I have a split second to throw my hands over my ears before he pulls the trigger. My ears ring as Victor’s body hits the wall with a thud, a giant hole in the side of his head, and half his brain splattering the wall he was huddled against.
Good riddance.
Declan stands, his chest heaving as he stares down at the dead man.
There’s a brief pause before Aidan’s voice comes on over the intercom. “I’m going to call some guys in to get that mess cleaned up. Really, Declan, you couldn’t have shot his brains out in the room with red walls instead? That stain might not ever come out.”
Declan whips around, scowling at Aidan. “Someone,” he motions at Rory, “insisted we only make one of the rooms down here red so it feels ‘more ominous’, andthatroom is currently occupied!”
The guys continue to argue as I look away from the sight of the dead beta, my stomach turning for a reason that has absolutely nothing to do with the brain matter on the wall.
The door to the cell slides open, and in the next instant I’m wrapped in the strong arms of my Russian giant. His scent fills my senses, soothing me. “Come,Lisichka, let us leave. You may taunt Brooks when we get back from your dinner.”
I open my mouth to argue, but after having been slapped in the face with crimes Victor Byrne committed, I’m not much up for any kind of fun.
Those omegas…they could have been me.
If Declan had never found me, I could have been the one snatched off the street and sold into sexual slavery or to Thornfield.
Nolan comes into the cell, placing a hand on Declan’s shoulder. He startles at first, his eyes still fixed on Victor Byrne’s dead body, but when he sees it’s Nolan, he relaxes.
They speak quietly, and I swallow the lump in my throat, nodding. “Alright, Sugar Bear. Let’s go get me ready.”
thirteen
Hayden
Idon’t like our plan for tonight.
My thumb flicks my lighter open and closed as I sit in a bucket chair in the corner of the room. I haven’t been feeling the need to see the flames recently, but I’m on fucking edge after hearing about what that weasel Victor did to all those omegas.
He causedthatmuch damage, and he was a nothing. A nobody. So far down the food chain that Declan and his pack didn’t even register who he was at first.
So what kind of shit are the higher-ups pulling?
Jo steps out of the closet, and despite all my worrying, my dick stands straight at attention.
Yep, I definitely don’t like our plan for tonight.
A black dress hugs every single one of her curves, somehow making them more obvious than I’ve ever seen them—which is saying a lot, because I’ve seen her naked. The neckline plunges, stopping right above her bellybutton, and the slit in the side of it goes halfway up her thigh.
Heels that could stab a man are strapped to her feet, and her vibrant hair is pulled back into a sleek bun. Her makeup makes her look like she could seduce anyone she wanted to with a single look, and fuck, it isworking.
“Fireball…” I groan, dropping my lighter into my lap and rubbing my eyes. “Baby, we’re only supposed to be killing Mikhail Vasiliev, but you know the guys will murder anyone who sees you in that state.”
“Oh?” She props a hand on her hip, and it’s then I spot the small clutch in that same hand. “Youdon’t care if they see me like this?”
“As your super-laid-back mate who knows you only have eyes for your pack? I say, let them look. But as the super-on-edge-pyromaniac who is fighting to not set the nearest object on fire? I’m happy to let them do the killing. That way I still get the reputation for being reasonable, but still get to watch the fuckers die.”
She grins. “I knew you were smart.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You also know I like to keep them guessing.” A groan leaves me as she starts putting these dangly earrings into her ears. She had Kole re-pierce them yesterday, because of course, as well as doing most of his tattoos, he also knows how to do body modifications.
Fucking Russian giant.
“Well?” She spins in a circle, and I find myself biting my knuckles at the sight of her perfect ass. “How do I look?”
“Like sex on a stick,” I groan, standing up and sliding my lighter into my pocket so I can touch her. She meets me in the middle, my hands trailing down her bare arms as she looks up at me with those mesmerizing eyes.
