The air shifted like something in it knew what was about to happen.
Nine had just lifted his head from the bedding. His chains were loose now—broken, the ends dangling from his wrists like dead snakes. He still looked dazed, but he was here. Present. A little more himself.
I crouched by his side, one hand steady on his back, when the sound of footsteps echoed from the far corridor.
Two sets.
I didn't need to scent them to know.
The boss.
And the Supreme Leader.
Nine went rigid. His eyes widened, pupils blown wide.
Alpha—he's—
I didn't let him finish.
I stood and stepped forward. Calm. Measured. I met them at the threshold.
They both walked in like they owned the world.
The boss smirking, lazy. The Supreme Leader polished and sharp in his blood-dark uniform, every inch reeking of power and control. He glanced over my shoulder toward the bed and smiled faintly.
"I see you've already started the entertainment without us."
Neither of them saw my claws until it was too late.
I spun.
Two clean slashes.
One for each Achilles tendon.
They didn't even scream right away. They just fell.
Crashing to the floor in tandem like marionettes whose strings had been cut.
Blood sprayed. Tendons curled like ribbons.
The boss shrieked. The Supreme Leader gritted his teeth and tried to crawl backward, reaching for a gun he didn't have.
Nine was staring at me.
Frozen.
I turned to him slowly. My voice was quiet. Even.
"They're yours now."
His breath hitched.
I nodded toward them.
"You decide."
He didn't move at first. Not until the boss looked up at him and spat blood onto the floor.
"You think he can hurt me?" the boss rasped. "He was made to bend. Not break."
Nine's hands trembled.
But he stood.
And then he took his first step forward.
The bond pulsed.
Not in fear.
Not in panic.
But with something colder. More alive.
I want to.
It wasn't just pain in his voice anymore.
It was clarity.
He passed me like a ghost.
I didn't stop him.
Not this time.