Chapter 14 #2
Calan and Logan both paused, watching me warily. I ignored them as I went to Clyde’s other hind leg. Another wrench had that limb torn free.
His body moved suddenly. My head snapped up, blood dripping from my maw as a growl rose.
When I saw what Calan and Logan were doing, it died in my throat.
They’d taken one of his front legs each, ripping them from his body with the same cool efficiency I’d displayed.
That was the moment Clyde’s life returned to him. A hoarse scream left his human lips as he shifted. If he was hoping being in his human form would encourage mercy, he was about to learn how wrong he was.
He hadn’t shown Reid mercy as a child. He hadn’t shown him mercy as an adult either, coming into his life and making him live with the fear of his own clan hanging over him.
He also hadn’t shown any mercy to Chester.
So fuck him. He was going to hurt in the worst ways possible.
I was about to continue shredding him into pieces, when Logan made an urgent chuffing noise. I tilted my head at him. What?
He couldn’t speak in this form, but as he tapped an exposed claw on Clyde’s naked chest, his meaning was crystal clear.
Logan also wanted to make him suffer…using his party trick.
Normally I couldn’t watch when Logan skinned someone. The screams of pain and just general gore were too much for me.
I didn’t look away as he did it to Clyde. Not for one damned second. I wanted to know he’d suffered. That he was finally paying for what he’d put Reid through.
As the light dimmed in Clyde’s eyes, his gaze sought mine.
I shifted and smirked, crouching to make sure he could see me.
“Reid is a thousand times the being you could ever hope to be. You’re going to die now knowing you failed.
You didn’t break his spirit, and I’m going to protect it so no one else ever does either. ”
Clyde had enough venom in his system to stop him reincarnating. His final death was less than a minute away. With the blood he’d lost, I was amazed he was still alive.
Somehow, knowing his eternal death was coming wasn’t enough. I wanted to be the one to end it. To strike the killing blow. I needed it.
Letting my hand shift partially, I used a single claw to cut the main artery in his neck. It was handily visible thanks to Logan’s efforts.
For those final few seconds, I freed every emotion I’d tried to mask during the meetings I’d had with him. Judgement. Disgust. Fury. I let him see them all.
I let him die knowing he was loathed. Truly hated.
It didn’t make up for what had happened to Reid. Nothing would. But at least Clyde died knowing he’d never hurt his son again. That whatever nefarious plans he had, they wouldn’t come to pass.
Because of the McCarthys. The attack on us all those decades ago hadn’t broken our spirit any more than Clyde’s abuse had broken Reid’s.
Reid.
The consequences of this slammed through me. Even if Reid hated the fucker, which I was sure he did, knowing Clyde had died would still affect him.
Someone had to tell him.
And I knew that someone had to be me.
Half an hour later, I was freshly showered and standing on Reid’s doorstep.
I stared at the now familiar doorway. I hadn’t been this close since the spider incident. Never expected to be again, either.
Knocking was easy, right? You just raised your hand and tapped it against the wood.
So why the fuck wasn’t I doing it?
Rubbing a hand on the back of my neck, I exhaled slowly. It hadn’t escaped me that not long ago, Reid had been the one struggling to cross a threshold back at the clan house. I liked to think I’d been able to help him out.
There was no question of him helping me tonight. I’d be lucky if he didn’t slam the door in my face.
Straightening my spine, I raised my fist and knocked briskly.
Reid didn’t appear immediately, giving me yet more time to fidget and stress. You couldn’t blame me. Of all the many scenarios I’d imagined over the past few weeks where I might get to speak to Reid again, this definitely wasn’t one of them.
But it wasn’t like I was there with bad news…right? It’d be a shock, for sure. But Reid hated Clyde, and rightly so. Once he’d processed it, he’d be glad he was dead.
Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door and I stood to attention. I could almost hear Brodie taking the piss out of me. If he or Hamish ever saw my behaviour around Reid, I’d never live it down.
The steps stopped on the other side of the door. There was a pause, then I heard Reid curse. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
I winced.
“Yeah, you better fucking wince, Evan. You know you’re not supposed to be here.”
I sighed, shooting a tentative smile at the peephole he was obviously peering through. “It’s an emergency, Reid. I promise. I have news for you.”
“So text it to me.”
“I won’t ask you to trust me, Reid, that’d be unfair. But believe me when I say that this is news you’re going to want to hear face-to-face.”
There was a sigh and then the door swung open. “Fine. Come in and make it quick.”
I didn’t move a muscle. I couldn’t.
Because Reid was wearing nothing but a towel.
It was tucked loosely around his waist, like he’d secured it in a hurry. Rivulets of water dripped down his pale chest, disappearing into the white cotton at his hips. His pink nipples were peaked, likely due to the cold night air rushing in from behind me.
I wonder how responsive they are.
I couldn’t stop looking at him. The planes of his taut stomach with the merest dusting of a happy trail. The long, lean calves that would look so perfect wrapped around my waist.
My mouth had dried out. Fuck, I’d known Reid was hot. After what had happened between us in the club, I’d had many fantasies about seeing him exactly like this.
The reality was so much better. Fuck.
“Are you coming in, or are you just going to ogle me? Because if it’s the latter, you can do that through the window.”
Reid’s question slammed me back into myself. Heat flooded my cheeks as I cleared my throat. “Fuck, I’m sorry. That was incredibly inappropriate of me. I promise, I have no intention of coming on to you or anything like that.”
He nibbled on his lower lip. Seeing his uncertainty had panic rising in me. Shit. What the fuck had I been thinking? He’d made it clear in the club that any advances from me were unwelcome. “I promise, Reid. You’re the last person I’d hit on.”
Reid took a step back, hurt filling his eyes. “Wow. Say it like it is, why don’t you.”
My wolf howled. “No…that’s not what I meant. Fuck, I just meant you’re safe with me, Reid. You don’t need to worry about me trying to steal your virtue or anything.”
Reid’s lips twitched. “Babes, I hate to tell you this, but my virtue was stolen a long time ago. Probably around the last time anyone actually used that phrase.”
My stomach twisted at the thought of Reid with someone. It was only natural that I found it unsettling. You had to be vulnerable to be intimate. I just wanted Reid to be safe. That was all.
It has to be.
“You might as well come in.” Reid sighed, turning and heading for his sofa. “If you’re going to insist we have a conversation, we may as well be comfortable for it.”
I followed him slowly. “Aren’t you going to put some clothes on?”
“Why should I?” Reid said challengingly, spreading his legs a little wider. I had to practically manhandle my eyes into staying on his face. “I’m the last person you’d ever hit on, remember? Besides, you shifters are used to a bit of nudity. Mine shouldn’t make you uncomfortable.”
Uncomfortable wasn’t what I was feeling, and that right there was the problem. Not when we couldn’t go there. When Reid didn’t want us to go there.
I sat on the sofa too, twisting so I was facing him. It wasn’t a big piece of furniture and I wasn’t a small bloke. My knee brushed against his, the contact making me suck in a sharp breath.
“It’s not that I don’t want you,” I said. “It’s that I can’t, Reid.”
“Guess I was confused after you almost kissed me at the club. My mistake.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Tell me what you need to so I can get on with the rest of my life.”
My wolf wanted me to inform him that he wasn’t mistaken. To tell him how many times over the past few months I had considered it. About the nights when I’d stroked myself to the memory of his body against mine in the club. How often it had been his name on my lips as I came.
But that wasn’t what Reid wanted or needed. I had a purpose for being here tonight. It was the only reason Reid was tolerating my presence.
I debated for a minute how to tell him, before deciding to just rip the plaster off. “Clyde crossed the borders today and threatened Chester. He had him by the throat when we arrived.”
Reid paled, grabbing my forearm automatically. My wolf calmed the instant his skin made contact with mine. “Is he okay?”
I knew he wasn’t asking about his father. “Aye. Chester’s safe and unharmed.”
He visibly sagged, the hand not on my arm covering his eyes. “Thank god. Thank god. If he’d killed Chester, Ev…I couldn’t…”
I put my arm around his shoulders, pulling him into my side. My lips found their way to his temple like it was a path they’d walked a thousand times before. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”
I was dimly aware that I shouldn’t be touching Reid like this. Probably shouldn’t be calling him sweetheart either. But how could I not? Comforting Reid felt as natural as breathing.
“Is he—Clyde—Did you…?”
I held him a little tighter. “Aye, sweetheart. Clyde’s dead. Eternally so.”
He suddenly pulled out of my hold, his eyes fixed straight ahead. “Who killed him?”
The alarm bells I’d ignored when comforting him were blaring now. “What?”
He looked at me then, and my wolf cowered at the blankness in his eyes. “Did you kill my father, Evan?