Mist's Edge (The Broken Lands #2) - T.A. White Page 0,81

Reece decided he didn’t want to play anymore. Fallon was deadly serious and there was nothing he’d like more than to relieve this man of his head.

“I’m her cousin. She’d never forgive you.”

Fallon stood up. Hm. That might put a wrinkle in things. He didn’t let that stop him though. “It might take a long time, but I have a feeling she’ll eventually come back around.”

Reece snorted. “You don’t know Shea very well, then. That woman holds a grudge like no other.”

“It might be worth it just to shut you up,” Witt said, poking Reece in the back of the head.

Reece shrugged and tried to duck away from Witt. He didn’t get far, restrained in the chair as he was.

“What is it that you want?” Fallon asked. He was tired of the games. He wanted to be in bed holding his woman, not here interrogating a fool.

“Didn’t you get the note?”

Fallon’s jaw ticked. “You mean the note you invaded my space to leave on Shea’s pillow.”

“Yeah, that note.”

Caden scoffed. “This boy is an idiot.”

Darius’s expression made it clear he agreed. “How is he a pathfinder? I’m beginning to revise my opinion of them after meeting him.”

“He is not typical to their ranks,” Witt said, never taking his eyes off the other man.

“What’s the big deal? The note was very clear. Shea can come back home and even bring the little friends she’s made.” Reece’s expression made it clear he had no idea why they found the note so offensive.

Fallon snapped. He’d crossed the space in seconds and grabbed Reece’s shirt, jerking him and the chair he was still tied to half off the ground. “The big deal is you trespassed in my space. You violated the room I share with my Telroi. Worst of all, you seek to take what is mine. I have killed men for less. I have destroyed villages and salted the earth they rested on so nothing could grow again for offenses not even half as grave as the insult you gave. That is the big deal.”

Reece’s head flopped around on his shoulders as Fallon shook him with every other word. Fallon’s voice rose until it was a thunderous roar in the small space. The other three made no attempt to separate him from his victim, looking on with bored expressions.

Fallon took a deep breath and opened his hand. Reece fell, his chair wobbling before falling on its side. Reece coughed several times before craning his head to glare up at Fallon.

“I don’t know what she sees in you. You’re not her normal type at all.”

Fallon bared his teeth at the man on the ground and chuckled. It was the laugh of a dragon faced with someone so far beneath him that he couldn’t even be classified as a threat anymore. Reece would have to work harder if he wanted to get to Fallon. It didn’t matter if he was Shea’s type or not. She was his, and he was hers. The end. What came before was unimportant. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d been a monk before he’d met her.

Reece eyed him warily. “Didn’t work, huh? Perhaps you’re smarter than you look.”

Fallon reached down and set the chair and Reece upright. “Start talking. My patience for you is wearing thin. Once it’s gone, my men will kill you and put your body somewhere no one but the beasts will find it. We’ll tell Shea you went back home.”

“She’ll know. They’ll send others until they get what they want.”

Fallon cocked an eyebrow and shrugged. “By then, our bond will not be so easily broken.”

Reece sighed and tilted his head back to look up at the canvas. Fallon watched with interest. It was a trait Shea had demonstrated on more than one occasion—usually when she was frustrated or had to consider a problem. Perhaps it was a family trait. After a long minute, Reece tilted his head slightly and directed his eyes so he could see Fallon.

“The pathfinders want Shea to come home.”

“No.”

He sighed and kept going. “They want her to come home and bring you and your army with her.”

Hmm. That was interesting. And unexpected.

“Why?”

Reece shrugged. “They didn’t tell me that. I’m just a pawn—isn’t that what you said?”

Fallon grabbed a finger of the other man’s and twisted just far enough to put pressure on the joints but not enough to break it. “Why?”

“Because something’s wrong!”

Fallon released the finger and stepped back. “Wrong how?”

“You’ve seen it. The mist. The beast attacks, aggressive beyond anything we’ve seen in