Page 51 of Pack Ruin
“She’s new, she and Delia both. They just got the bandages on; they shouldn’t take them off,” Iris volunteered.
Holly pivoted on one heel and shoved the baton into the center of Iris’s torso. “Did I give you permission to speak? What did I tell you would happen the next time you gave me any lip?” She waited, her breath loud in the dead silent room. “Well, tell me what I said.”
Iris struggled to inhale, but managed to speak. “You said… you’d break… my jaw.”
“That’s right. You had fair warning. So put your hand down and your chin up, you little bitch. We’ll see how much lip you give with no teeth.” She pulled the baton back, raising it high over her shoulder.
Aw, hell no.I didn’t even have to think. Del had taught me well, and though I was too far to grab Holly’s arm and stop her from striking, I was right next to one of my favorite weapons of all time. A mop.
I’d snatched it up before the baton had started to descend, and swung it with all the rage I felt at this bitch hurting little girls and women, and thriving while this whole pack was suffering. Dying.
Luke was gasping for breath across the compound, and here I was, having to deal with her shit again. She needed to die. But I’d start with teaching her a lesson.
The mop handle wasn’t strong enough to break the baton, but it was plenty strong to break her arm. I shifted to a low crouch and brought it up fast and hard, relishing the sickening sound of her humerus snapping.
She sucked in a breath to scream as she dropped the baton. Iris caught the metal stick before it could hit the ground and make a noise. I kicked Holly’s knees out from under her and had her in a chokehold on the tile in two seconds.
She screeched once. “Flor?”Her face was equal parts rage, fear, and shock as I rolled her onto her stomach and threaded my arms through hers, one knee pressing into her back, theother on the floor. I yanked the bandages off my head, quickly stuffing them into her mouth before she could make a second sound, or call out to the guards.
In this position, my face was close to hers, and I whispered, “Don’t even try to get away. I’ll break your other arm, and then your jaw. Hell, I’ll work my way down your whole body, break every fucking bone like I’m snapping green beans. I’ve got plenty of time andyearsof bad memories.”
“Let me break some,” Iris said quietly. “And the others. Tami and Deb.” Something in her tone had me twisting my face away to see hers. The other girls were frozen, staring at Holly like she was a rattlesnake that might still bite them, even though I was smashing her face to the floor.
I was about to give suggestions on where to start breaking when, suddenly, the bond between me and Glen lit up with fear, like he’d been taken by surprise.Shit.He might need me. I didn’t have time for Holly.
“She’s yours, then. As far as I’m concerned, y’all can spend the rest of the night playing with this old bitch. I’ve gotta go.”
“We can’t keep her alive,” Iris breathed in my ear. “We have to kill her.”
“We?”
Iris’s eyes were haunted. “Tami and Deb at least.”
They both gasped. Deb let out a sob.
“What did she do?” I asked. When no one spoke, I shook Holly’s arms, grinding the broken one under my now-clawed hand. “What did you do, you walking piece of dogshit?”
Of course, she couldn’t answer with her mouth full of dirty cloth, but her eyes flashed with something like panic.
Courtney finally sucked in a breath. “She sold us. She’s taken food and presents for… for all of us. Even the younger girls.”
“Who?” I was shaking with rage now. “How old?” I let my grip on her other arm tighten until blood spilled out frombeneath my claws, and heard the smaller bones in her other arm break. “Give me that baton, Iris. I’ll make sure she can’t go running for help anytime soon.”
“You said you had somewhere to be,” Iris said, smacking the baton on Holly’s skull neatly and knocking her out, like she was conking a catfish on the head. “We’ll take care of this one.”
Within seconds, Deb and Tami had tied Holly’s arms behind her back, and dragged her into the bathroom with Courtney’s help. Iris sat next to Delia on the bed, who stared in fascination through the open bathroom doorway as the two girls went to work.
With a heavy sigh, Iris picked her up and turned her away from the grisly scene.“Thanks again,” she said to me as she rocked Delia on her lap like she was much younger than her age.
Unable to stay still, I was already up and at the window, cursing when I saw it wasn’t just nailed, but welded shut. I’d hoped to get out and escape by way of the treetops. My wires and cord should still be there, probably in decent enough shape to get me down from the dorm roof. Getting out through the hallways would be a lot harder.
For a moment, I listened to the sweet, muffled sounds of Holly being tortured by three girls who were discovering one of the least appreciated, yet most effective forms of therapy available. Getting bloody, thorough revenge.
Then I turned back to Iris. What had she just said? “Thanks… again?”
“Of course again. You think the girls in this pack like me don’t know how much we owe you?”
“What?”
