A wicked smile carved into it.
But his eyes…
They weren’t the same.
Not like I remembered.
There was something unfamiliar there. Something hiding beneath his false confidence, betraying him.
Fear.
Not just of Silas. Not just of Knox.
Of me.
"My Lena," he breathed.
"I’m here, Marco," I said, studying him from a distance.
Silas moved past me without a word, stopping at the workbench as he began selecting tool and laying them out across a silver tray. Metal clinked softly against metal.
Marco didn’t even glance in his direction, completely uninterested in what was in store for him. Instead, his eyes stayed locked on me, unblinking.
Knox hovered nearby. I could feel him reach through the bond, a quiet pull, making sure I was still anchored.
"I knew you’d come," Marco said, his voice breaking into a wheezing cough that twisted into laughter.
"Of course I came."
"Because you belong to me." As he spoke, his smile stretched wider. Unhinged. "You’re mine, Lena. You always will be. Even after I’m gone. I made you."
A low warning growl rumbled from Silas, but I shot him a look, steady and certain.
I’ve got this.
"Maybe you’re right about one thing, Marco," I said, taking a step closer. "Maybe you did make me. The version of me that hid in the dark. Too afraid to speak. Too afraid to be touched. Too weak to fight back."
His eyes lit up, something hungry flickering behind them, his smile carving deeper into his face.
"Maybe you made them too, when you killed their mother," I continued, motioning to my alphas. "They became violent, angry men, hellbent on revenge. Who knows who Silas and Knox would have been without you."
I felt Knox shift behind me, but I didn’t look back.
"But do you know what else is true?"
I closed the distance between us, leaning in just enough to wrinkle my nose at the stench rolling off him. Sandalwood, buried beneath sour sweat, blood, and piss.
"We rebuilt each other," I said quietly. "We made each other strong."
My gaze held his, unflinching.
"We overcame what you tried to make us. And we belong to each other, no one else. Certainly notyou."
I let the words echo, watching surprise flicker in his eyes.
"And now," I added, more coldly, "we’re going to erase you so completely…"
I leaned in just a fraction closer, my whisper low in his ear.
