Page 87 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

He’s breathing. He’s alive.

I shake my head, irritated all over again. Real, not real. This is what happens when she makes us forget. Fucking Merle.

I snarl, turning on the one source of my agony I can do something about, ready to separate him from his pitiful life. I surge forward, snatching up a fallen blade. I spin into the alpha, hit, hit, hit. Stab, strike. Slice. His eyes widen, his blood turns the air metallic. He stumbles to his knees, but I keep moving around him, striking, stabbing, until he’s so riddled with holes that he’s just a dead body that hasn’t fallen yet.

I grab his arm and drag him to the edge, then throw him off, too.

When I look up, King is standing in the rain, staring at me, his chest heaving. Lightning illuminates him, and I see blood has streaked his upper arms and knuckles.

He looks beautiful. My violent dance. How Merle could never see what he was is beyond me. How she missed what they all were, just a waste. An absolute waste.

My killers.

Movement tears my gaze from him, and I turn and find Roseland getting to his knees. He shakes his head and looks up.

“Merle.” Her name on his lips.

I hate it as much as I love it. Say my name. Know me.

It’s the only thing I hear. But then they come out of the dark, out of the forest. These alphas, her alphas, come. They are pretty, I will give her that. They move like the promise of death, all silence and grace.

Proper predators coming to save their queen. Except…I’m not her, and it won’t take them long to figure it out.

I cock my head to the side and put my hand on my hip, grinning at them.

“That was fun.”

They startle. I wonder if any of them have heard us speak yet. Merle never says a word. Ever.

Blaze is wearing an expression I can’t interpret. Sage’s smile is in place. King is scowling. Roseland hasn’t been able to look away, but Rolly lets out a whoop and rushes me. I’m a little nervous about how this is going to go. I hum, considering whether to go or stay.

He stops before he touches me, circling me and looking me up and down before he pulls me into his arms.

“Merle? You’re okay. And you can talk?”

I let out a sharp bark of laughter and shove myself free of him. “Bzzzz. Sorry, boys, Merle isn’t in right now. Call again later.”

“What?” Sage asks dumbly.

It’s almost cute.

I flash them a wicked grin and then fly at the side of the cliff. I leap off, soaring into space, ignoring their shouts.

“What the fuck!” Rolly shrieks.

I catch hold of the tops of the trees I’d planned to land in and shimmy down, disappearing before anyone can even think of following.

I land on the ground but am pulled up short and shoved into the tree trunk. My eyes flare wide.

“Hello, lover.”

Pix glares at me. “Who are you?”

I grin, but my grip loosens, and I’m not the one who answers him.

Kestrel

Iblink and give myself a few seconds, but Pix is already shoving me harder against the tree. My gaze finds a trickle of blood, and I reach up and touch it, wiping it away.