Page 28 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

“Raven,” he whispers. “You can’t hide in there forever; we need to talk.”

My eyes widen as the alters panic, twisting, but Raven is resolute. She sits in the darkness in my mind on the throne, her eyes closed, refusing to speak, refusing to acknowledge his command.

His fingers bite into my shoulder. “Shall I tell them?”

“Tell us what?”

Pix snarls, and abruptly, his hold gentles, and he drags the pad of his thumb down my cheek, leaving shivers and tingles in his wake.

“Raptor?”

I blink up at him.

“For all that you kill, you are innocent and pure in your fury. You don’t have to be strong all the time.”

What is going on here?

“I…”

Pix tilts my chin up and kisses me softly. I stare at him, refusing to close my eyes; our gazes connect and hold. I am naked, stripped raw. He understands exactly who I am, and he is telling me it’s okay.

I shove myself free of him and wipe my lips with my arm, trying to erase the taste of him and the desperate confusion that he has dragged out of me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shout.

He laughs and then doubles over, collapsing to his knees, hissing.

“Pix?” I ask, creeping closer.

“Just a little bit of biology fucking with me,” he chuckles.

I snarl and grab his arm, pulling him up.

His scent hits me like a freight train. My mouth waters, my scent mixes with his. I lose myself for a long time and come back with my face buried in his throat, my hand clenching his jacket.

He’s a drug.

That’s what an omega is.

That’s what’s coming for me. Except I’m too angry. I grab that rage, pulling it around me, using it to clear my head. I drag Pix up, grunting under the sheer weight of him.

“Stronger than you look, aren’t you?”

“It’s all the carrying around of bodies and burying them. Builds muscle.”

Pix laughs, a real, deep, honest laugh. I like it. It gives me a warm feeling and this horrible desire to find a way to make him do it again.

I carry him back to the others.

Pix doesn’t see, but it’s Roseland who is the first to reach him, pulling him out of my arms, checking him over. He doesn’t even look at me.

His worry flavours the air.

They all do.

Blaze puts a hand on my head and slides it down my back. “You did well, Omega.”

“Raptor.”