“It’s good to hear your voice, son,” Damien continued.
I bristled. I wasn’t anything like his fucking son, and the condescension in his tone was infuriating. My wolf rippled beneath the surface of my skin, alert and out for blood.
“I heard you survived that mess at the Summit,” he added. “Fortunately my heir and I had already left.”
I couldn’t hold in the snort. “Yeah, I guess it is pretty fortunate to miss an explosion that you planned.”
Katy rolled her eyes, a look of disgust contorting her face.
“I called to see if you would be interested in joining my pack.”
I almost choked on my spit. Staring at the phone in my hand, I wondered if this guy was truly insane.
“As you likely know, I’ve been reaching out to packs, offering them the protection of my own pack in lieu of the deaths of their Alphas and heirs.”
“What you call offering, most call invading,” I snapped.
Damien chuckled. “I am simply availing them to the resources my pack offers.”
“And what about the girls who went missing from the school?” I demanded roughly. “Were you availing them to your resources, too?”
Katy’s breathing hitched beside me. Her nails dug into the leather of the console between us.
“Missing girls?” Damien asked, his voice twisted with feigned confusion. “I know nothing of your school after I removed my pack from it. But I can’t say I’m surprised if girls went missing. Wasn’t your own mate abducted right from under you there?”
My wolf surged forward, and I barely leashed him. Bringing up what happened at GPA on the heels of him sending someone to Russia to help him do the same fucking thing was too much.
“Last I checked, she was taken by someone that your pack let into the school,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
“Cassian? I can hardly be responsible for what those not in my pack do,” he replied flippantly. “But we’re getting off topic, Remy. I’m offering you a peaceful way out of this. Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing? That I don’t have men watching you?”
“Watch all you want,” I snapped. “I’m not hiding anything.”
A low rumble came across the line that sounded suspiciously like a snarl. “You’re out of your league, Remy. What I’m doing is for the betterment of all packs.”
“All packs?” I echoed. “You’re taking packs. You’re manipulating and forcing them to submit to you.”
“I’m offering them a leader, just as I’m offering you a choice,” he hissed. “These packs have no Alpha.”
“Because of you!” I roared, losing my patience. “You did this. You killed dozens of innocent men!”
“Men who would have seen us all ruined,” he answered coldly. “Last chance, Remington. Join me. Ally yourself and your pack with me and I’ll let you keep your life and your mate.”
“Let me?” I repeated incredulously.
“I’ll even throw in a bonus,” he went on, clearly not getting just how past too far he was pushing me. “Those missing girls you’re so worried about? I’ll release them to their families. I believe one of them is especially important to your sister, yes?”
My eyes cut to Katy.
She covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes. Her whole body trembled.
“I thought you didn’t know anything about the missing girls?” I replied evenly.
“And I thought you might be reasonable,” Damien fired back. “But you’re just as bullheaded as your father.”
“You’re admitting to kidnapping. You took children,” I said quietly. “Do you even realize what that means? How completely fucked up that is?”
“Who are you going to tell?” Damien demanded with a harsh laugh. “The Council? They’re dead. Your allies? I’ve already taken half of them as my own. I was offering you a peaceful way out. Now I think I’ll enjoy ripping your pack apart.”
Katy blindly reached out, grabbing for my free hand.
“I’ll happily send your bitch and her mother back to Long Mesa,” Damien said happily. “After hearing that Preston kid talking to Trace … Well, they have some fairly creative ways they want to welcome them home.”
I screwed my eyes shut, thankful as hell I had gotten rid of Preston when I found him twitching and begging in the dirt after the bomb.
“Don’t worry, though,” Damien finished, clearly loving this. “I’ll save a spot in my house, and my bed, for your mother. And your sister will be well taken care of by my men.”
Everything in me slowly settled, like the dust and smoke after the bomb went off. There was a deafening sort of quiet that came in those moments after.