“How are things with your future wife?” Declan asks him.
“She stopped trying to bite me. I think that’s progress.”
Declan nods his head like that’s a normal answer. There are six barrels, three dead bodies, and one wheezing Italian in the back of the truck as Declan lowers the hatch.
“I’ll send in my clean-up crew to clean your place up,” Lev offers.
“Thanks.”
“What’s another thing for me to do? Save Omegas, cat sitting, I’m just a man of all fucking trades,” Lev complains.
“Didn’t kill the fucker though,” I grumble.
“I can’t do it all,” he replies and I try not to let my annoyance show.
I can’t be, not really. He sent multiple texts to Cillian, letting him know shit went south in Reno, and all he was able to do was successfully grab Natasha. There was no way we could have anticipated all this shit was happening—not when we were so preoccupied with Elena’s heat.
Anthony groans as he lies on his side in the truck. We patched up his gunshot wound so he wouldn’t bleed to death. He’s pale but still coherent. I’m not sure if he expected Elena to plead for his life or not, but she didn’t.
There’s a dark part of me that wants to drag this out, that wants Anthony to suffer for the way he’s treated Elena and what his intentions were. There’s also the complete exhaustion that’s attempting to take over and just wanting to be done with it all.
With Anthony finally out of the way and all the agreements we’ve come to with the other families, we can finally be a pack and move on with our lives.
Lev laughs as he looks at something on his phone. “My soon-to-be father-in-law would like a body part as payment for his transgressions.”
“You could still cut off his dick,” Finn suggests easily, loading the chemicals into the trunk.
“Perhaps something less disgusting to carry around. Maybe a few fingers,” Lev replies.
Finn nods his head like it’s a good compromise, and Anthony finally looks like he’s scared about his fate.
“We need to cauterize it so he doesn’t bleed out,” Declan points out.
Finn grabs a small hand torch, giving it to Declan. Anthony shimmies toward the wall of the truck as Lev takes a knife out of his pocket.
“Hmm. I think I’ll take them all,” he hums gleefully, grabbing Anthony’s hand and pressing it on the floor before sawing his knife down on the digits.
The knife doesn’t cut through right away, so he has to press harder, making Anthony cry out in pain. Lev lets him keep his thumb, but it doesn’t matter, anyway.
Lev holds out Anthony’s hand as Declan uses the torch to cauterize the wound. The smell of burned flesh makes me want to gag, but I watch as the disgrace of a man suffers.
Anthony screams one more time before promptly passing out.
“At least he’ll shut the fuck up now,” Finn grunts, leaning up against a workbench in the garage. “Are we ready to get this shit over with? I’m hungry and tired.”
“Maybe we can stop and get some BBQ on the way,” Declan jokes, and I give him a disgusted look.
“I like you,” Lev remarks before hopping out of the truck.
Finn hands him a plastic bag, and he stores Anthony’s fingers in it before putting them in his back pocket. He washes his hands in the sink and takes one last look around.
“Have fun with that.” He waves his hands at the truck. “Should only take a day or two for cleanup, and then you can bring your Omega home. Tell Cillian I said hello.”
Lev doesn’t wait for a reply, just exits through the side door of the garage without another word.
With the chemicals, barrels, and bodies loaded, we take the moving truck and make plans to meet Tadhg and Cormac in Arizona.
“I’m too fucking old for this shite,” Declan complains as he helps me lift the barrel into the boat.
