Page 97 of Ruin Me Knot
"Every week," Kylie spits, flinching as Jax’s grip tightens. Her gaze darts to Mick, who’s gasping, eyes rolling.
I don’t care if he never breathes again. They may not know Hardwick’s location, but they knew she was abducting Omegas to torture them and they did nothing. Simply enjoyed the perks off the back of others' abuse.
I bare my teeth, swallowing the urge to do real damage. "Why did Hardwick want to turn Betas into Alphas?"
"Because Alphas are perfection. The peak. Naturally obeyed. She thought everyone should be as strong as possible," she says, eyes turning bright despite Jax’s stranglehold on her nape.
"Is that why you took Omegas? Why experiment on them? What was the point?" Jax rumbles.
Mick makes awful choking noises, clearly on the edge of blacking out, but I let it happen. I want them suffocating under the weight of all the Omegas they helped destroy.
"Because society’s ruled by the strong. There’s no place for the weak. Omegas turn the most dominant into the weakest with their heats, their slick, that disgusting, sickening perfume. Gods, people even make candles to smell like flowers, or forests, or even like a damn bakery. Evelyn experimented to end it. Imagine no more Omegas. Genocide for progress. She had a plan for everything, and youruinedit."
I stare down at this female who has just outlined a blueprint for extermination signed in blood and abuse. Horror and disgust slither cold beneath the white-hot surface of my fury. Jax’s anger reverberates though our pack bond, just as horrified and tumultuous.
"Hardwick experimented on Omegas. Kidnapped and tortured them because she thought the weak should be erased?" I whisper.
Kylie’s chin juts with obvious pride, blind to the trap she’s walked into. "Why not? What do they give us? You waste strength and resources on them. Evelyn was going to end it forever. She was planning to do what no Alpha ever dared. She’s the ultimate Alpha."
All I can see is Leah, small, battered, fighting to live despite monsters like this. I want them to feel even a sliver of the terror and despair they forced on her.
I release Mick’s limp form back against the chair. He drags in rough breaths, wrists rattling the cuffs. His face is red, sweat-slick. Jax releases Kylie with a shove, sending her sprawling across the table.
I wipe my palm on my jeans, fighting to keep the disgust from boiling over. "Did you get all that, Detective?"
The door opens and Asher walks in, two uniformed officers hovering behind him. He inclines his head toward the one-way mirror. "Every word."
"Thank Gods you’re here! These Alphas were going to kill us!" Kylie screeches.
"Don’t look to me for kindness. You both just implicated yourselves and Senator Hardwick in illegal Omega trafficking. I heard the whole confession. So did the recorders." Asher nods to the officers.
The uniforms unlock the cuffs and haul Mick and Kylie to their feet. Kylie wrenches away from the officer's hold. "This is illegal. They laid hands on us. Brutalized us for a confession."
"Oh, that’s a shame. The camera malfunctioned. Some sort of virus, but we did get audio at least. That’s enough for the courts. By the way, people who hunt and torture Omegas don’t last long in prison. Some cells are full of former victims’ families. You’ll pay for every second of what you did."
Kylie’s screech echoes down the corridor as they’re dragged away. I lean on the table. "We got a confession, but no new leads. We still have no idea where Hardwick is."
Asher rubs a weary hand over his jaw, the lines of exhaustion sharp under harsh lights. "It’s late," he says, voice losing some of its hard edge. "We’ll get a team together first thing tomorrow, go over every piece again. Maybe something will pull loose. But for now, we’ve squeezed the stone dry."
Every second we don’t find Hardwick, the threat to Leah grows. I trace the crack I left in the table, wanting the world to crack the same way and spill a clue.
Jax drapes a heavy hand on my shoulder, grounding me. "Come on, brother. We won’t think straight if we run ourselves raw. Leah going to wake up from surgery, and she’ll need all of us there."
He’s right. I swallow back the rawness in my throat and let him steer me into the quiet corridor. The precinct door swings shut behind us.
All I can do now is hold myself together so I can give her everything.
Chapter Forty-Five
Leah
Cold air needles my bare skin. I’m lying in a paper gown on a surgical bed, the light above bleaching the world into harsh, colorless edges. My heart hammers so fast I can barely feel the space between beats. I try to steady my breath, but every inhale quakes on the brink of panic and dread has grown claws in my stomach.
Gabriel’s voice cuts through the high whine in my skull. "If you see the light at the end of a tunnel, don’t go running toward it unless there’s cake. But only if it’s chocolate. And if it is, then you have to come back togive me a slice."
I choke out a sound that becomes a laugh, but it cracks apart halfway between my teeth. "Is that your professional medical advice, Dr. Gabriel?"
His eyes crinkle with a lopsided grin. "I’m strictly a consulting Alpha, but my bedside manner is unmatched. And statistically, nobody evil serves chocolate cake at the end of tunnels. That’s a fact." His hand is big and warm and trembling just a little. He’s scared too. He brushes his cheek against mine, giving me a burst of bright citrus but nothing quite banishes the fractured ache.
