Page 53 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

“Right, enough about who did it. The problem is getting rid of it,” Sage says.

Pix hums. “I’m going to take their phones and the car for a drive. I’ll be back in a few days.”

“I’ll go with you!” I say quickly.

“No,” Blaze says quietly. “With this happening on our doorstep, we all need to quietly walk away for a moment, and I know the place to go.”

“Oh, and where is that?” I snarl suspiciously.

Sage smiles. “Am I calling my little cousin?”

“Yes, see if Bonnie will take us out to explore her little mountains. We’re going to do some family bonding.”

I stare at the pair of them like they are crazy because they are clearly insane. Certifiable. Two packs of serial killers walked into a forest…not a joke I want to hear the ending to.

Pix shakes his head. “This is not going to go the way you want it to go.”

They ignore him.

Rolly grabs the ankle of the male agent and drags him back towards the camp. “Go get the car; there’s a spot I found that we can dump them. No one will ever find them.”

Pix jogs off, and I watch as these alphas who are all killers erase the trained killers off the face of the Earth.

Within three hours, there isn’t a speck of blood, a scrap of a shoe, no sign at all that anything happened in the clearing.

I find myself impressed and slightly terrified by how efficient they are and how well they work together.

“Relax, Roseland,” Blaze says to me with a smile that makes me feel like stepping back. “You’re one of us.”

“That is not comforting at all.”

He smiles wider. “Isn’t it?”

I just stare at him as he laughs and leads the way back to the bunker.

Merle

Isit back between the seats, trying to hide the bubbling panic I’m feeling from the alphas that are seated around me like a giant fortress. The world is whizzing by, and I’m finding being in a car strange after so long of using my feet to get where I need to go.

Rolly turns around from the front passenger seat and holds out a bag of lollies. “Try one.”

I shake my head too quickly. King reaches out, snags the bag, picks out a pink one, and puts the end to my lips.

Obediently, I open my mouth, and he feeds me the sweet. He makes a happy growling sound that seems to relax all the other alphas in the car.

It’s just…Pix isn’t here.

He disappeared, and none of them seem to want to talk about it or say anything, and I don’t feel like I can ask, but the further we go without him, the more I feel like I can’t breathe.

“Are you sure we have everything we need?” Rolly asks, and when he turns and glances at me, he winks.

“I do. I have two tents, though we will probably all sleep in one. Everyone has a sleeping bag, clothes, we have provisions; why am I explaining myself to you?You couldn’t organise yourself out of a paper bag. Hush, and let me drive.” Blaze clicks his tongue.

Rolly falls back on the seat, cackling.

Roseland is sitting next to me; his steady, calm, but darker mood is making me even more nervous. Blaze turns a corner, and I bounce into Roseland’s chest. His eyes flick open, and he studies me, and I struggle to push off him. His arm comes up and pulls me to him, holding me safely.

I stare up at him, my mouth hanging open, trying to calm the warm, fluttery feeling in my stomach. His scent squeezes around me, and I bury my face in his chest without another thought.