"We’ll take care of it."

"I recognized his scent," he whimpered. "Oren, I…"

I pressed a long, tender kiss to his temple. He didn’t need to speak. I understood him. His body told me everything I needed to know, and I answered with everything he needed to feel. I waited without moving until he calmed down against me. Malik was gentle, tender, loving. I had never imagined the sun down here, because Malik was a little piece of it. I cherished him. We all did.

After a long moment, my gaze settled on the bunny. I entrusted Malik to him, and he didn’t utter a word.

"Take him upstairs. I don’t want him to hear what comes next."

As for me, I joined Ravenne. On the ground floor, we had several rooms used to welcome unwanted guests. I found the unconscious guard in one of them, already awake. He was soaking wet. His awakening couldn’t have been pleasant. Even less so when he found himself tied to something made of metal—cold, lifeless. Ha! Just like him!

"I found this."

And with those words, Ravenne tossed me a small metal card. The little purple rabbit on it left no room for doubt. Almost none.

"So you’re with them? Ah, that explains a lot, you know?"

I waved the card as I approached. Ravenne had gagged him, much to my delight.

"It wasn’t an accident, and our bunny wasn’t the target either. It was Ravenne and me," I realized. "And what? You thought you and your little friends could take Dante back that way?"

Terror filled his eyes, and no matter how hard he tried to speak, nothing came out. Honestly, I didn’t care. The answers to my questions… I didn’t need anyone to find them.

"You see… your presence is pissing me off more and more. You betray us, you touch Malik, and now I find out you’ve been carrying a card like this around."

I tapped my temple in irritation.

"What am I supposed to do if the bunny finds this card? If he asks me why I’m killing one of my own because of it, huh? It wouldn’t be fair, because you’re not one of us. This is really fucking annoying."

His muffled screams grew louder, and the horror on his face became even more striking. I stepped closer again until I stood directly in front of him.

"I can’t understand a word of your mumbling. Oh, are you wondering how I know Malik?"

I shook my head.

"He’s a Grey, so of course he’s a part of me. Except, you see, a month ago, that little thing came home in tears, terrified, with his clothes torn to shreds. Imagine my surprise when I learned that some filthy mutt had decided Malik’s body belonged to him."

I violently seized his cheeks as tears streamed down his face.

"You tried to rape him. You tried to steal his dignity, but he tore off your fingers so he could escape. Then he came to find me. We searched for you for a long time, you piece of shit, but Malik couldn’t bring himself to go outside, and he hadn’t seen your face."

I lifted my gaze toward Ravenne.

"That’s the problem with peacekeepers!" I exclaimed. "They always think they have the right to treat other people’s lives like shit, as though everyone belongs to them."

From Ravenne’s expression, I understood that he was urging me to calm down. His rage was always more controlled, colder, and he always managed to steer me back onto the right path. I released the prisoner’s face and took a deep breath. A smile on my lips, I crouched in front of him.

"Listen, originally, I only wanted to bring you here, tear out a few fingernails, scare the shit out of you, and let you go, but now… there are too many problems circling around you. So here’s how this is going to happen."

I pulled a sharpened blade from my jacket and brandished it before his eyes.

"I’m thinking I’ll cut off your cock and shove it down your throat. Then we’ll leave you to die in agony, bleed out, and choke on your own dick. Ah, what an ending! I’m almost jealous!"

I stood and clapped my hands cheerfully.

"It’s decided! We’ll—"

"Hey."

I froze at the sound of that voice. I followed Ravenne’s gaze. The bunny stood there, leaning against the door as he closed it without a sound. Had he heard everything? He joined us without saying anything more than that single exclamation. The look he cast at the boy sent shivers through my entire body. He didn’t possess the usual softness of an omega. He certainly had their charm, but he had an alpha’s composure.

"Cut it off? No. I had my share of guys like you in prison. But for some reason I still don’t understand… this is really fucking pissing me off."

He took the blade from my hand and began undoing the prisoner’s trousers. The latter went limp, pissing himself as he imagined what was about to happen. He struggled as much as he could, and Ravenne planted his hands firmly on the chair to keep him still. I understood that Ravenne wasn’t going to stop the bunny, and neither was I. I was curious to see what he could do. I had watched him blow a man apart on his very first day, yet he hadn’t seemed particularly shaken by it. And… there were his teeth too: filed sharp and cutting. He intrigued me.

So I paid very close attention to his movements. He pulled the young guard’s trousers and underwear down as far as he could. With a coldness that piqued my interest, he slid the blade across the limp cock. Screams rose, naturally, but those noises—worthy of a pig being slaughtered—couldn’t draw my attention away from what he was doing. The blade hadn’t gone deep enough to sever the member from his body. But then how was he supposed to shove it down his throat?

The bunny answered my question quickly. He climbed onto the chair, legs bent and feet planted firmly against the cold metal. His hands closed around the cock, and all it took was a single look in my direction to bend me to his will. I grabbed his hips to support him. If he was going to pull—and he was—he needed something to brace himself against. And it was particularly graphic. He pulled without mercy, without shame, without flinching. His face betrayed nothing.

Ravenne wasn’t watching the act itself. His gaze was fixed on the features of our little bunny. I could even make out the faintest smile, barely perceptible, lifting the right corner of his lips. Then suddenly, a sound wetter and more agonizing than the others rang out. I understood that it was done. Without realizing it, I had helped the bunny. My hands, anchored to his hips, had pulled him backward. The young guard was on the verge of passing out. He was no longer truly conscious, no longer truly alive.

I lifted the bunny and set him down on the floor. My heart was pounding wildly. He was… He didn’t stop there. He removed the cloth preventing the prisoner from speaking. With the severed, torn-off cock in his hand, he pressed against the nearly dead man’s cheeks to force his mouth open. The man found a sudden burst of awareness through all the pain and terror that must have been consuming him, and tried to bite the bunny. I reacted a second later.

I seized his teeth, gripping his upper and lower jaws, and forced him to keep his mouth wide open.

"You still have enough energy to bite."

Unbelievable.

But the bunny didn’t flinch. He shoved the cock down its owner’s throat with a brutality that was still somehow restrained. He pushed it in as far as his fingers and the opening of the mouth allowed. Once he was finished, he put the gag back in place. We watched him die.

Just as promised, he choked. Just as promised, he bled out. Just as promised, we had defended our little sun.

"You’re seriously sick. What are you smiling about?" the bunny asked.

I didn’t answer, but I couldn’t hold back my laughter. On the floor, blood flowed all the way to our shoes.

"Your friend is insane," he told Ravenne, who remained impassive.

He tapped my chest without force or violence, and I caught his hand.

"Do you ever stop smiling?"

Ah…

"If I stopped smiling… I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back, and I’d tear that dog’s body to shreds. I’d stomp on him until he was nothing but pulp."

He stared at me for several seconds, and I did the same. He was clean, aside from the blood splattered across him and flooding his hands. His hair looked even softer than it had when he arrived, and its whiteness made my heart stir. There was that sweet scent too—the bath, yes, but something else as well. Slowly but surely, his pheromones were reclaiming their place, and their fragrance was… intoxicating.

"I like pulp," he replied simply.

Ah! He was one of a kind.