Page 105 of Ruin Me Knot
"Stand back," he booms, the Alpha bark so deep and absolute it reverberates through my marrow.
I jolt on the gurney as my body bends to obey. The syringe falls from Wallace’s fingers as he fights Ronan’s compulsion, but Ronan is too strong.
"Both of you. On the ground. Now!" Ronan barks.
Hardwick sucks in a breath, eyes darting between Wallace and the muzzle of Ronan’s gun. Her composure shatters, face twisting. She grabs a syringe from the tray and lunges over me, her arm whipping toward my heart. "You’ll never have her!"
A gunshot cracks open the world. A perfect hole flowers in the center of Hardwick’s forehead. The syringe falls from her hand and clatters to the floor. Her knees buckle, weight slumping heavy over me for an endless second before she crumples.
"They killed her. Get them!" Wallace screeches.
Guards swarm Ronan, two barreling into him with blunt, animal force. He meets them with savage ferocity, driving the gun handle into one’s face, bone crunching, then seizing another by the throat and slamming him against the wall.
Wallace uses the chaos as cover, shadowing the edge of the room and slipping out of the door as a third guard charges with a baton. Ronan’s fist explodes through the arc, shattering ribs, sending the guard sprawling to the ground with a howl.
I’m paralyzed with horror. The restraints dig in as I struggle. I can’t move, can’t speak, can barely watch as Ronan comes away red, bodies shaking and crumpling around him.
Gabriel surges toward me. "Sweetheart!"
I cry out as he unlocks the restraints around my wrists and ankles. He scoops me against his heated chest and I cling to him, shaking, sobbing, clutching at his shirt, fingers locking in the material.
"I’ve got you, Sweetheart. I’m getting you out of here. You’re safe now. I promise."
Gabriel steps over Hardwick’s body as Jax fights two guards at once. One guard goes down with a sharp crack. The other tries for Jax’s throat, but Jax clamps down hard with a hand, twisting, a knee driving the breath from the guard’s chest.
His dark eyes fall on me, endless and urgent. "I’ll take lead."
Gabriel nods as Ronan throws the last guard to the ground with a roar, but Hugo has leveled his weapon at Ronan’s back. Hugo is a man with nothing to lose, a wild card who will do anything to ensure his own survival. He’ll keep firing until there’s nothing left to kill.
Gabriel’s gun sits on his upper chest. I wrap my fingers around the handle and slide it free, the weight warm and unfamiliar. I raise it, arms shaking, and fire. The crack is deafening, reverberating through my skeleton. My arm whips back, shoulder wrenching as the bullet finds the hollow of Hugo’s throat.
His hands fly to his neck, crimson welling between thick fingers as his gun falls from his hands. He staggers, gurgling, eyes bulging as he tries to choke back the blood and gulp air past the ruin of his windpipe. It’s no use. The wound is catastrophic, blood pouring over his shirt in dark sheets.
A ragged, wet rattling escapes his lips. He drops to his knees, clawing, gasping, staring at me. Pleading for something I will never give. I feel nothing as he falls forward hard, writhing in his own blood before going slack.
Gabriel tightens his arms around me, shielding my face, but the world keeps shaking and all I can do is hold on.
"Holy shit. You killed him, Sunshine.” Jax breathes, awe and grief warring in his voice.
"H…Hugo…that was…Hugo." My teeth chatter so violently I nearly bite my tongue.
"The bastard deserved worse," Gabriel says.
I clutch Gabriel like he’s the last real thing in the world. My body trembles, every muscle locked, unable to let go. My vision tunnels, black and cold and flickering.
More black-clad figures spill through the ruined doorway but Ronan’s snarl cuts through them. "Weapons down! The room is secured!" His rage is barely leashed, teeth bared, eyes burning, every inch of him a threat.
Dimly I recognize some of the faces. There are Mira’s and Emma’s Alphas, but it’s all too much, too fast. I can’t stop shaking, can’t stop the clatter of my teeth or the bitter taste of fear on my tongue.
"Get away from my Omega!" Ronan shouts. My Alphas close in, their bodies a barricade around me. Ronan strips off his shirt and pulls my arms through the sleeves, swaddling me in warmth that smells of forests and sweat and safety. Still I shake and the world grows floaty. I’m stuck on the blood splattered on the walls. All over the floor. So much blood.
"Leah, Sunshine, you’re in shock," Jax murmurs as he strokes my hair. "We need to get her out of here. Now."
They form a living wall around me and surge through the dark corridors away from the gore. The night air hits cold, too bright, full of distant sirens. I’m bundled into the backseat of a car, Gabriel holding me tight to his chest, Jax curled around my side, his arms a cage of warmth and certainty, but I can’t still the tremors running up and down my spine.
Ronan throws himself into the front seat, slamming the door as the engine roars to life. We tear from the lot, tires screeching. The world is a blur of neon and streetlamps and screaming speed. The city whips past in chaotic flashes. Buildings sliding by in streaks. Sirens and horns in the distance. Every bump and swerve rattling through my bones.
Replays of the past hour storm my mind. My thoughts stall, jammed up on the image of Evelyn Hardwick, her body folding and the bullet-hole blooming dark and red in the center of her forehead. I can hardly believe that Hardwick isdead.
