Forget Me Knot (PoisonVerse #2), page 33
“You tried to force him into another pack?” Malakai asked. I knew about that. My stomach turned. Malakai had sent me the article to read on the way here.
Last month Viper had been bought a place in a pack. Because dark bonding gold pack omegas was legal, packs could be formed around them. Before he bit in, however, the pack had fallen apart almost before it had begun, and the Oxford mansion had burned down. I suspected Viper had something to do with it.
“I did.” Kenneth didn’t even blink. “And I lost a rather invaluable family property for my trouble.”
“You tried to make him dark bond a gold pack omega,” I said quietly. “Though that wouldn’t bode well for grandchildren, either, would it?”
Gold packs like me weren’t allowed to have kids. Our children would be born rogue, outside of the Institute’s laws that kept society safe.
Kenneth sighed, gaze lingering on my eyes for a long moment. “I am beyond the grandchild concern at this point. Viper is—was sick. He was not capable of going through the process of a traditional pack formation again. It was my belief that biting into a pack—like he has yours—was the best option. A dark bond requires little attachment. I believed it would not seem a replacement of his old pack and the bond he lost.”
Malakai leaned back in his seat, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “Because Onyx wasn’t gold pack?”
“Because he offered Onyx a princess bond,” Kenneth corrected. “The dark bond is as different an experience as he could find within a pack.”
“Why did you think he would do it?” I asked.
“Because I told him that if he didn’t sort himself out and move on from Onyx, then I would instead drive her away. I didn’t wish to, but it’s not beneath me. Viper knows she loves this city. I thought he would give in. I underestimated, however, that noble streak of his.”
“Noble streak?”
“Something you should know about Viper; he cannot watch injustice,” Kenneth said.
I knew that already from what he’d done when Nash had taken me…
“So,” Kenneth continued. “Fully aware he was on his last chance, he blew it up in an attempt to save her.”
“Her?”
“Havoc Saint,” Kenneth said mildly. “The gold pack omega he was destined to dark bond.”
Still, it sent a shiver down my spine to hear him talk about it so casually.
“So, did you go after Onyx?” Malakai asked.
“I never had to. He agreed, afterward, to get on the plane to England. Only then, he ended up in your pack. Not the outcome I expected, but I am relieved. He has a chance to heal. And he perhaps won’t resent me forever. Though,” he chuckled. “I don’t hold out much hope.”
I stared at him.
“But, you’re here—I assume—about Onyx?”
“Her stalker is after our pack,” I said.
“I’m afraid I might not offer you much there.”
“We just want to know what happened. Viper can’t talk about it.”
Kenneth nodded. “What happened to Onyx was—possibly—worse than what happened to my son.”
“How?”
“After he lost his pack, my son could have closed off his bonds at anytime—chosen silver status and committed to no future pack bonds. He could have chosen another pack. But for Onyx… it was worse. Princess bonds are artificial, you understand, just like dark bonds. Unlike normal bonds—” His gaze dropped to the bite on my neck. “—They are unnatural. They don’t have the backing of centuries of evolution. When the bond my son offered was ripped from Onyx, it was still open. She had never accepted or declined it. She was driven to madness, left in limbo until the moment her memories fled her.”
Onyx
Wooden floorboards, once comforting in their noise, creaked ominously.
This was our cottage. The place my mates were building for our future.
My heart was thundering in my ribcage, every hair on my body standing on end. My mates’ scent hung in the air; the entire pack saturated the house just as it should be, except… It was wrong.
Sour, somehow.
Burned sugar, soured grapes, and ocean breeze marred by pollution. I blinked, recoiling slightly, unsure why it was all so wrong.
Viper was ahead of me in a moment, his aura still heavy in the air around us. His eyes darted from room to room, alert for danger when he drew up, his eyes fixed on a spot beyond what I could see.
He didn’t move, everything down to his expression frozen in place. I’d never felt a chill like I did seeing his rigid, ashen expression.
Then I saw them.
My heart stopped. For a fleeting moment, I was swept away by dread.
Then it drained away, and a smile tugged on the corners of my mouth. They were all here. My pack; all sleeping.
Hart was curled up on the far couch, the one with all of the patches he’d refused to throw out because it had been his grandma’s favourite. I’d been texted pictures of every inch of this room. Jake and Vik were curled up on the other couch, holding one another as they rested.
It was so peaceful in here, and for a moment the only sound was the pitter patter of rain on the roof above.
I smiled.
All the prestigious pack offers in the world couldn’t compare to this.
Home.
Viper
The first body I saw was King’s.
He’d fallen to the floor just beside the kitchen. Arsenal was slumped on the couch. Onyx was knelt beside King’s body, fingers clutching his shirt, her body trembling.
No… I’d seen this before.
Terror struck my heart, drawing everything else as I braced for the agony that should be here. But… my bonds were intact.
I was halfway down the steps toward her when I saw movement. An alpha was resting against the kitchen wall, watching me. He was huge, wearing a trench coat and black boots.
“Onyx!” I reached for my aura and hit a wall. It wasn’t well enough yet, my wounds were too recent.
She didn’t look up at me.
I had to get her out. I took the stairs by twos to get to her, but the alpha never moved. Still, he watched me. Unhurried.
I reached her, grabbing her shoulder, not looking away from the man who fixed me with piercing emerald eyes.
She fought my grip, tearing away to clutch King.
That was when I noticed what was wrong. There was a strange, bitter scent in the air.
“Onyx! We have to go. It’s not safe.”
FORTY-FIVE
Onyx
“Onyx! We have to go. It’s not safe.”
I didn’t turn back to Viper. I didn’t take my eyes off my mates. Not once.
Unsafe? This was the place our pack was going to make a home.
I crossed the room to sit beside Hart, running my fingers through his pitch black hair.
“Onyx…” That was Viper behind me.
“I just got in,” I whispered. “I’m not leaving. You…” I trailed off. “You offered me the bond. I said I’d take it when we got back.”
I looked back to Hart, then over at Jake and Vik. Vik was curled up in Jake’s arms. They were both resting peacefully. Their scents were better now. So was Hart’s, his sugar and spice scent was perfect. I don’t know what I’d been thinking when I thought it was off. I glanced back to Viper. “I want to take it now.”
The bond. Where was it?
I frowned.
I didn’t understand. It couldn’t be taken back.
Viper hadn’t moved. His eyes were fixed on me now.
“Hart? Hart baby, wake up.” I crouched before the couch, running my palm along his snow white cheek. “I’m back. Graduation is all done.” I took his shoulder and shook it.
He didn’t move.
“You can show me my room.” I smiled, hot tears now tumbling down my cheeks.
Why?
Why was I crying?
My grip fumbled, my fingers trembling, but I didn’t know why. He was the builder—the mastermind behind this house. Our perfect cottage in the middle of the woods. He promised me the best room. He’d been stocking up on everything I loved for nesting too, but he’d never shown me a single picture. “I can’t wait to see it.” I stroked his cheek gently. He was pale. More pale than usual.
Was it too cold in here? I should get him a blanket.
“They’re… gone.” Viper’s voice was the lowest whisper.
His aura still shivered in the air, much too unstable. Mint and mist drowned the room. It was smothering their scents. He shouldn’t do that. If he got rid of them, they’d never—
I shook my head, brows pinching as I turned back to him.
“They’re right here.” Something hot was on my cheek. I lifted my hand and wiped away another tear. I stared at it, unsure, before looking back at Viper. “We just have to wake them up to tell them.”
“It’s not safe,” Viper said again. “We have to go.”
Ice
Kenneth Oxford clasped his fingers, leaning back on his desk.
“There was no expert in the city that could predict what would happen to Onyx if she got her memories back. Viper did the only thing he could. He had her transferred to another hospital. I saw to it her records were wiped completely. There was no trace of what had happened to her. No pack. No bond. Nothing. It wasn’t hard to hide the pack. Viper had known I would disapprove of the alphas he’d chosen. The bonds were formed quietly.”
“Onyx then, how is she a duchess—she never rejected them?” I asked.
“Viper offered Onyx the princess bond within minutes of his pack’s death. It was open and alive when they passed. A rather unlikely phenomenon, but her aura became the same as an omega who rejected her pack. I didn’t interfere. I tried to ensure she did well, in hopes that he might move on. I used my connections so her job went as well as it could, and even jumped her on the list for the omega apartments on the Westside that she lives in now. It never mattered, Viper wouldn’t let her go. I’m not proud of the methods I’ve used to try and push him onwards, but he’s been in stasis for years.”
“You said his old pack all died, but this stalker has shown signs that they had a previous link to her,” Malakai said. “Did any survive other than Viper?” It was possible that, if enough members of the pack died, that the rest of the bonds still dissolved along with them.
“We asked him, but he didn’t seem—” I began.
“They’re dead.” Kenneth Oxford’s voice was firm. “Viper has had a million visions of that day. Conspiracies, wishes, bloody deaths, and plots that they were murdered for her; that I poisoned them. But the one he had the hardest time accepting was Hart.”
“Why?”
“They were inseparable from the moment they met, as close as brothers. I might have had my opinions on the other two, but I always knew Hart and Viper would be pack brothers. His visions where Hart is not on that couch is a result of his unprocessed grief. Grief, I hope he can begin processing now.”
“So… what happened?” I asked.
Kenneth gave me a strange look.
“What killed them?” I asked again.
He arched his fingers. “Something much more impossible for either of them to process than if it had been a shooting, or a poisoning, a murder, or a fight. It was preventable, invisible, simple, and utterly incomprehensible.” He took a breath, pain on his expression as he spoke next. “It was a carbon monoxide leak.”
“A… gas leak killed his pack?” Malakai asked, clearly shaken.
“The house was old, the rooms enclosed. His pack became tired, closed their eyes to sleep and… never woke up. They were never frightened, never suffered or even worried. The deadliest kind of poison for a pack, because by the time Viper knew anything was wrong through the bond, he was too late.”
Viper
In the garage of my new pack—my new family—I crashed to my knees, grabbing Onyx. She turned on me, her eyes glassy and unseeing.
This had happened before.
I had been here before.
I shoved back the memories that threatened. I had to keep reminding myself of the truth: my bond was still intact.
They were alive.
The alpha ahead of me still watched on with emerald eyes, not a care in the world as I tried to grab her. The world was spinning. My vision was blurry.
There was something on the kitchen table, next to takeout boxes from last night’s Chinese… A device… There was the faintest trail of smoke coming from it.
“Enough to knock out even the cockiest alpha,” the man’s voice was low. He was striding toward me, almost casually. I blinked, trying to keep my vision steady.
But… he was an alpha too…? I knew that. I caught his scent of gunpowder in the air.
“We… have to go…” My words were slurred. Trying to reach for her.
She was in danger.
The alpha reached us as I crashed to my knees.
“Not the omega I was expecting,” he murmured. I tried again for my aura, knowing I had to get her out. “…But she’ll do.”
I choked, the world spinning.
“No…” I made one more desperate attempt to reach my aura.
Pain split my mind and the world went black.
FORTY-SIX
Onyx
The world was flickering.
I was in the cottage.
Vik and Jake and Hart were here, and then…
A firm hand had me by the arm. The room shook, colours filtering into one another.
I was in the garage.
King lay on the floor below me… I sobbed, my breathing coming heavy.
“Not the omega I was expecting…” That voice was… familiar… faintly… “But she’ll do.”
Someone had me by the arm. They were dragging me up. I couldn’t process anything.
The room in the cottage flickered with the garage. I was having trouble breathing.
My… My emerald bag… It was just there…
Something high pitched sounded. There was a bruising pain in my arm.
It was me. I was screaming, throwing my whole weight against an alpha. His scent was familiar… burned ebony and gunpowder.
Riot.
Danger.
My teeth bit down on flesh and I heard a curse. But I was halfway there… staggering toward my—
“NO!” My fingers grasped thin air, a weight halting me.
My bag.
I sobbed, fighting again, trying to reach it—my bag. I needed it.
It was in my arms just as firm hands seized me again.
My breathing was rapid. But I had it clutched in my grip. I let out a breath of relief, the world coming back into focus just in time to feel his hand closing around my hair.
A huge weight was pinning me against the kitchen counter and hands tried to rip the bag away. I wailed. Nothing in the world made sense but this. Nothing but the handbag clutched in my arms. Then I felt the cold metal against my chin and I froze.
A gun.
His voice was a growl in my ear. “Behave, you crazy fucking omega, and I won’t need it.”
He tried to tug it away again, but I couldn’t loosen my grip on it. A terrified gasp choked out.
Was he going to kill me?
“What’s in the bag?” he demanded.
“N-nothing,” I choked out.
He scowled. “Put it down.”
“I… n-need it.”
“Put. It. Down.”
Slowly I set it down on the table, but I didn’t release it.
“Empty it.”
My breathing hitched, trying to process that question.
Empty it?
“Now!”
With trembling fingers I reached in, trying to find something that would hurt least. I drew out my smokes and cigarettes and set them down. Those were okay. They were safe to take out. What… What could I take out next? I reached back in, desperately rooting around.
Riot let out an impatient growl. He dug the gun harder into my neck as he shoved my hand away and began grabbing items from within.
I choked out a sob, tears flowing down my face as he ripped out item after item, each tearing away a piece of my soul.
The handmade bracelet I’d made. It… It was for Hart.
A Green Arrows Soccer pack keyring—That was Vik’s.
A fountain pen with hand painted edges that Jake had bought me.
Then there was a small figurine I’d taken from Malakai’s desk.
Arsenal’s favourite cherry mug.
One of the necklaces from King’s bedside table.
Devin’s earring.
My favourite book, A Court of—
“What the fuck?” Riot snorted.
I couldn’t look at him, but with a click, the gun was gone.
“Keep the damn bag,” he grunted. “You’re coming with me. Try anything, I’ll fucking burn it.”
King
I woke first.
“Fuck…” I blinked, trying to remember what had happened.
I sat up on the concrete kitchen floor and the world spun, reality crashing in.
Riot stepped into our house, a staggering Arsenal’s shirt in his fist and a deadly snarl on his face. The scent of bitter gunpowder followed him in. Arsenal was weak, his eyes falling shut.
“What did you do?” I’d demanded, my aura splitting the air—and not even close to a match with Riot’s.
I crossed toward them as he shoved Arsenal onto the couch. I hadn’t seen what he clutched in his other fist—the object faintly trailing smoke.
Riot had ignored me, stepping further into our home and peering around. I’d glanced between Arsenal and him, afraid and about to check on my brother when he spoke.
“Here for Ice.”
No.
My aura hit the air—at least… I thought it did. The power it usually leant me wasn’t there.. The world spun as I tried to follow Riot. My mind sluggishly grabbed for a dozen things.
The guns in the safe… No, Arsenal had one, too.
But my phone… I had to text the others… tell them not to bring Ice home.
