This was fucking useless—all of it.
The temper that had landed me in more than a little trouble over the course of my life yanked hard against its tattered leash. My hands clenched into fists as I leaned close.
“Your sob story doesn’t interest me one goddamned bit,” I snarled. “Do you know why? Because I can name dozens of omegas with stories just as bad, and not a single one of them randomly decided to attempt the murder of one of the people who’sfucking trying to help them!”
She made another muffled noise of fear and scrambled backward on the bed until her shoulders hit the headboard, her chest rising and falling in convulsive gasps.
“And if you could have been bothered to do the most basic amount of research and fact checking of some random fucker whowouldn’t even give you his last name,” I went on relentlessly, “you’d have fuckingknown that!”
I realized I was breathing just as hard as she was. Meanwhile, Tony had backed up against the wall farthest from me, and was staring at me like he didn’t even recognize me. With a low growl, I turned on my heel and stalked out of the room before I lost control of myself completely. The last thing I heard as I slammed the door behind me was the sound of keening omega sobs.
My footsteps echoed dully on the steep staircase as I jogged down to the ground floor. Knowing I didn’t dare leave the house with the attic door unlocked, I fetched up halfway along the main hallway—across from the huge parlor we’d retrofitted as a dorm for the omegas that came through this place.
Jesus.
My heart was pounding like I’d run a marathon, and my instincts were screaming nonstop that I’d left my mate curled up in a terrified ball and sobbing her eyes out. This twisted scent-match had to be a punishment straight from the deepest circle of hell.
I braced a hand against the wall, letting my head hang as I tried to get my breath back and figure out what to do next.
Hesitant footsteps approached along the hallway, and I sighed.
“Tell me you locked the attic door behind you,” I said, not looking up.
“No, I did not lock the fucking door!” Tony snapped. His voice was shaking. “What the hell iswrongwith you, Heath!”
I straightened with reluctance, because yeah, Tony was definitely part of the coddling brigade, too. His aggressive stance surprised me, nonetheless. Normally, he went out of his way to show how completely unaffected he was by everything—whether that meant gathering intel on union-busting or sucking my cock.
Tony wassafe... or so I’d thought.
“Can Iremindyou,” I barked, still not in control of my righteous anger, “that my closest friend is currentlylying in a hospital bed on life supportbecause of that girl?”
I hadn’t made a move toward him, but Tonycringed—visibly preventing himself from taking a step backward.
A step away fromme.
By the way, Gage had said when I’d showed up to relieve him of guard duty.You should know that Tony’s stepdad sexually abused him as a kid. The asshole showed up here in Chicago a year ago to start up again, and Jez bashed in his head with a table lamp.
And because I was an idiot who hadn’t had more than half an hour of sleep at a stretch since Gage and I had found Knox unconscious in his hotel suite, that connection hadn’t clicked into place in my brain until just this moment.
“The body I cleaned up for you,” I realized. “That was your stepfather.”
Tony sucked in a sharp breath, derailed. “... What?”
I blinked, suddenly aware of just how desperately I needed sleep, and how unlikely I was to get it anytime soon.
“Gage... told me,” I said, and watched his expression shutter into wariness.
“Yeah,” Tony admitted. “Jez showed up in the nick of time and saved me. I was too scared to fight back properly.”
And now he was scared of me—the angry alpha snarling at him because I was pissed off at his friend who’d rescued him from being assaulted by his childhood abuser. I closed my eyes and took in a huge breath, holding it for several seconds before letting it out slowly.
Of course Tony wasn’t going to throw this omega she-devil under the bus without a second thought.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay, look. I’m not angry at you.”
“You’re angry at her,” he said, sounding less like he was fighting the urge to break and run. “And, yeah, okay... I get it. Believe me; I do. But I want you to tell me something truthfully. I’m not ever going to ask for details, but tell me you’ve never killed anyone before. Because people who know how to make a dead body disappear without a trace in the space of a few hours aren’t usually the kind of people passing around the collection plate at church every Sunday.”
“You already know I can’t tell you that,” I said, exhaustion washing through the words.
