Page 132 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

“Raven.”

His eyebrows go up, and he finally lowers the gun. “What do you want with me, Raven?”

“Oh, things that would make you weep and blush, but all that has to wait. I need you and only you. You are the only one I can trust.”

He chokes out a laugh. “You can’t trust your alphas?”

Silly, bitter omega. He’s so adorable.

“Our alphas,” I say with a wide smile, watching his every move.

“Yours. Mine dumped me.”

I make a rude noise in the back of my throat. “To save you. It was so disgustingly noble. Roseland really does care about you, he wouldn’t have done that for anyone else. He wants you to have better than this nightmare, but I’m going to drag you back in to drown with us.”

Pix’s expression gets black, fury-filled.

“I don’t need saving. I don’t want to live in a cage. And I can protect and care for myself.”

I bite my lower lip, appreciating the deadly menace that radiates out of this pissed-off omega. As a beta, I’m not able to claim him in any way, but I want to.

So badly.

“Prove it.”

He brushes his hair back and sneers at me. “Go back to them and tell them I’m doing fine. Then get out of my life and leave me the fuck alone.”

I can’t help it. He’s gorgeous and fascinating. I love the way he moves, all deadly grace. I inhale and catch his scent, and my legs tremble. He’s framed by massive windows, and with the new day light, it’s giving him a golden aura. Not even the massive queen bed can distract me from how damn pretty he is.

“Pix,” I murmur. I take a step closer, ignoring the way he levels the gun at my forehead. “Omega?” I call gently, trying to reach the part of him that I know wants me.

He looks at me sharply. “I’m not fucking you.”

I let out an unhappy whine, mocking him and myself.

He rolls his eyes. “You are so childish.”

I burst out laughing and flounce over to his bed, sitting on the edge, looking up at him. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have come if this wasn’t really important. Much as I want to spend the next week fucking you until we are both bow-legged, you really will get hurt if you come join my war. It’s too late for the alphas, but Roseland’s right, you have a chance at a life. So, you can do me this solid, and I will walk away and leave you be. Or you can come back and drown with us. Or the last option isrefuse. Don’t get involved at all. Spend the rest of your miserable life wondering what if. I don’t really care.”

He stares at me. “Do they know you are here?”

I shrug. “Not really. I kind of disabled their cars, snuck out, and stole the bike.”

He barks a laugh. “Raven?”

“Yeah, I’m Raven.”

He steps closer, staring into my eyes, studying my face, the gun at his side. “You have intensity in your eyes. Something deadly.”

I snort a laugh and lean in to whisper. “It could be constipation.”

“Could be, but my guess is you’re the get-the-job-done-at-all-costs girl.”

I study him, remembering how Kestrel pegged him so perfectly. How when she said he was ours, I’d scoffed at her. How ridiculous to claim an omega.

I’m not laughing now.

I want him.