Bad Mouth(23)

It didn’t take long before they came to him. Evangeline found him first, followed shortly by Olen. They looked surprised, but not displeased to see him.

“Sweetling.” His mother’s sugary voice scraped into his brain. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

Olen said nothing. His father must have sensed something unusual in the visit. Kade barely bowed his head, his eyes never leaving them.

“You can blame yourselves for my interruption to your vile sense of fun.” The scent of blood and sex and other ungodly things made it plain what he’d interrupted. Yet another reminder to decapitate himself when he reached their age.

“You shouldn’t judge. At least our sense of fun doesn’t encompass mutilation.” Something threatening infused Olen’s tone, but it wasn’t a reference to Kade’s newly turned. His father had always seemed amused by it.

“In the course of the VLO’s investigation, I’ve come across something I’m sure you never meant me to find.” He had their attention now. All expression had left their faces, leaving them blank slates—a defensive reaction.

“Continue,” Olen said. His stance widened as he waited for Kade to speak. A moment passed while Kade calculated his odds against his father. Might have been a close draw if it weren’t for Evangeline. He could never take them both at once.

“Why did you allow your staff subjugates to transform rather than execute them as you told me you had?”

Neither Ancient appeared surprised. They’d either expected the question at some point or hid their reactions well. “We could not afford to lose any more vampires. It was for the good of the Legion. Our population was on a decline due to our…conflict with the humans. It was even worse after your foolish emotional blunder.”

“My what?” Kade’s lips tightened against his fangs lest he bare his aggression, a sure invitation to scuffle with the older male.

“You were never skilled at controlling your emotions. Even now you struggle for it.”

“This is the story you expect me to believe? Why did you lie about it? You’re the goddamned Ancients. You could have ordered my obedience to your decision.”

“Oh, darling,” Evangeline cooed. “You’d been brutalized by those hateful humans for so many of your young years. How could we not care how you’d feel knowing they were alive and well and protected by Immortalis protocol?”

He didn’t even know the word care existed in her vocabulary. She was a venomous bitch who’d gut him if he didn’t bow when he entered. Their story sounded weak, but what other explanation could there be? They had been at war against the humans at the time. They’d also overfed themselves into a near famine, and their numbers had diminished faster than an inept gambler’s bank account.

“Forgive us?” Her scarlet lips formed a pout.

Kade barked out a laugh. “How about I take my leave of you instead?” He pivoted to go and then called back over his shoulder. “Do me a favor and don’t call on me for a while. A long while.”

The door slammed heavily behind him as he stormed into the winter chill. It couldn’t make him colder than he already felt inside. He couldn’t decide which was worse, the subjugates completing transformation or that they were allowed to.

With a snarl, he ran and then ran faster and faster until the trees became long green walls surrounding him. A howl ripped loose, taking some of the pain with it as it left his throat. He howled again and again as he headed back to the Towers. No doubt there’d be reports of banshees, Sasquatch, and chupacabra in the morning, but he didn’t give a shit. He wanted to take the world apart and the Ancients along with it. He wanted to rip out his soul and scour it clean. And more than anything, he wanted Val.





Chapter Sixteen


Val’s body tingled with a mix of apprehension and wrath as she rode the elevator to Kade’s penthouse. She hadn’t been able to wait another day to confront him. It had to be now, before dawn broke and he went to ground.

She had no idea how he’d react when she confronted him with what she’d learned. With the evidence she’d gathered proving the transformations weren’t committed by rogues, she was a threat to the Immortalis, even though the human involvement in some of the bloodings threw a glitch in her theories.

She stopped outside Kade’s door when she heard his raised voice. The door cracked ajar an inch or two, and she could hear him clearly.

“I’m not asking you, goddammit!” He paused as if listening, but there were no other voices in the room. He had to be on the phone with someone. She swung the door open wider and slipped into the room.

“I don’t care if someone was there. Look, I met with the Ancients tonight. They don’t know anything yet and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Kade faced the balcony window, his bare shoulders tight with tension. His hair stuck up in all directions like he’d run his hands through it all night long.

“No, motherf*cker. No one’s touching Val,” he said. A lump formed in her throat. “She wouldn’t be a problem if you’d do your damn job.” She could hear a voice shouting over his handset, but couldn’t make out what the person said. Kade growled. “If you don’t kill Wallace tonight, I’ll go do it myself, and then we’ll all be f*cked.” Another short pause. “Thank you. About f*cking time.”

And then the call ended. She didn’t have time to process what she’d heard. Tightening her grip on her satchel, she walked toward him feeling as if she were bleeding on the inside.

“Oh, Kade,” she whispered as she drew closer.

He whipped around and froze when he saw her. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes. His shoulders slumped and his head dropped toward his chest. “Fuck my life.”

“Yes. Fuck your life.”

His head jerked up in surprise, and then his teeth clenched. “How long were you—”

“Don’t ask me that. You don’t get to figure out how much you need to explain to me.” Her lips began to tremble. “Who was that?” He opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off. “It was Killian, wasn’t it?”

His jaw dropped. “How do you know Ian?”

“Who is he, Kade, and who’s Declan?”

He shook his head. “How do you know about them?”

“I’m asking the questions, and you’re going to answer them.” Her legs wobbled, but she held her ground. She had to keep control, at least until she returned to her apartment where she could fall apart. “I know about them. That’s all you get from me.”

“Val, what you heard—”

“I don’t want your excuses or your lies. I want the truth.” When he said nothing, she reached into her satchel for her phone. “I can’t believe I trusted you.”

He stiffened, his eyes widening. “What are you doing?”

“I’m calling the VLO. I have enough evidence to arrest you.”

“Don’t!” He stepped toward her and instinct took over. She dropped the phone and drew out the GLOCK she promised Alice she’d carry. She’d never drawn it so fast, even in her dreams. It wasn’t much larger than her palm, but it was a loaded 9 mm and could cause some serious damage at this close range.

He cocked his head, but stopped his approach. “You think you can get a bullet out of there and into where it counts before I could take that from you?”

“I think I can try,” she said. But she didn’t want to try, and not only because he’d made a good point. You did have to be a perfect shot to hit a vampire in a fatal way, but she didn’t want to shoot him, despite her sensible self screaming for her to kill those sweet feelings she had for him.

He threw up his hands. “Fucking hell, Val!” He threw his phone across the room. It hurtled through the open doorway and hit the thick columns outside with a fatal crack, the pieces skating across the balcony. “You have no idea what’s at stake here. You’re completely blind.”

“I think I see things just fine. I see you involved with murder and conspiracy to commit murder against humans and vampires. I see that you’re a liar.” Her voice hitched. “I see that you used me.”

His hands went to his hips. “I wasn’t—” He stopped on his own and shook his head. “I wouldn’t have hurt you.”

“Now that is a lie,” she murmured, “because you already have.”

He didn’t apologize. Instead, he turned back to the balcony, letting the silence stretch. Nothing he could say would fix this. He would go to detainment, and the VLO would request execution as punishment. Her free hand went to the ache in her chest. He turned back to her, a grim expression on his face. Whatever decision he’d come to, he wasn’t thrilled with it.

“I have many things to tell you, but I need more time. Come here tonight and you’ll have answers.”