Page 149 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

I hit him in the kidneys, and he backs off laughing, which makes me even more wary.

“So vicious. You were perfect, Merle. My common little bird. Who would have thought you’d be so much trouble. You know there’s a reason you are still alive. Have you figured it out yet?”

No, I haven’t, but it’s been on my mind.

I crouch, prepared to react to any of the threats. The line of his little weapons hasn’t moved an inch, but then he doesn’t need them to. He trained us. He was our teacher.

“I don’t want this life!” I shout. “You are foul, and I remember my mother and my father. I remember my sister. Before you, I had a family and a life. I could have been someone, and you BROKE ME!” I howl.

“No!” he roars. “I made you more. I made you better. Look at you, you can be anybody. Kill anyone. You are my bird, my transformation, my achievement.”

My snarl is echoed in the chamber by something much angrier and bigger than me.

What the fuck was that? It sounds almost like…an enraged alpha. Like King…but King is dead, isn’t he?

I’m so startled I miss the kick that grabs my ribs. I’m sent flying, rolling hard, the wind knocked out of me.

“You are so ungrateful. They say children are a parent’s greatest disappointment, and I can see that with you. Little bitch.” He paces back and forth, his leather-gloved hands clenching into fists.

“I don’t want to be a killer for you. I don’t want to be a slave. There is a whole world out there, and I want to eat and sleep and be safe and be loved.”

“Loved? You think anyone could love you?”

“I know they could! I was already loved until you killed them all. Mum. Dad. Robin!” I shout.

“No…” Jay whispers. “Callea.”

“Callea,” I whisper, repeating the name. I don’t remember mine, but I remember hers.

I get to my feet, and he hits me again. I don’t even care, I remember her name.

“CALLEA!” I scream at him. “CALLEA, CALLEA, CALLEA!”

“Stop. It.” He punches me so hard I land winded. But I grin because I’m pissing him off.

I lift my chin and wipe the blood away. “Or what? Are you going to kill me? Beat me? Starve me? Torture me?”

“I’ll kill your scent matches, your bonds.”

I climb unsteadily to my feet and stand there staring at him in shock. “They’re alive?”

He roars at me.

They are alive! I burst into giggles. “You think you’re a match for my alphas?”

He stares at me. I can feel his hostile gaze beyond the fabric that hides his asinine face.

I laugh harder, doubling over. I palm the tears from my eyes.

“Oh, you stupid, stupid man.”

He comes at me, but I wag my finger at him.

“Uh-uh. You’re in enough trouble as it is. You think having a family of assassins is bad? I just bonded into a family of serial killers.”

He stares at me.

“Oh…you didn’t realise there were that many?”