Chapter 8 #2
In the end, their father’s pettiness had made them more effective killers, with the added bonus of pulling some of his kinfolk into the fold. A few of their cousins were the deadliest assassins Kaine had on his payroll.
Easy held up a hand. “No lecture, please, brother. I’m already waiting on Vivian’s when this sham of a service is over.”
To punctuate his point, their mother leaned over and gave them both a narrow-eyed stare. Eve snickered next to him.
“Tell me about the panther,” Ezekial joked.
Kaine sucked his teeth. “You and your sister are annoying.”
A woman leaned forward to shush them and Easy flashed his fangs at her. She gasped and sat back.
“Easy,” Kaine chided.
The triplets sat quiet through the rest of the service. Even though they were full grown adults, family obligation had them glued to their seats. Tucking his bible under his arm, Kaine stood with the rest of the congregation, sighing, because this was the most difficult part of the day.
Talking to his parents.
His mother marched to him immediately, her public smile plastered in place. She inhaled and, for a moment, it dropped. His sister hid her smirk.
Straightening and adjusting her hat, Vivian Kaine turned her attention to the congregants rushing forward to speak to her.
“We will discuss this later,” she declared.
As expected, his mother introduced him to a line of single tiger females in the hopes that one would catch his attention.
The tiger community as a whole was small, but there were a lot congregated here in Oakridge and Vivian saw to it that he was introduced to every eligible female within it.
His tiger ignored them all. Easy snorted derisively, leaving the building now that his obligation had been fulfilled.
Once the last young lady and her family walked off, his mother turned to him, an irritated expression breaking through her mask.
“You let a panther scent mark you!” she hissed, keeping her voice low.
“Imagine that,” was his answer.
Telling his mother that his tiger had already chosen their mate would have to be a conversation handled in private. Before Vivian could further fuss, his father walked up to them. Eve’s face hardened and Kaine swallowed his own sigh.
“Ezra,” his father greeted, his dark, sharp gaze raking his eldest son’s body, ignoring his only daughter.
“Pastor.”
The triplets had a strained relationship with their parents, but Jeffrey Kaine paid special attention to his firstborn, still pissed that Henry had named him his successor.
It shattered the dreams his father had for his church to be passed down through their family.
Easy had absolutely no interest. If he was lucky, perhaps Eve would mate with a male that met the pastor’s exacting standards.
Since he couldn’t go against his father-in-law, Jeffrey had taken the old man’s choice out on Kaine.
At first, the beatings had been under the guise of expelling the sin out of all three of his kids.
It had had the opposite effect, sending the triplets to their grandparents for refuge when it got too bad.
Henry, no saint himself, had used their situation to cultivate them for his own use.
All three siblings now worked for the Aces, trained personally by a man who had a reputation that was well-earned.
While Jeffrey Kaine made a lot of noise about not agreeing with the way the Brownes had made their fortune, the pastor had no issue spending his mate’s money to build this looming temple to greed. The hypocrisy was one of the things Kaine most hated about his father.
“Is there anything you need to atone for this week?” Jeffrey asked.
Kaine snorted. “And if I did, I would talk to someone who actually believed in what they preached.”
Jeffrey’s face hardened. “Don’t you tire of that refrain?”
“No more than you tire of reminding me about your thoughts of me.”
“I am your father. It’s my job to guide you on a righteous path.”
Kaine chuckled. “Guidance. Is that the word you’re using for your abuse?”
“Ezra,” his mother snapped.
Jeffrey held his hand up to stop Vivian. He shook his head. “Even in his death, Henry still has a hold over your life. Your grandfather twisted your mind, using your animal’s instincts for his own purposes. You’re free to do whatever you want, and yet you still choose the life of sin.”
“And yet that didn’t stop you from using those ill-gotten gains to build all this.” Kaine gestured around them casually.
Anger suffused his father’s face. “You don’t have to let your tiger’s nature win.”
Kaine sighed. “Just because you pretend to suppress the nature of your animal does not mean the rest of us will. Remember, I was on the other end of your tiger’s bite once upon a time.”
He walked away before his parents got him out of character around all these witnesses.
Kaine and his tiger were inextricably linked.
Trained under Henry’s firm hand, yes, but all the same, the animal had never failed him.
He trusted its instincts implicitly. Nothing his father said would change that at this point.
Eve was waiting in the back seat by the time he reached the car. Saying nothing, his sister grabbed his hand, her tiger soothing his. Kaine relaxed and pushed his parents to the back of his mind.