Lifting his arm, I see that someone cut a dick and fireworks into his skin.
“I asked Jude to immortalize today on Buck’s body. There’s more all over him. He’s been keeping me from getting sad. I survived my past, but my mom couldn’t. A part of me wishes she was strong enough to choose me,” she whispers.
“Some people aren't meant to be mothers,” I say gently, tossing my heavy work gloves aside to hug her. “I smell like fire. Sorry.”
“You’re setting up a funeral pyre. I don’t mind it,” she admits. “Only typically, people aren’t alive for this. I don’t know if Ricky is still alive.”
“He is. He’s pretending to be dead,” Atlas says as he joins us, kicking Ricky to make him yelp. “Are you ready for us to chuck them on the fire, or do you need more time, Little Rose? There’s no wrong answer.”
“I’m ready to put this behind me,” she decides. “Then I want to shower and for you to fuck me. I need to remember that I’m alive and they’re not.”
Taking a deep breath, the melancholy recedes and she gives me a beautiful smile. Kissing her cheek, Jude and I pull up the stakes and begin to half drag, half carry Buck toward the fire. He’s too weak to fight us, but he’s still fucking heavy.
Atlas easily carries Ricky, tossing him onto the raised dais. I don’t know how he did it, but with the help of some nails and his hammer, he managed to create a slightly raised platform so the fire could rage underneath it.
“We could use some help,” I grunt, pouting as I see how easily he managed Ricky’s body.
“You got it,” Atlas says, kissing both Jude and I. “Go check on Briar?”
I nod, leaving Atlas to handle Buck’s body. Briar looks up as I hold out my hand, and Jude and I help her up.
“Fires always make me want to roast marshmallows,” I say, hugging her.
“Ohhh. I think I have some in the kitchen,” she admits.
“I’m the least messy. I’ll grab them,” Jude offers.
“There’s skewers in the drawer to the right of the sink, Jude. Can you grab those too?”
“Yep.” Jude heads back into the house, while I snuggle Briar against me as we walk back toward the fire. Atlas barely gruntsas he throws Buck’s body onto the pyre, and Briar’s lips twitch in amusement as we hear his muffled screams.
“He used to scare me,” she admits. “Buck and his pack were much bigger than me. I always tried to stay out of their path, but it was impossible. And now… he’s going to die, bound and silenced, choking on his own knot for eternity.”
“Life is fucking awesome, isn’t it?” Atlas asks, hugging us both.
“Thank you for this,” she sighs. “I didn’t realize how much I needed to hurt them.”
“We’re always going to take care of each other. If there’s a nightmare to be slain, we’ll do it,” he says.
Jude hands out skewers and marshmallows, and we act silly and sing songs as we eat our treat. Atlas is right. As long as we’re together, we won’t let anyone hurt our omegas.
Chapter
Eighteen
BRIAR
The soundsof soft chatter and laughter pull me from my sleep.
I smile, stretching out my arms over my head with a groan, happiness filling me at the sounds of my pack making themselves at home in my house.
Last night was amazing. Honestly the best gift my pack could have given me. To be able to see with my own eyes the ending of the men who made my life miserable, who allowed their sick, fucked in the head son to chase me down like a fucking animal and rape me, who was trying to force me to be his omega against my will, was soul cleansing.
Hearing them scream, listening to them beg and being shown no mercy was the cherry on top.
Where was my mercy? I didn’t get a choice, and neither did they.
Pushing myself up into a seated position, I rub the sleep from my eyes, giving myself a second to wake up.
