They resented her. Hated her even. She’d taken Jask away from them when they’d needed him most. She’d led him on her quest and he’d subsequently abandoned his pack to fend for themselves.
Solstice hadn’t said it. Corbin hadn’t said it. But she’d seen it in their eyes. Their little girl had been taken because of her. Lycans had died that night because of her. Jask’s world had fallen apart because of
her
.
‘I’ll get her back,’ Sophia said. ‘I’ll help. We’ll get them all back – Tuly, the others–’
Corbin spun towards her with a speed that made her recoil.
‘This is not some fantasy adventure, you
stupid
, naïve little girl!’ he snapped. ‘This is real. This is Blackthorn. People die. People out there
have
died. Good people. Don’t you dare fucking stand there like you can even begin to know what you’re talking about!’
He marched back over to the door, no doubt the only thing he could do to restrain himself.
How did she even think she was going to try to console a lycan? A lycan who had had his compound invaded, his son murdered, because of her.
She
was
stupid. She
was
naïve. Corbin was right.
Sophia backed away before turning towards the steps. She had to do something. Do something to make it better.
‘Wait!’ Solstice called out.
She turned back around.
Solstice caught hold of Corbin’s arm as he stared bewildered down at her. ‘Let her have five minutes with him,’ she said.
‘He doesn’t–’ Corbin began, but Solstice only squeezed tighter.
‘Let
him
decide,’ Solstice said. ‘Maybe she’s exactly what he needs.’ She opened the door and indicated for Sophia to enter.
Heart racing, Sophia slipped between them and into the room.
Only then, seeing Rone fully, the caskets destroyed, Jask’s coat torn to shreds, the bags of turmeric thrown at the walls, did she understand the full extent of Jask’s agonising cry.
Now he sat silently on the floor, his back against the stone table, knees bunched against his chest, his head wrapped in his arms that rested upon them.
She couldn’t think what else to do.
She lowered to her knees, reached out and laid her hand on his arm.
He’d know it was her – not just by her touch but by her scent. He could swat her away if he wanted to, as she no doubt deserved, but it wouldn’t stop her trying.
She prised his arm away from his knees, squeezed between them.
His response had been instant. But instead of shoving her away, he pulled her tight to his chest.
She wrapped her arms around him, looped her legs over his thigh, as he buried his head in her neck.
Laying her head against his chest, she could hear ragged breaths echoing from deep within, the slow, rhythmic beat of his lycan heart. A heart she now knew had been torn apart for a second time. She pressed her palm over the top of it. If she could have stitched it back together, she would have. But she knew this wound needed to be raw and open. He needed to bleed for a while. And she wasn’t going to leave him until that bleeding stopped.
She couldn’t think of anything else to say because there was only one thing – one thing that burned inside her. Words that she uttered without restraint. ‘I love you too,’ she whispered.
And Jask’s hold tightened.
Chapter Thirty-Six
J
ask hadn’t wanted to let Phia go. Just for that short time he’d held her, he’d lost himself. Lost himself in the comfort of her touch, in the words she’d uttered so softly, so honestly. Words he’d needed to hear like never before.
Words that had given him strength.
And strong is what he needed to be, now more than ever. He’d crumbled last time he’d felt that much pain, that much grief.
But not this time.
This time he wasn’t coiling in on himself, losing himself to the darkness of his own self-pity and anger. He would grieve and he would mourn when he was done, and not before.
And instead of lashing out at whoever got in his way like last time,
this
time only those who were responsible would pay. Because they
would
pay. And wallowing in his anguish would not make that happen.
The pack needed him now more than ever. He was their leader and he would pull himself together. This was about strategy, about moving forward quickly.
And this time he had more than them as reason enough to pull through – now he had Phia.
He gently eased her away from him. ‘I’m all right,’ he said, seeing the concern in her eyes. He pushed back her hair and gently cupped her face. ‘Are you?’
‘I’m sorry.’
He frowned. ‘For what?’
‘Taking you from your pack.’
‘I took
myself
from my pack, Sophie, because I had no choice. But I’m back now.’
He looked out of the doorway to where Corbin, having been pacing, came to a standstill.
His friend took his cue to enter.
Phia equally took her cue to take her seat to the left of Jask, as Corbin assumed his to the right.
Jask rested his head back against the stone and looked back at the wall ahead, avoiding the pain in his friend’s eyes – anything that would further intensify his own.
‘Who the
fuck
would do this? And why?’ Corbin asked. ‘What have they got to gain by destroying our lifeline like that, unless they want to destroy us?’
‘You know as well as I do that this stinks of the authorities. I don’t know whether the TSCD are directly involved or just turning a blind eye, but they
are
involved somehow.’
‘Do you think it
is
revenge? For going up against them?’
‘If it is, they’re looking for an all-out implosion.’
‘Do you think that’s what they want? Finally turn us into the monsters they need –have the perfect excuse to slaughter us all?’
‘I haven’t ruled it out.’
‘Tuly is out there somewhere with no meds,’ Corbin reminded him. ‘In a matter of days, every bone in her little body will break. Every tendon and muscle will be stretched to excruciating lengths. She will become an animal not knowing what to think and what to feel or how to control all the primal urges surging through her. We
have
to stop this.’
‘And we will,’ Jask said, meeting and holding his friend’s gaze.
Jask pulled himself to his feet, ran his hands back through his hair and clutched his skull, his back to them as he stared at the wall.
Though how the hell he was going to go up against an invisible army and protect his pack at the same time, especially when contained within the walls of Blackthorn and Lowtown, he had no idea.
He needed to think.
‘Go to Caleb,’ Corbin said. ‘Tell him that The Alliance were paid by someone to kill him and Jake. Get him on side. If anyone can infiltrate this district and find out what’s going on, it’s him. If anyone will go up against the authorities besides Kane, it’s Caleb. He’s the only vampire around here besides Kane who’s fucked-up enough to do it.’
‘I’m not going to Caleb.’
Even if he could, he wouldn’t. He wasn’t turning to any vampire for help.
‘Then go to Kane. Tell him what’s happened. This is an invasion of
his
territory too. He could be one hell of a powerful ally again.’
‘And look what happened last time I made a deal with him. He let me down once; I won’t be giving him that opportunity again. He could even be the reason
why
we’re suffering this retaliation,’ Jask said, turning to face them. ‘And if he is, he–’
Jask had sensed it, but left it too late, the alien scent now corroborated by movement in the corner of his eye.
Daniel stood in the doorway, the gun poised directly at Jask’s head.
He’d let his guard down. He’d fatally let his guard down.
But a second later, another figure stepped in behind the assailant, Daniel’s gun-holding arm wrenched to the side as he took a shot. The figure looped his arm around Daniel’s throat in a chokehold, squeezing until every one of Daniel’s limb tensed.
‘I don’t think so,’ Kane whispered in his ear.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
K
ane Malloy remained at the threshold, less than ten feet away and, from the expression in his eyes, Sophia knew it had taken him less than a second to sense what she was.
From the slight, brief tilt of his head it looked as though it took him another second longer to believe it.
Sophia’s skin prickled as the master vampire’s narrowed gaze remained locked on hers whilst she stumbled to her feet. In that moment she could see exactly,
exactly
why he had the impact he did on so many. Kane was powerful enough in reputation, but in the flesh, locked in eye contact with him, he was mesmerising.
This was why, in all the research she had conducted into serryns, the witches would take on any vampire without hesitation – except for Caleb Dehain it seemed, and master vampires. Masters were reserved for the most powerful serryns – the most experienced, the most intrepid, the most lethal. And, stood there, frozen to the spot as she stared back at him, she realised how much she lacked in all three.
And knowing the same, Jask yanked her behind him, creating a barrier between her and Kane.
Corbin, soon on his feet despite the pain, was immediately by his friend’s side.
And she could do nothing but stand motionless amidst the pending bloodbath.
‘As if the night wasn’t complicated enough already,’ Kane remarked, his gaze switching back to Jask.
‘What the fuck are you doing here, Kane?’ Jask asked.
‘A simple thank you would suffice,’ he said, slamming Daniel’s wrist against the architrave, forcing him to drop the gun – amidst Daniel’s pained gasp – to the floor.
Kane kicked it into the centre of the room, metal skidding across stone, before throwing Daniel to the floor between them.
Daniel instantly drew his wrist to his chest, confirmation it was either broken or badly sprained, before glowering up at the lycans in front of him.
Glowering at them with the cold glare of the assassin he was.
She’d forgotten he was there. But amidst the chaos, Daniel had clearly made the most of the moment – awaited Jask’s return and took the opportunity.
It was only what she would have done less than three days before.
And she would have lost Jask to him, of that she had no doubt, if Kane hadn’t intervened. Corbin would have instantly killed Daniel as a result – not even a gun-toting assassin being quick enough to take out two lycans in such close proximity. But Daniel wouldn’t have cared about the risk. He would have given it his best shot and died in the process if he had to.
It was what The Alliance was all about. What they
had
been about. What
she
had been about.
As Kane stepped into the room, a lycan came hurtling in behind him – a lycan Sophia recognised as Phelan.
Despite his startled wariness at Kane’s presence, his attention was soon on Daniel, then Jask.
‘He got out of the room,’ Phelan said, indicating towards Daniel. ‘He must have taken Connor unaware. He shoved a knife in his back, rendered him paralysed before slitting his throat. I just found him. Saw he’d taken his gun.’
Jask tucked Sophia behind Corbin before taking the few steps towards Daniel. Before she’d had time to protest, he kicked him with a force that made Sophia flinch, knocking Daniel out cold against the stone floor.
Jask raised his boot, his clear his intention to crush Daniel’s skull beneath it.
But Sophia couldn’t let him do it.
‘Jask!’ she called out, breaking the silence.
As she captured Jask’s attention, only then did she take a breath. ‘We might need him,’ was all she could think to say.
Jask hesitated. The fury and pain in his eyes told her he wavered. But he lowered his foot and took a step back.
Kane raised his eyebrows a fraction. ‘
We
?’ he echoed. ‘Seemingly even more complicated than I thought.’
‘
What
are you doing here?’ Jask asked, his voice dangerously low.
‘We need to talk.’ Kane glanced at Sophia, down at Daniel, before looking back at Jask. ‘And it looks to me like the agenda is growing.’
There was another moment of silence.
‘Take Dan outside,’ Jask instructed Phelan. ‘Make sure he’s secure. The same goes for the compound. I want all the exits marked for now on.’ She knew from the look in Kane’s eyes that Jask had returned his attention to him. ‘We can’t just have anyone wandering in here.’
Kane folded his arms, before tonguing his incisor behind the shield of his closed mouth.
Phelan nodded. ‘Onto it.’ He hoisted Daniel from the floor, flung him over his shoulder with ease before disappearing back outside.
‘Dan, huh? So you know him then?’ Kane remarked.
‘Two weeks, Kane – two weeks you’ve fucking disappeared for,’ Jask said, taking a step towards him. ‘You
and
Parish. And now you come back demanding my attention? Well, you’d better be here with news that she’s dead – that you finished the job.’
Kane didn’t even flinch, his eyes calmly attentive. ‘Like I said, we need to talk.’
‘I’ll take that as a no. Well, take a good look around, Kane. Do I look like I have time to talk right now? Do you think the fact I gave evidence against the TSCD has nothing to do with this?’ he demanded, his pointed finger thrust back towards Rone. ‘Evidence I had no choice but to give because
you
pulled out of our deal.’
‘I didn’t pull out of anything.’
‘Xavier Carter was going to die – that’s what you said. The soul ripper was going to tear his soul out before you turned on Caitlin Parish. That was the deal. They were
mine
to avenge as much as yours, but I trusted you when you said you had a more effective way. Instead, you turned soft, bedding the girl you were supposed to make suffer so that
they
suffered.
Instead
, you did nothing but ensure they’re all safely locked behind bars. I kept to
my
side of the deal, Kane. I could have let you go on the rampage that night you found Arana. I could have let the TSCD win. I could have let you give them the massacre they wanted, but I did what was best for my pack, for you, for this district. And
you
broke that deal. Which meant I stood in that stand, gave evidence to the very system I loathe, to support those members of my pack who were wronged. All because it was the only thing I could do under the circumstances
your
actions had created. So please excuse the lack of red carpet here today.’
‘She already knows all of this, I take it?’ Kane said, indicating back at Sophia.
‘You need to leave,’ Jask declared, folding his arms. ‘Like you said, this night doesn’t need to get any more complicated.’
‘Come on, Jask – you know me better than this. You must have known in your gut that this isn’t over.’
‘Then why? Tell me what changed.’
‘Carter was working with the Higher Order.’
‘The TSCD and Higher Order are right up each other’s arses. What’s new?’
‘They were leaking information to him.’
‘What kind of information?’
‘The kind of information that meant I needed to keep Carter alive a little longer.’
‘And Parish? Why’s she alive?’
‘Because I want her to be.’
Jask exhaled tersely. ‘Get the fuck off my territory, Kane,’ he said, daring to turn his back on him. ‘I have a pack to worry about.’
‘And I’m being liberal here on account of that. The attack on your compound was a targeted operation, Jask,’ Kane declared.
‘No shit,’ Jask remarked flippantly, stepping back over beside Sophia and Corbin.
‘I know who’s responsible.’
Jask’s scowl deepened as he turned around to face the vampire again.
Kane’s gaze was steady, sullen, unflinching. ‘So, do you want to talk about this civilly? Or shall I walk away and leave you to work this out for yourself? Only with what I know, I’d
strongly
advise the former.’