Ruin Me, Alpha-Chapter 11: “Say It.”

I stormed out of the penthouse, the slap still ringing in my ears like a gunshot. My palm stung, but the satisfaction was short-lived. Devon didn’t even flinch—just stood there, that cool, infuriating smirk frozen on his face, grey eyes glittering with something dark and hungry.

The elevator doors that always took me to his office closed on his voice, low and amused.

"Run all you want, princess. You’ll come back."

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Because the worst part? My thighs were shaking, and it wasn’t from anger.

Two days later, every Omega in the pack was ordered to the main hall for a "special address." Mandatory. No excuses. I walked in with Brielle, shoulders squared, dressed in a cutton skimpy dress with very slim sleeves and clevage out, telling myself I could handle seeing him again. I was wrong.

He was already on the stage.

Black button-down rolled to the elbows, sleeves tight around his forearms, that silver bracelet flashing every time he moved. He didn’t pace. He didn’t need to. He just stood there, hands in his pockets, owning the entire room without saying a word. When his gaze swept over the crowd, it stopped on me. Held. Burned.

I looked away first. He smiled.

Harlan banged the gavel to silence the booming hall. "Quiet! Alpha Devon has an announcement."

Devon stepped forward. Voice calm, deep, interrupting through the murmurs like a blade.

"Tomorrow night," he said, "we hold the official unification ceremony. Ironfang and Silverclaw cease to exist. From sundown tomorrow, there will only be one pack. Ironcrest Pack."

He paused. Let it sink in.

"And I will be its Alpha."

Dead silence. Then a ripple of whispers. Someone in the front row stood up—Clifford, one of the older warriors my father had trained.

"Alpha Devon, with respect, but some of us still bleed Ironfang. How do we know this merger isn’t just Silverclaw swallowing us whole?"

Finally. Someone with sense.

Devon’s eyes flicked to the man, then slid straight back to me. His next words were for Clifford, but every single one was aimed at me.

"Swallowing?" He tilted his head, voice velvet and venom. "Some things are meant to be swallowed whole. Taken deep. Held tight until there’s no space left for anything else."

My stomach flipped. Heat crawled up my neck.

Clifford blinked. "I—uh—"

Devon kept going, gaze locked on mine. "Resistance only makes the stretch more... intense. But once it’s done? You’ll wonder how you ever lived without it inside you."

A few nervous laughs. Someone coughed. I couldn’t breathe.

Another hand shot up. Lena, from kitchen staff. "Alpha, will Omegas still get the new rations and training?"

Devon’s smile was slow, predatory. "Every Omega will be fed. Thoroughly. Multiple times a day if needed. I’m very... dedicated to making sure everyone gets exactly what they crave." His tongue touched his bottom lip. "I remember tastes. Scents. The way certain bodies react when I hit just right."

Brielle grabbed my wrist. "He’s talking to you," she hissed.

"I know," I whispered back, voice shaking.

Someone else asked about patrol rotations. Devon answered without looking away from me.

"Patrols will be tighter. Closer. I’ll be riding every border personally." He rolled the word riding like a promise. "Long, hard rides. Until everyone’s too exhausted to fight back."

My knees nearly buckled, flashbacks blurring my vision.

The questions kept coming, and every single answer was filth wrapped in innocence. He talked about "claiming territory," "marking what’s mine," "teaching people the way they are meant to be taught—slow at first, then all at once until you’re screaming my name."

By the time Harlan ended the Q&A, I was sweating. Clenching my thighs together. Hating myself.

Devon stepped off the stage. The crowd parted for him like water. He didn’t walk toward me. He didn’t have to. The weight of his stare dragged me forward until I was three feet away. As he brushed by me, he whispers, "Walk with me," he said quietly.

"No."

His eyebrow lifted. "That wasn’t a request."

I walked.

We ended up in the corridor outside the hall. Empty. He backed me against the wall without touching me—just loomed, hands braced on either side of my head. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Friday, 11:35 p.m.," he murmured. "You came so hard you bit my shoulder to stay quiet. Left teeth marks. I still have them."

"Stop." I barked, glaring.

"I jerked off to the memory this morning. Twice. Still wasn’t enough."

I shoved at his chest. He didn’t budge.

"You’re sick."

"I’m starving," he corrected, his gaze dropped to my cleavage. "And you’re the only thing I want to eat."

Footsteps echoed. He stepped back just as Simon rounded the corner.

Simon froze when he saw us. His eyes flicked from Devon to me, then narrowed.

"Alpha," he said stiffly. "May I have a word with Irene? Alone?"

Devon’s jaw flexed. For a second I thought he’d say no. Instead he looked at me.

"Two minutes," he told Simon, voice lethal. "Touch her and I’ll feed you your own spine."

Then he walked away. Slowly. Like he knew I’d watch every step.

Simon waited until Devon disappeared before stepping closer.

"Irene—"

"Save it."

"I’m sorry," he said quickly. "For everything. The wedding. Laura. Rejecting you. I was scared. But I never stopped—"

"Stop. Lying."

He lowered his voice. "I’m Gamma now. Zane appointed me the new Gamma, my coronation is in a few weeks. I have power. If you become my Gamma-Luna, we can take him down together. Use me, Irene. Use my position. We’ll kill him, free your father, take everything back."

I laughed. Cold. Sharp.

"You think I’d let you touch me again? After you fucked my cousin on my wedding day? After you rejected me in front of the entire pack?"

His face twisted. "I had no choice—"

"You had every choice. Get away from me, Simon. Before I rip your throat out myself."

He grabbed my arm. "Irene—"

Devon’s voice cut through the hall like a whip.

"Lawson."

Simon let go instantly. Devon was twenty feet away, but the corridor suddenly felt too small.

"I said no touching."

Simon backed away, hands raised. "We were just talking—"

"Leave."

Simon left. Fast.

Devon didn’t move. Just stared at me until I couldn’t take it anymore and walked away.

I made it halfway to the Omega quarters when someone fell into step beside me.

"Hey. Irene, right?"

I glanced over. Tall guy, maybe twenty-four, brown hair, easy smile. Low-ranking warrior—Ryan, I thought. I’d seen him around.

"Yeah."

"I’m Ryan. Saw you in training the other day. You’ve got fire. Want to come back to my place? Have a drink, talk... get to know each other?"

"I’ve got a bottle of that whiskey you like."

I opened my mouth to say no when a shadow fell over us.

Devon.

He didn’t say a word. Just stepped behind Ryan, wrapped one arm around his throat, and snapped his neck with a sickening crack.

Ryan dropped like a sack.

I screamed.

"Devon!"

He caught me before my knees hit the ground, hand fisted in my hair, yanking my head back so I had to look at him.

"Mine," he growled against my ear. "Say it."

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe.

"I said. Say it."

"I swear to god, Alpha Devon, I’ll kill you and feed your bones to the insects of the forest," I whispered, shaking.

"Say it."

"I’ll bury you so deep that even the moon would begin to dig for you," I bit out, venom dripping.

"Say it, Irene."

"I’ll happily dig out your eyeballs and feed them to the eagles."

"Brielle is somewhere around, it takes me five seconds to get to where she is if I use my speed and two seconds to offer her the same fate as Ryan. I don’t mind sparing seven seconds of my time today. Say it now, Irene. Don’t make me repeat myself."

I swallowed, my eyes burning with tears, still resting in his arm.

"You are mine. Say it."

My lips moved, "I am yours."

"Again."

"I am yours."

"No one else’s."

I forced a nod.

He let go. Stepped over Ryan’s body like it was trash.

"Good girl."

Then he walked away, hands in his pockets, whistling.

I stared at the body. At the blood pooling under Ryan’s head.

And for the first time, real fear—ice-cold, bone-deep fear—slithered down my spine.

I’m on my knees in the hallway, scrubbing.

The water in the bucket turned red hours ago, but I keep going. The bristles tear at my skin. Good. Pain is better than remembering the wet crunch when Ryan’s neck snapped.

"Irene."

Brielle’s voice is soft behind me. I don’t stop scrubbing.

"Irene, it’s past dusk. Come back to the quarters."

I slam the brush down. "No. I’m not leaving until every drop of his blood is gone."

She crouches, grabs my wrists. "You’re bleeding."

"So was Ryan."

Brielle drags me up anyway. I fight her for three steps, then let her pull me away. My legs shake the whole walk back. I keep seeing Devon snapping his neck and then, stepping over the body like it was nothing. Whistling.

Inside my tiny room I collapse on my mattress. Brielle locks the door, shoves a glass of water into my hand.

"Drink."

I throw it against the wall. "I need a plan, Brielle. Tonight. Tomorrow. I don’t care. I need him dead."

"Irene—"

"I’m done waiting. I’ll poison his coffee. I’ll slit his throat while he sleeps. I’ll burn the whole pack house down if that’s what it takes."

She kneels in front of me, grips my face hard. "Listen to me. You go after him now, you die. He’ll tear you apart before you even get close."

"I don’t care!"

"I do!" she hisses. "You and mother are all I have left. Calm down. Think. We’ll find a way, but not like this."

I laugh, bitter and broken. "He killed a man for talking to me, Brielle. Talking. What happens the next time someone looks at me too long?"

She has no answer.

I curl into a ball on the mattress. "I said it. Out loud. I said I was his." My voice cracks. "I hate him so much I can’t breathe."

Brielle strokes my hair until I stop shaking. Eventually she leaves for kitchen shift. I stare at the ceiling until the room goes dark.

Sleep drags me under.

I’m standing over Devon. He’s on his knees, shirt ripped open, blood running from his lip. I have the silver dagger pressed to his throat.

"Do it," he whispers, eyes burning into mine. "Kill me, Irene."

My hand trembles.

He smiles, slow, wicked, beautiful. "You won’t."

I scream and drop the dagger. My mouth crashes into his instead. I shove him down, straddle him, rip his belt open with frantic hands. He groans my name like a prayer. I sink onto him hard, rocking, riding him like I’m trying to punish him and save him at the same time. His fingers dig bruises into my hips.

"Say it again," he growls against my throat.

"I’m yours," I sob, hating every syllable, hating how good it feels, hating that I mean it.

He flips us, drives into me so deep I see stars. "Again."

"I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m—"

I jerk awake soaked in sweat, thighs clenched, slick between my legs. My whole body is trembling with aftershocks.

I slam my fist into the mattress over and over until my knuckles split.

I hate him.

I hate him.

I hate myself more.

Footsteps outside the door. Light, deliberate. The door knob of the living room turns and I got up in the dark immediately, shrinking into a corner. I hear footsteps in the living room, my heart racing as a shadow pauses in front of my room.

Then, that strong scent hit me.

The Alpha scent.

I freeze, watching as the knob twist and a pair of legs in black, sleek loafers stepped in.

Three soft knocks.

"I know you’re awake, Irene."

Devon’s voice, low and amused, spoke into the dark.