“Such a brat.”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” Row says as she pats my cheek and takes a step back. “That said, I need you to use your mafia magic and help me try to track down any viable information on what happened to my pack. I can’t move forward until I know who killed them, but I’m not ready for Niko to know all of the specifics of my past life, not yet.”
“Even though he’s blindly following you because of how much he loves you?” Was that shitty to say? Maybe, but it’s true. It’s not my place to tell anyone what kind of shit Sparrow is implying she went through and I’m not going to because of that, but I won’t sit by and let her hide things from any of us, either. Not that I have the right to be so righteous about literally any goddamn thing, but still. “He deserves to know.”
“I know he does, and I will tell him. I’ll tell him everything as soon asyoutell him why you flipped on him and tried to kill him.” She smirks and side steps around me, grinning as I turn to follow. “You won’t get the chance until I’m convinced you won’t hurt him again, though.”
“How am I supposed to prove myself if you won’t let me have contact with my goddamn mate?”
Row shrugs as she puts her mask on. “You aren’t as stupid as I thought you’d be for walking out on someone as perfect as that sweet boy, I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
“You aren’t going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“You don’t deserve easy, Dimitri.”
I can’t help but smile at that. “I guess I don’t, do I?”
“There aren’t words for how hard this is going to be for you, but it won’t last forever if you work your ass off. Niko loves you despite everything you’ve put him through, there’s still hope.”
I watch as Sparrow fixes her clothes and fluffs her hair before she moves her gun from the front of her shorts to the back and just before she walks out, I do something I wasn’t planning on doing tonight.
“Hey.” She pauses and looks at me over her shoulder. “For what it’s worth, it was an alpha bark.” Row tenses and waits as I scrub my hand over my face. “The hit. It doesn’t change that it happened or explain why, but that’s how it started, and the fucking words have haunted me every goddamn day since.”
After what feels like an eternity, she nods and says quietly, “Good.”
Then the beautiful, bratty omega walks out of the coat room, and I’m left standing there with a boulder sitting in my gut.
I wanted to talk to her tonight, I needed to. I had to know what was going on with the two of them and she kind of told me, but I didn’t plan on sharing anything unless I had to. I fucking did, though, and I still have questions.
And apparently I have homework to do if I want to get any real answers.
CHAPTER 25
RUNE
LIKE A VIRGIN - MADONNA
Rubbing the towel over my buzzcut, I pause as I catch sight of myself in the mirror and sigh.
Stupid.
Ugly.
Worthless piece of shit.
A waste of skin and bones.
My eyes move over my face, taking in every scarred, tattooed inch.
I was nameless until he decided to brand me. I was no one until they started marking my body.Runewas born the day the first line of ink was drawn on my skin—which I later learned was thurisaz, the Elder Futhark rune for giant—and not when I actually entered the world eleven years before that.
The Circuit wanted a way to make sure I couldn’t leave, that I’d be killed immediately if I was ever smart enough to try, and these marks drawn in metallic ink were how my master ensured that happened. He had sensors installed, ones that would rip the heavy metals out of my skin, so I couldn’t go anywhere in or outside the compound without someone who could disablethem. He thought that guaranteed I was never going to leave The Circuit unless it was in a body bag.
It’s for your own good. You’re a brainless beast, Rune, and that’s all you’ll ever be. No one could love a monster; they don’t want a big, dumb ape following them around. There is not one single person on earth who wants you at all, and nobody ever will. The marks on your face, on your body, they mean I own you. The Circuit owns you. A mindless robot to do our bidding. It’s the only thing you’re good for; breaking people, ruining them, destroying them until there's nothing left. You’re lucky I didn’t drown you the day you were born, and the only reason you’re still alive is because you’re as trainable, and just as goddamn stupid as a circus chimp. Don’t fuck it up. I won’t make the mistake of sparing your life twice.
My master kept me docile, kept me afraid and ignorant by telling me I was nothing and would always be nothing. He kept me there out of fear of what the sensors would do to my body. So, I was a driver, I was the bodyguard and muscle, I was a murderer and cleanup crew but I was never a human being, and he made me believe I didn’t deserve to be treated like anything other than a beast in a cage.
He even kept me in one.
