Theo’s babbling now, wild-eyed and shaking. “I didn’t—I didn’t know you were serious—I didn’t rape her, I swear?—”
I grab him by the neck and yank him forward until our foreheads nearly touch.
“You remember putting a gun to her head? You remember firing it next to her ear, laughing while she screamed, while her fucking ears bled?”
His breath stutters. “I was doing what we’re trained—she was just—” I slam the butt of my gun into his mouth. Teeth shatter.
He crumples. Gurgling.
I grab him again, forcing the barrel of my Glock between his eyes. His nose bleeds. His body shakes. He’s sobbing.
Click.
I pull the trigger on an empty chamber.
He lets out a strangled shriek, piss soaking his jeans.
Click.
Another pull. Another scream.
“Feels different on the other side of the barrel, doesn’t it?” I snarl.
He’s whimpering now. Mucus running down his face.
I lean in. “You made her think she was going to die. You ruptured her eardrums. You made her scream. And now you’re going to feel every fucking second of it.” I slam him back against the couch, straddling his chest, shoving the pliers into his mouth.
He fights, but I’m stronger.
I grip the base of that gold fucking tooth.
Twist.
He screams, and blood pours from his mouth. I twist harder, ripping the tooth free with a sickening snap of tendon and root.
He thrashes beneath me.
“This is mine now.” I hold up the bloody tooth between my fingers. “Just like your fear. And now you’re going to tell meeveryfucking thing you did to her.”
“Jesus,Priest. Where the fuck were you?”
Arsen’s voice barrels down the hall as I storm past the bunker kitchen, blood still drying on my hands. The team goes quiet. All eyes follow me.
I don’t stop.
“I took care of some unfinished business,” I mutter, peeling off my blood-soaked shirt as I make it to the sink. It hits the basin with a wet slap. I crank the faucet and let the cold water run over my hands. Pink spirals circle the drain.
“Unfinished—?” Arsen barks out a bitter laugh. “You out of your fucking mind?”
His accent thickens, hardening every syllable. “Every Sovereign in the South is hunting you. There’s a kill order with your name in red ink.”
He paces behind me, dragging both hands through his hair. “You think this is a joke?”
I scrub harder.
He keeps going. “We are in the middle of fucking coup,da? And you go rogue. You disappear without a word, without backup, with half the South ready to skin you alive.”
“Fuck off, Arsen,” I snap, not looking up. “I don’t need permission to breathe in this hellhole.”
