Page 159 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

I look up at the woman perched on the chair. I can smell the wrongness in her. She has two faces.

“Kill them,” I say quietly.

“With pleasure,” she purrs at me. “Jump.”

Twenty men climb the rails and then jump headfirst to the ground below. I look into the dark and spot the omega that is mine. He goes from body to body, slicing the throats of those still alive.

He is a very good hunter.

Now, there are no witnesses. I turn to the Nightingales, who have returned with Meg and Desi. The Flock holding them are dead and those chasing have been dispatched, but the children stare at me in terror.

I guess I look like a monster. I feel like one.

“Remove your masks.”

They hesitate, but one after another, they take off their masks.

I look them over. They have nothing in common other than being female. The eldest would be no more than fifteen.

Korax stands in the shadows, watching me intently. He’s going to try to stop me if I try to hurt his precious children.

I won’t.

I don’t care about children.

“Return the children to their guardians. Choose new names. You are no longer little birds.”

They stare at me with huge, wide eyes. Korax hesitates and then walks into the group, murmuring to them.

“Not those two!” I say when he reaches for the last two.

He glares at me. “What do you intend to do with them?”

Those are the two children who don’t have guardians. The ones who didn’t survive. I turn to the Sandersons.

“You will take them.”

Yvonne removes her mask, frowning. “Which ones?”

“Pigeon and Sparrow. Their guardians are no longer among the living. You will raise them to be good and strong. Killers with morals and the ability to do good in the world.”

Yvonne looks at Mitchel. A long look that says more with eyes than words. He dips his chin.

“Okay,” Yvonne says softly. “It would be nice to have some kids around again.”

“Take them now,” I say coldly.

Bonnie and her alphas hesitate.

“Go,” I say without looking at her.

Mark and his dogs look at me, then rush up the stairs to where Sariah is perched. He picks her up and carries her out of the building, all the while she protests.

Which just leaves me with my pack, a warehouse of dead bodies, and the man who killed my family.

“String him up.”

They get him hung up, and I start to work. Using the blade that has become a talisman of love. I am slow and systematic. I repeat every wound that I experienced, every one that I saw on Callea.