“Fuck you.” He spits, the glob landing inches from Raze’s boot.
I laugh under my breath. “Careful, Dalton. Wouldn’t want to test his aim. He’s jumpy when he’s bored.”
Alistair drags out a chair, plants himself across from me. “I’m not admitting shit,” he sneers. “You’ve lost your goddamn mind. Locking us in here? For what?”
Dalton spins. “I’m not staying in here another fucking second. You can’t keep us here—we’ve done nothing wrong!”
I sigh, planting myself in a chair, the metal groans under the weight. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“This whole thing,” Alistair snaps, “is in your twisted fucking head. You’ve always been fucked, Priest—but now you’re completely gone.”
Raze flips his knife open, cleaning his nails with the blade. Alistair sits up, his body tensing at the sight of the blade.
“Everyone knows Valcross fucked you up,” Alistair sneers. “This isn’t strategy. It’s a PTSD psychotic break and you’ve got so many goddamn people scared of you, no one’s brave enough to call your bullshit.”
My eye twitches. The one-eight-seven inked into my neck burns. The mention of Valcross peels back my skull like a can lid.
I lean forward slowly. “Areyouscared of me, Alistair?” His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t speak. “Because you fucking should be.”
I slam my fists onto the table so hard the whole thing jolts.
“He’s been playing you, you stupid fucks. Just like he played me. And when the time is right, Sterling will slit your throats,” I snarl through my teeth. “And if he doesn’t get the pleasure?” I lean even closer, close enough for him to see the whites of my eyes. “I will. I’ve dreamed of putting you down like the fucking coward you are.”
Dalton tenses, but I’m not finished.
“I don’t give a fuck if either of you live or die. But I give a fuck if Sterling thinks—for one miserable fucking second—that he can take me out.” I stand up straight, towering over them now. “We both know he’s not working alone. We just don’t know how many of your rich daddy’s friends are helping him.”
Dalton looks away, but Alistair stares up at me with that founder-born superiority complex he inherited from his bloodline of cowards. I can see it all over his face—the disbelief, the disdain, the blind trust in a system that was built to protect him.
“Fuck. You. Priest,” he spits. “You won’t get away with this. And if you’re implying our fathers had anything to do with your paranoid bullshit, then you better be prepared to lose your life. You’ve always been dead set on ruining the reputation of the founding members. That’s all this is.IfSterling wants anyone dead, it’syou.You don’t follow orders. You don’t fall in line. You do what you want, when you want. And now you’ve convinced all these weak-minded fucks—” he gestures toward the other Sovereign soldiers in the room “—that everyone’s out to get you. Pathetic. You’re a goddamn coward.”
Raze points his knife directly at Alistair’s chest. “You need to watch your fucking mouth.”
I tilt my head, gaze still locked on Alistair. “You think I’m keeping you alive? You think I give a shit about saving your miserable fucking life? You should be thanking Arsen. Because if it were up to me, I would’ve carved your fucking name into themorgue wall years ago. You’re a waste of fucking air. Just like your pathetic father.”
The door opens and Wolff steps in, “We’ve got to move. Arsen and the team are back…” he pauses, “with Lev.”
The bunker’salready stacked with more bodies than it can hold when we return. Arsen’s cherry-picked Facility 42 team is unloading gear, tension coiling in the air.
“Fucking Christ, Priest. What kind of shit did you pull this time?”
I don’t need to turn. I’d know that voice anywhere. He strides in, yanking off his gear and dropping it onto the table.
Axel fucking Hawthorne.The Reaper.
The only other monster in this goddamn organization who might be more fucked than me. We’re cut from the same rotting cloth. He’s a legacy, just like me. But his family didn’t survive him.
Only his cousin Griffen’s left—somewhere in the bunker, probably getting on everyone’s last nerve and laughing while doing it.
“How bad?” I ask, glancing down the hallway. I can hear the hum of medical equipment behind the cracked door.
Axe just shakes his head.
Fuck.
I knew it.
And still…I’d hoped I was wrong.
