Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MIKO
We searched in expanding circles for traces of Lance, using Haven as a hub. We kept our eyes on every building, senses tuned to every sound, moving with stealth around the biters.
And came up with nothing.
“Fuck,” I growled. “Where is he?”
The prick definitely took that shot at the foot tunnel, or someone working for him did. I knew him. He liked to play games, especially with me.
Once again, I’m his prey…
“Sir?”
Cate’s crisp tone stopped any trips down memory lane in their tracks. “Yes?”
“Can I say something you may not like?”
“What is it?”
“Don’t deny yourself things you might want to explore.”
I glowered at her. “Has your husband been gossiping?”
Cate held herself to a steely standard similar to mine, but with a much warmer aura. She also couldn’t hide her emotions as well as she might think.
My response rattled her. “No, sir. You know he wouldn’t.”
“Then why are you saying this to me?”
She licked her lips. “Can I add something?”
“I’m sure I won’t like it.”
A flicker of a smile crossed her face. “I’ve seen how you look at the fae. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you like him, don’t you?”
Explore. Like. Want. Unfit words for my life, no matter how much I’d like to embrace them.
“Drop it,” I said.
“But—”
“That’s an order.”
She dropped it. “Sorry, sir.”
“East or west?” I asked, my insides churning, heart longing to be close to my new mate.
Fuck your longing!
“Sir?”
“East or west?” I repeated. “I want you to decide.”
“East,” she answered quickly.
“East it is.”
We didn’t get half a mile before three figures blocked our route. Not biters, but the living, the one in the middle sickeningly familiar.
“There you are,” I muttered.
Blue jeans, a black muscle tee, a worn leather jacket—Lance looked like a rockstar dragged through hell.
As tall as me, a swimmer’s build, his bronze tanned complexion paler than before.
He winked a blue eye at me and raked a hand through his dirty-blond hair as if he were in a commercial for a fashion brand.
Ruggedly handsome, a cocksure grin on his face.
Some things never change.
I cooled every instinct to tear him apart as we approached each other at the same time, like the beginning of a showdown scene from a western movie.
Two women flanked him, dressed in black and wielding baseball bats, a mean energy about them.
No guns in sight.
Lance stretched out his arms as if to summon me to him. “Look who it is.” Smooth voice, loaded with hidden poison.
I came to a stop. “Lance.”
He bowed as a lord from a period drama. “Miko. Cate. How the devil are you both?”
“Been better,” I answered, keeping my settings on chilly. “You?”
“Glad to be back in London.”
Viper. “Why?”
“Why shouldn’t I come home? I’ve missed it so much.” His sincerity was a limp dick.
His comrades, one a werelynx, the other a werefox, glared at me.
“When did you get back?” I asked.
He smirked. “We can get to the hot topic straight away, Miko. There’s no point standing on ceremony.”
I’d rather stand on your fucking head. “Fine. Tell me why you shot at me.”
His eyes pulsed with amusement, his smirk the work of evil. “A terrible mistake. I do apologize for such a misunderstanding. I never wanted you dead, Miko.”
“Then why shoot at me?”
“Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t?”
“No.”
Lance pouted. “You know how to hurt a man. It wasn’t me. I almost sent flowers, but the apocalypse doesn’t really serve floristry well.” He laughed.
Piece of shit. “One of your pack?”
“An accident.”
And my nuts are made of gold. “How was it an accident?”
“Believe it or not, we were hunting deer.”
Bullshit. Shifters didn’t need guns to hunt deer.
“You don’t believe me, Miko?”
“I didn’t say that.”
He shrugged. “Training new recruits is hard. He fired the rifle in panic when he spotted you and that red-headed man on the roof of the foot tunnel. I came to help, but that horde struck. Much to my relief, I saw you escape and discovered your tower.”
Lance made every inch of my skin crawl. “An accident then.”
“Which you don’t believe.”
Because it makes no sense. “Don’t let it happen again.”
There were hints of a sneer behind the smirk. “Of course. Shall we draw a line under it?”
“Fine by me.”
“Shake hands?”
Putting my hand in a blender would be safer than touching him. “Words are enough.”
“Speaking of words.” He clasped his hands together. “I see, and smell, you’re in the company of the fae.”
How I didn’t break his nose was beyond me. “One fae.”
“Wonderful. His name?”
“None of your business.” My icy shields cracked.
Lance chuckled, a warning in the sound. “We have to come to some sort of arrangement.”
“Do we?”
“Why, yes. I’m back in town, Miko, and things are so different now. The old ways are dead. It’s time for new rules, a new order.” His left cheek twitched. “I have a pack comprised of many shifters, as you can probably see. A family found on the road. You’re free to join us.”
Did hell just freeze over? “I have my own pack.”
“I knew you would say that. The offer will remain open. If you change your mind, say the word.” He clapped his hands together gently, careful not to be loud.
“Which brings us to the arrangement. I want territory in London. I’m thinking north of the river, seeing as you seem to be enjoying the south. ”
“Territory doesn’t exist anymore,” I countered. “As you said, the old ways are dead.”
“Indeed. But here is a new way. I want the north, you can have the south. The Thames is our dividing line.” His smirk became pure darkness, promising violence. “You stay down here, I’ll stay up there. If we fuck up, we go to war.”
Of course, his return to the city had to come with drama. “Why? Why can’t you just live where you want and worry about staying alive?”
“Because, dear Miko, I like boundaries.”
“You don’t need them here. Just go about your business.”
Lance stroked the hair of the woman on his left. She moaned, pushing into his touch.
“Are you going to invite me into your tower?” he asked, doing the same to the other woman’s hair. “Can we join you, live peacefully, share in your stores? I’m sure you have a bounty.”
I couldn’t lie to the prick. “No, you can’t.”
“Thought as much.” He dropped his arms. “Anyway, we have a difficult past I cannot move on from. I’m sure it’s the same for you.”
I didn’t answer.
“So, let me set this out for you.” He cracked his knuckles. “Come north of the river and I’ll burn your fucking tower to the ground. After I’ve slaughtered your pathetic excuse for a pack. Got that?”
Cate growled, going to take a step forward.
I stopped her. “Touch my pack, I’ll tear you apart.”
“Oh, good. Now we’ve both made our threats.
But you’ll see the size of my force as it marches through your territory.
I’m a superstar.” The prick chortled, his cronies snickering along with him.
“They won’t attack you, and you won’t attack them.
As soon as my pack makes the crossing, the terms are sealed.
” He bared his teeth. “I should take you out right now for letting me be driven out of London. What a cunt you are. But I’m willing to let it slide because I’ve turned over a new leaf.
I plotted your death in so many fun scenarios over the years, most of them messy.
I’m willing to temper those desires. But cross the river, and I’ll wear your intestines for a belt. Got it?”
Cate growled again, staying by my side.
Lance wasn’t interested in peace. The lynx alpha loved petty revenge, enjoyed pain.
His thirst for my blood radiated from every inch of him, drool practically running down his chin.
However, the fucker had me by the bollocks.
I didn’t doubt the size of his new pack because he never lied about those things.
He liked to boast, he liked to put fear in his enemies. And I was prime enemy number one.
“Well?” he said.
There would be more to this. The north wasn’t enough for his ego. More caveats were coming, more threats, more games. He’d try goading me into breaking the ‘agreement’ at some point so he could pick my flesh from his teeth.
Killing him now would trigger a storm my pack couldn’t withstand. I had to put my own desire for violence aside, my charges my complete priority.
Keep them safe.
Always.
Including the fae.
Scarlet hair and cherries called to me, begging me to come home, to not resist the bond. To explore. To open. To be—
“Are you daydreaming?” Lance’s disgusting voice threw piss on my thinking.
“You have a deal,” I responded, done with this. “You have the north, we have the south.”
He clearly wanted to add in a ‘for now’ or something, but he nodded. “Then let’s shake on it.”
We met in the middle, approaching each other with trepidation. At least I did. He strutted as if the street were his personal catwalk.
Lance offered his hand.
Chest constricting, I sealed the fragile deal with a shake.
“There,” he said, deepening his tone. “All done.”
He ran his thumb across my skin. Back and forth, back and forth. Caught in his snare, I watched the action, my skin recalling that one night. A night never disclosed to anyone, at least on my part.
God, the shame of it, the intensity of his lust. And mine. Violent, hot, my arm broken, his collar bone fractured.
Too much. The worst night of my life after the pleasure died down.
I yanked my hand back.
He laughed. “Oh, Miko. You are such a clown.”
And you’re lucky I don’t put a hole in your face. “We’re done here.”
“We are. By the end of tomorrow night, my pack will have passed through your territory. Hopefully, this is goodbye.” He winked, turned, and strode off with his shifters in tow.
I watched him leave, the true shock of seeing his face again flooding me with toxic rage. My chest, my lungs, they failed me, unwanted fear ravaging my senses.
Lance.
Lance.
Lance.
“Sir?”
I blinked. “Lance…”
“Sir? Talk to me.”
Cate. “Fuck…”
“It’s okay, sir.”
“No. It really isn’t.”
Fear gave way to fury, then to antagonizing helplessness.
I’d stood there and allowed him to dictate, to make his threats, to walk right back into this city as if he owned it.
A real alpha would’ve declared war, would’ve taken his head off and beaten those fucking shifters to death with it.
Howled into the sky for the others to come get some.
Rip through the pack. Limb from limb from limb. Bathe in their blood, revel in the destruction. Teach them all a lesson not to fuck with me and mine.
“Sir?”
Obliterate.
Destroy.
Kill.
“Lance,” I growled.
“Sir?”
My hands were so firmly balled into fists the bones were ready to snap. I had to get away from here and Lance’s permeating scent before I ran after him.
I can’t put my people in danger…
“We’re going home right now,” I announced, charging in the direction of Haven.
“Yes, sir.” Cate followed obediently.