Chapter 19 #3
I looked back at Isra. “You have every right to be furious. To feel betrayed. To question everything Marcus told you. But do not rewrite the fact that tonight he stood between that case and a man who would have killed him. He chose you. He chose us. He did not have to.”
Isra’s attention shifted to Marcus again.
The broker stood very still, hands open at his sides, as if ready to receive whatever judgment fell.
Raven added her weight quietly. “I do not like what Marcus does. I will never like it. But I am grateful he helped us tonight. I am grateful he got Cassara and Constantine out of that warehouse alive.”
Marcus blinked. “You are welcome.”
“Do not get used to the praise,” Con muttered. “It will fade.”
Despite himself, Isra huffed a small, wet laugh.
The sound broke something in the tension.
He lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling shakily. “I hate that you kept this from me.”
“I know,” Marcus said.
“I hate that every time I think about the last year, I will wonder what you were doing when you told me you were traveling for ‘logistics.’”
“I know.”
Isra dropped his hand and looked at him. Really looked.
“I hate that you made me love a man I did not actually know,” he said.
Marcus’ throat worked. “Isra…”
“But,” Isra said, voice barely above a whisper, “I would hate it more if you had not walked out of that warehouse with them tonight.”
He stepped closer, stopping just out of reach.
“This is not forgiveness,” he said. “Not yet. I do not even know if I can get there. I do not know if I want to.”
Marcus nodded. “I will take whatever you give me.”
“You will take what I decide you deserve,” Isra shot back, although the sting in his words lacked true venom now.
Marcus accepted that without flinching.
Isra looked at the case, then at Con, then at me. “I should go. Con needs rest, and I need… time to think.”
Con glanced at Marcus. “You are staying here tonight. Shadow Bone is safer than the club. And I do not trust you out of my sight at the moment.”
A muscle jumped in Marcus’ jaw. “That seems fair.”
“You will help Julian with every contact, every broker, every name you have connected to that formula. The serum at the auction may or may not have been a fake. It was destroyed in the fire,” Isra continued.
“If there is a lab, we will find it. If there is a handler, we will hunt them. You will help us.”
Marcus nodded once. “Agreed.”
“If I find out you kept even one detail from us,” Isra added, “and I mean even one minor supplier name, I will neuter you on stage during my Friday show.”
Raven choked.
Con groaned a laugh, then winced, hand flying to his ribs.
Marcus lifted both hands. “Understood.”
Isra’s shoulders sagged again, the fight briefly drained. He turned to me.
“How bad is it?” he asked, nodding toward Con.
“He will live,” I said. “But it was close.”
“You almost lost him,” he said.
“Yes.”
Isra studied my face. Something in his expression softened.
“You would have burned the whole district if he had died,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered.
He nodded once, as if that confirmed something he already knew. “Then we should make sure he does not die.”
Raven stepped around to the other side and checked Con’s ribs again, pressing lightly along the bruised skin. He hissed, but did not pull away.
Marcus remained in the corner, for once quiet, one hand resting on the case.
I stood with my back against the wall, taking in all of them.
A broker who lied to protect the man he loved.
A drag queen who ruled a club and now stared down an apocalypse.
A queen who had captured the hearts of our clan and its overseer.
A warrior who threw himself between me and death without thinking twice.
And me.
The vampire with too much fire in her veins and not enough sense to stop using it.
I felt sympathy for Isra, torn between love and betrayal. I felt sympathy for Marcus, who had finally stepped into the light and found it far harsher than he had imagined.
I felt something else too, watching them.
Determination.
We were all flawed.
We were all compromised.
We were all dangerous.
And tonight, that was exactly what the world needed from us.
“Rest,” Raven said, straightening. “All of you.”
She met my gaze. “And you, Cass, are not using that level of fire again without a plan in place.”
I gave her a thin smile. “I will try.”
Constantine’s eyes met mine.
We both knew how weak that promise was.
Isra looped his arm through Marcus’ finally, more a grip than an embrace, and steered him toward the door.
“We will talk later,” he said.
Marcus nodded. “I will be here.”
They left together, the door closing softly behind them.
Silence settled.
Con shifted, wincing as he rolled slightly onto his side to face me.
“You burned half a hall,” he said quietly.
“You almost died in it,” I replied.
“We have the fragment,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered.
He watched me for a long moment. “We are still breathing.”
“For tonight,” I said.
He reached out, fingers brushing mine where my hand rested on the edge of the bed.
“We do not lose,” he murmured.