them.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Leah
The heavy door slams back on its hinges and a wall of muscle and fury fills the opening. My Alphas, pour through in a rush of violence. Ronan leads them chest heaving. Jax and Gabriel flank him, fanning out into the room.
Ronan’s liquid gaze fixes on me, his sight alone carving a path to me through the chaos. Jax and Gabriel fan out on either side as guards surge toward them. Gabriel is a blade in motion, sweeping low to slam one guard against the wall, fist cracking bone, heel smashing knee, his scent flaring bright and furious. Jax blocks with his elbow to the closest guard's jaw. The guard drops and Jaxuses his body weight to slam the unconscious body into the guard behind, both crashing into the wall.
All I hear, all that exists, is the gravity of Ronan’s focus. He stalks toward Wallace, whipping his gun from his holster and aiming it with both hands, not breaking stride as violence escalates around us.
