Wild and Free (The Three #3)(48)

“I did not start training when I was six years old to face a threat only to retreat when that threat came real,” he declared. “Xun didn’t. Wei didn’t. Ma, knowin’ this shit could go down for sixty-six years, f*cking didn’t. We’re prepared. They can bring it on. We’ll be here to face it.”

“A smart warrior knows his opponent, when he can face him and when he should not,” Abel replied.

“A brave warrior knows when it’s worth it to face a lethal opponent anyway, even if the odds do not favor him,” Chen fired back.

“Fuck,” Abel snarled, because Chen’s comeback was a good one.

“Do not say this shit to Ma,” Wei ordered, also rising. “Do not break her heart like this. Do not even mention this shit to her.”

“It’s her I’m lookin’ after. She’ll get it,” Abel returned.

“It’s her who will not survive a broken heart that never mended, which, if you do this, you’ll shatter,” Wei retorted. “And you f*ckin’ know that shit, brother. You f*ckin’ know it. She barely could live without Dad. You think she can end her days without you?”

“Wei—” Abel began.

Wei leaned across the table to his brother. “Every woman in our line for five generations has been born to you and has died with you. You can’t take that away from Ma. She’s lived knowin’ one thing in this life is true—that she’ll have you from the first breath she took to her last.”

Oh…my…God.

I felt Abel’s emotion roiling off him, but Wei wasn’t done.

“This family gave you everything. You don’t get to decide to take it away.”

I felt Abel’s emotion now beating into me and I leaned closer to him.

“You demand to have your dungeon close to Ma everywhere we go thinkin’ it’s you that needs to be near her so you can protect her. But you’re wrong, Abel,” Wei went on. “She does that shit. She finds these places so you can live close because she needs to protect you. Like her mother did. Like her grandmother did. I can go on and you know it. You’re ours. Centuries of you in this family made you blood, even if we don’t share it, and you don’t turn your back on blood. We know that. We’ve lived it. Generations of our women have given that to you. Don’t take that away.”

On that, Wei did not wait for a reply, he stalked out.

Chen followed him.

Xun scraped his chair back and did the same.

Snake, Moose, and Jabber followed suit.

When they were gone, Dad turned his eyes from the door and looked to Abel. “Think on this, son, and do not make any rash decisions. I’ll say it true…you take off anyway, I’ll follow you. And from what I heard at this table, I will not be alone.”

After delivering this, he pushed his chair back and walked out.

“Well, that didn’t go real great,” I muttered.

Abel growled again.

I started to look up at him but instead turned my gaze to Poncho when he spoke.

“Got an auntie who’s a bruja.”

“What?” I asked.

“Witch,” he said. “She can see. She can protect.” He looked to Abel. “Gotta have your permission, man, but wanna give her a call. Share. See if she can do anything for us. See if she can call up some visions.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Abel said, “Give me some time to consider that.”

“Don’t take too much,” Poncho advised, then turned soft eyes to me, got up, and left the room.

I watched him do it, then turned to Abel.

“What now?”

“You mean after I successfully fight the urge to rip this room apart and then mind-control every one of those f*cks into lettin’ us do what we need to do?”

Oh man.

I leaned in to him. “Don’t do that, honey.”

His jaw got hard and he gritted through his teeth, “I won’t.”

“I think we need to give this some thought. Give it a day or two for everyone to think about it,” I shared.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“We’re loved. That’s not a bad thing,” I pointed out, and his eyes focused more fully on me.

“It isn’t. It never is. Until that love turns to sacrifice. I’ve had a lot of humans sacrificing for me all my life, bao bei. The ultimate sacrifice…” He shook his head. “Fate saw it fit to grant me a long life, and that’s a long time to live knowin’ people who have a place in my heart gave it all up for you and me.”

I understood him. It hurt what he was saying, the crushing significance of it, but I understood.

I also understood the men.

Impasse.

I lifted a hand and curled it around his neck, using my thumb to stroke the ridges of his throat. “A day or two, Abel, we’ll all think on it.”

I felt him swallow.

Then he said, “Yeah.”

*

Jian-Li

“Thank you for telling me that, Hook.”

Jian-Li was standing in her office with Lilah’s father. She was talking quietly. Hooker had also spoken quietly, since she’d shared with him over tea in her living room the night before (he’d had two more beers) all about Abel’s abilities.