Page 5 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

Now, she’s got to pay the price, and the price of that pain is steep.

I don’t interfere, though. It’s not my place. This is all Sage. Rolly and King stand witness, looming in the dark, dripping with violence.

“You can let go now, King. Thank you.”

King grumbles but lets go of them, sneering in disgust as he backs to where Rolly is waiting.

“How dare you bring us here,” Dwight growls.

He’s so pathetic. The fact that he brutally turned Sage into the nightmare he is, thinking to use him as a weapon, is hilarious, especially with the situation he’s currently found himself in.

Karma is a cunt some days.

I lean on the wall, folding my arms over my chest, watching Sage, who has been ignoring them thus far, turn. He’s in his bloody element, the killer rising to the surface. The one that’s been trained to extort maximum pain, to be so meticulous he can take days to extract a life, who can’t be bought or bribed, who can’t be blackmailed or threatened. He’s an artist, and his paintbrush is death.

He’s smart, educated, and some might say he lacks a heart. He’s got one. Sage just cares about a handful of people, and these two are definitely not on the list.

Sage’s voice is filled with a deadly menace as he purrs out an order for them to shut the fuck up.

Sage’s father shouts and screams even louder. Cassiopeia, Rose’s embarrassingly shallow mother, screams louder still, the words that come out of her mouth would shock a death row inmate. She threatens only the most violent future on my alpha. It’s almost insulting. Except they will be dead soon, so the irony is there. They sneer at him from where they sit, still trying to brazen it out.

They are both dressed in cocktail attire. Sage didn’t give them an opportunity to go anywhere. He took them straight from whatever social event they were attending, citing that they needed an emergency meeting. I seriously doubt anyone will miss them, they are truly horrible people.

“You ruined the business. We gave you the perfect opportunity to take over from Vale,” Dwight howls. “You threw it in our faces. Now, you’re here begging-”

I bark a laugh. Begging. That’s cute.

“Vale? I don’t care about Vale,” Sage says. He shakes his head as if there’s an echo of something inside. “Your business can burn. I don’t give a shit.”

“How dare you! We gave you everything. We trained you. You are a dog to do as we command.”

Sage looks up, blinking. I don’t like that distraction in him, that hesitance. He needs our omegas. He needs Aaron. As much as it frustrates me to admit it, Aaron Roseland is part of the alpha set that keeps us all balanced. He would know how to bring the gleam of life back to Sage’s eyes.

“A dog?”

“You bite where we tell you to bite, you growl when we say growl, you piss where I point. You had the chance to take your cousin’s spot, but you couldn’t even do that right!”

He hits Sage. I stand up, my attention focusing on the alpha as he stands over his son, shouting meaningless words. I don’t care what he says, I care that Sage is bleeding.

Get up, Sage, or I’m going to fix this problem for you.

His eyes slide to me as if he heard me speak. I shake my head, my lips pressed together in distaste at his silent command for me to stay.

Sage is dragged to his knees, and his father backhands him, ripping open his lip. My snarl echoes around the room, and Cassiopeia reaches into her handbag and pulls out a gun, which she lifts and points straight at my face. How predictable.

Oh, she’s got some crazy lady balls. Ones that are going to get ripped off and shoved down her throat to choke her.

“Perhaps we should get rid of your pack, then we can see about getting you back on track,” she says sweetly. Her smile is one of victory and smugness.

Kill me? Ha. She’s too busy gloating at Sage to realise that she’s not watching the danger in the room.

In fact, of the four of us, they seem to have completely forgotten the other two alphas entirely. It is never a good thing to forget a serial killer. Let alone two, and Rolly and King are moving slowly, silently across the space.

“Kota wouldn’t like it if you tried. He’s got a fondness for me,” I say conversationally, and though I smile, it’s full of deadly intent. “I’m not like your son, who can so easily disappear. People will notice that I’m gone. The wrong people, and then you will find yourself explaining to them what happened.”

“It was an accident. The gun went off.” She pretends to cry, and I will give it to her; she’s good. Brilliant, even.

“Will Aaron corroborate your story?”