Row looked between them, taking in their nuances before quietly voicing, “Col, that’s not what he’s doing.”
Hard eyes focused on him with sniper scope intensity. “You’re taking his side in this? Why am I surprised?” Colin snarled.
“Colin?”
He jerked around as if pulled by invisible ties, expression washed clean of anger. A rapidly filling stare took in the sight of his mate, and the significance of recognition in her dark eyes undid him. In quick strides, he reached her where she wobbled unsteadily at the opening to the hall.
“What’s happened? Why are you fighting?”
“Everything’s fine,” he insisted, tone gentle, smile calming as his big hands palmed her shoulders. “Let me get you back to bed.”
“No,” she argued with a wonderful snap of fire. “I’m staying. I have a part in this, too.”
Rico leapt up, offering his spot on the loveseat so Colin could settle with Mia curled against him, her head nestled upon his chest. Still, he tensed at Cale’s approach, not ready to let go of his argument.
“We will never return to our father’s leash.” When their king’s assurance drained the resistance from those broad shoulders, Cale addressed them all. “But there are those who will.” A stark truth none could argue. “I don’t blame them. They’re afraid. They’ve risked everything on promises I’ve broken. They’ll run toward the illusion he’ll offer, of what we had . . . and I lost. He’ll prey upon their fear, holding up the glories and strength of his reign to comfort them into forgetting what a monster he is. They’ll want to believe those days will return, and by the time they realize it’s a lie, it’ll be too late. We can’t save them from him if we can’t offer something better—stronger—to believe in.”
“We follow you,” Turow vowed, tone pitched low and steady.
After a long, silent moment, Colin nodded. “We stay together. In all things, or we all fall separately.” With a quiet humility, he whispered, “I’m a fool. Forgive me.”
Cale brushed his apology aside, growling, “Don’t be an ass,” as he took a seat at the breakfast bar and helped himself to an endless supply of coffee. “I’ve pledged us to Savoie, not out of the desperation we had when we first came to his door, but for combined power and resources.” He let that sink in, giving them time to push away the remembered shame of kneeling before the New Orleans leader on that hopeless night their world collapsed. Savoie had rescued their dignity then, their brother strengthened that pride now.
When no opposition arose, Cale continued. “We follow him until our enemy falls. When that’s done, we’ll all have an equal say in how we rebuild and stand together as family, regardless of name or clan. For our kind and our future. To live free.”
– – –
Finally, home. Steps weary, heart dragging, Charlotte thought she was alone as she traveled down the dimly lit hall toward the stairs, hoping to find Max waiting above. Time to have that conversation. But low voices pulled her attention toward the open doors of the parlor where Cale and Kendra Terriot faced one another on the sofa, hands laced together.
“I don’t understand, my king.”
“Katy, listen to me. Those dreams are gone. They went up in flames. The only thing I can offer you both is an uncertain future where at least we can be together. I’m sorry. I promised so much more.”
Kendra wouldn’t allow him to turn away from the hands she laid against his face, holding him within the cup of both as she argued passionately, “I don’t care about those promises or a legacy. I care about the man I love, the one I’ve loved since we were children, when who we were didn’t matter to us. It still doesn’t matter. I don’t care if you have a title. I don’t want our friends bending a knee. The future I dream of is one we’ll make together for this child.” A tender smile brightened her stark expression. “I wouldn’t love or respect you less if we lived in the second bedroom of your mom’s condo, and you worked on car engines for a living.”
A reluctant chuckle. “We’d starve if we had to depend on those talents.”
She continued, encouraged. “But we’d be together. Family. Family is you and me. Us. We have this child, my cousins, your brothers. Our friends, our clan, our kind. It doesn’t matter where if we’re together. You and I, Cale Terriot, together, can handle anything that