29. Cillian
I paced the length of my office. It had always felt large and spacious, the massive windows looking out onto the forest making me feel at one with nature. But not tonight. Tonight, it felt as if the walls were closing in.
“Breathe, Cill,” Maddox urged.
I knew my eyes flashed black as I whirled on him. “Breathe?” I growled.
Easton winced. “Bad move, Mad.”
But Maddox stood his ground. “We’re not going to be able to do a damned thing if you’re two seconds away from shifting.”
“Corbett scared her so badly she had a fucking nightmare. She’d been crying.”
Just the thought of the tear tracks on Hayden’s face had me wanting to tear the entire house down. To shift and fly to Corbett territory and take Dexter on right now.
Maddox’s eyes swirled with molten gold. “I know. You think I don’t want to remove his still-beating heart from his body?”
Somehow, Maddox’s anger soothed my own. Just the knowledge that he was as enraged as I was. That he cared.
I let out a long breath and collapsed back into my desk chair, pinching the bridge of my nose. I didn’t want to send my people to war. Especially not when the Corbetts had greater numbers than we did. No matter how things went, lives would be lost.
Maddox and Easton sat in the chairs opposite my desk, eyeing me carefully.
“They aren’t going to let this go,” I said finally.
“No, they aren’t,” Maddox finally agreed.
Easton’s jaw clenched. “It’s time to eliminate them for good. The Corbetts have brought nothing but pain to the supernatural community. Others would join with us.”
He had a point there. I was sure we could find other clans to aid us in battle. But it didn’t change the fact that lives would be lost. “And would you be okay if one of us died in that war?”
This time it was Easton’s eyes that flashed gold. “They won’t get the better of us.”
“But they’ll get the better of someone. A being who is someone’s sister, brother, mother, father, child. A being that is someone’s whole world. We need to know that there is no other option before we go there.” My tone wasn’t harsh, but the words still had Easton ducking his head.
Maddox drummed his fingers along his thigh. “It’s possible that if we eliminated their leadership, things could change.”
I leaned back in my chair. “It’s not a bad idea. We’d need Dexter, Hal, their head enforcer…”
“Sean Corbett is one of the other higher-up enforcers. If we could put him in the position to seize power, things might change. He doesn’t like the way his uncle leads the horde. That’s plain as day,” Maddox suggested.
Easton nodded in agreement. “I know there are others who don’t agree with his leadership. They just don’t hold power.”
God, I hoped I was never like that asshole. That the people in my horde always felt like they had a voice. That they felt like I protected them. And part of that protection meant doing everything I could to avoid war.
“Draw up some plan options,” I told Maddox. “Different ways to execute. We’ll need to take them all at once. If we don’t, we risk retaliation. We can’t have any witnesses.”
Maddox lifted his chin in assent. “I’ll get to work on it first thing tomorrow morning.”
“What about looking into Hayden’s parents’ death?” Easton asked.
I sighed. “I’ve put out feelers about her, and so far, nothing.”
Maddox shifted in his seat. “Did you talk to your brothers?”
He still wasn’t used to using the term when it came to me. I’d been sure my half brothers wouldn’t have wanted a damn thing to do with a bastard brother who would throw into question their right to a crown. But they hadn’t given a damn about any crown. They’d just wanted help in taking down our evil father. And that I’d been happy to do.
“Neither Dec nor Ronan has been able to find out anything about Hayden or her parents,” I admitted. “But I’m guessing her parents were living under false identities.”
I had a number of contacts, many of them comfortable using less-than-legal means, but they still had come back empty-handed.
Easton glanced away.
“What?” I prodded, instantly sensing something.
He worried the inside of his cheek. “You could reach out to the Diablos pack.”
Just the name had my spine stiffening.
“Are you insane?” Maddox snapped. “You want to ask those psychos for help?”
Easton shrugged. “Supposedly, they can find anyone.”
“Yeah, for the price of your soul,” Maddox muttered.
I’d heard the rumors about the Diablos pack. They were mercenaries in our world. Working in the shadows.
Maddox stared at me. “You aren’t seriously considering this?”
I scrubbed a hand over my stubbled jaw. “My typical resources are coming up empty.”
“And what happens when they get a sniff of Hayden? Decide they’d get a better price for her?” Maddox snarled.
“She’s an innocent,” I argued.
It was said that the Diablos pack had a code. No harm could come to innocents at their hands. The problem was, me and my brothers were far from innocent. So, while they might not harm Hayden, there were no promises that the same would be true for the rest of us.
“Fucking feral wolves,” Maddox muttered.
Easton’s lips twitched. “I don’t know, man. I’d be kind of curious to meet them.”
I studied Maddox for a moment. “Do you think there’s any chance Hayden’s dream was actually a memory? That Dexter was the one to kill her parents?”
If that were true, there was truly no prayer of him giving up on her.
Maddox pinched the bridge of his nose. “What I said upstairs is true. Her brain is trying to make sense of various traumas. It could easily place Dexter as the villain because of tonight. Or…”
“Dexter could’ve been after Hayden since she was eleven,” I gritted out.
Maddox nodded grimly.
I pulled my cell out of my pocket. “I’m calling the Diablos pack.”
Either way, we needed to know who was after Hayden. Even if it meant selling our souls to the devil.