their will. They expected him to be grateful for his freedom, for their token favors, a compliant pawn in schemes for their betterment, not his. He smiled, baring sharp teeth.
They didn’t know him.
Their plans weren’t his plans. His began with freedom and now turned to vengeance that would end in his total control.
Of everything.
– – –
“I hear the missus was grateful for your assistance.”
Max’s smile flashed in the dim light drifting out onto the porch from deep within the house. “Thin walls.”
Cale’s rough laugh confirmed it. He stood at the top of the steps leading out into the dark yard, a lonely stance, telegraphing his wish to be overlooking mountain pines instead of Louisiana live oaks. He rubbed his thigh, but nothing could ease the pain of all he’d lost. “She’s not going to stop.”
“Neither are we until every last one of them is driven into the Gulf or to hell.”
“Good plan. Got an army to make it happen?”
“Working on it.” Max came to stand beside him, at peace for the first time in a long time despite their uncertain future, and he meant to savor it the way he had the female upstairs until she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep. “We don’t need the numbers if we’ve got the skill.”
“Yeah,” Cale mused. “But as long as she’s out there, everything we’ve built and love is in danger. She won’t stop until we stop her. Permanently.”
“But your people are safe.” More question than fact.
The Terriot king’s shoulders rose and fell. “So far, my father’s keeping a low profile. But that won’t last long. When he steps out of the shadows . . .” His tight jaw worked over that unfinished thought.
“You’re afraid of him.” Statement not condemnation.
“Hell yes, I am.” That explosive claim was unexpected. “We all are. That’s why we’re still alive. We knew when to bow. And we know when to fight. He doesn’t. He only knows his way. He won’t compromise for the sake of family or survival. Those things don’t matter to him. Control matters. And he won’t stop until he has it in his fist again.”
“And you’re in his way.”
“Oh, yeah. Long as we five stand united, he looks weak. I asked Adam to stay back because of his children. If we fail, the family’ll need a calm voice.”
Cale fell silent for a long moment, staring out into that shadowed darkness as if it held his fate. Finally, quietly, he added, “It’ll come down to him and me. We’ve always known that. I’ve never had more at stake . . . and I’ve never been weaker.” He started at the weighty press of Max’s hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t forget all you’ve learned. It’s not just strength, it’s awareness.”
“Magic.” Cale issued a soft laugh as he recalled the lesson he’d gotten from Max and Nica. How to bend light and warp space. To slow the world around him. Cool, scary shit that had saved his bacon and now would help him save his kind. If he could find that calm, inner strength again and gain control. “Seems like a lifetime ago.”
Max regarded him for a long, uncomfortable moment, reading more into that statement than Cale meant to reveal. “Perhaps what you’ve lost isn’t your strength but your confidence.”
Silence, then a gruff, “Fuck you, Savoie. What do you know?”
“Not as much as I thought, apparently.” As Max shrugged and turned toward the house, Cale stopped him with a quiet plea.
“I need your promise. You pride yourself on your word once given.”
“I do, yes.”
Cale didn’t turn, his rigid stance conveying uneasy tension. “Protect them—Kendra and my brothers’ mates. My father’ll come for me and my brothers. He’ll want to wipe every trace of us from our line, so the next generation won’t make us martyrs. He’ll purge all who defied him. No one’ll be spared.
“So, promise me Kendra and our child will be safe. Warn Silas and Bree. They won’t take me seriously, but they’ll listen to you. Make sure they survive, and that Mia, Sylvia, Ophelia and Amber are out of his reach. If my brothers and I lose this battle, do whatever needs to be done to keep them alive.”
“It won’t come to that, Cale.”
He turned, fierce stare locking on Max’s, incendiary in the dim light. “You don’t know him.”
“I do,” Max argued softly. “I understand monsters. I’ve confronted them almost every day of my life. They can’t be bargained with. They can’t be trusted to keep their word. They have no honor, no empathy, no