Chapter 1 #2
At one time, I could easily find a handful of women I could fuck into oblivion.
Now I only wanted one. And that shit pissed me off.
One of the many reasons I never let anyone in before.
Not that I had a chance when it came to her.
Brexley Kovacs had my balls wrapped up and locked down from the moment she walked into Halálház.
Before I even had a clue what it was like to be inside her.
Where the hell are you, Kovacs?
Angry at her, at myself, I pounded up the steps to what used to be a museum but had long since been emptied.
Passing another set of guards, Wesley and a girl named Sab I recognized from Povstat stood at the entry.
Wesley nodded at us as we entered. The place had been ransacked and stripped, leaving nothing but a shell of high-arched decorative ceilings, turrets, and wooden beams. The entire place replicated the best architecture spanning from Austrian palaces to Dracula castle in Romania, making me feel like a harsh contradiction com-pared to the grandness and elegant beauty.
I was dark. Cruel. I rolled in vengeance and fucked in the blood of my enemy.
My dirty boots clipped over the chipping tile floors entering the operations room, which held little heat.
The place where the plundered stained-glass windows used to be was now boarded up, letting a draft in the room.
Only on cloudy, rainy days did we light a fire, not wanting any smoke signal coming from this area.
Loud voices and angry magic stabbed at my frozen skin like nettles.
Fuck. Here we go again.
“This is my city.” Killian leaned over the table, his finger stabbing at the wood of the makeshift table. “I decide what happens in regard to it.”
“You sound exactly like all the rest of the authoritarian leaders,” Mykel shouted back, his stance mirroring Killian’s across the slab of wood. “And if you recall, my entire base, hundreds of my people, are dead because I was here trying to help you out. My city has fallen into ruin.”
“And I am at fault for that?” Killian seethed.
“You can pretend you are innocent in all this, but you helped create this mess because of your own selfish appetite for power.” Mykel hit the counter with his palm.
“And you’re blameless?” Killian’s voice lowered, tension vibrating off him.
“Your rise in Povstat wasn’t because you are so pure of heart. You forget I was also part of the search for the nectar fifteen years ago. I know what you will do to get your hands on it. Don’t talk of my greed and need for power.”
Mykel stiffened, his chin flicking up, Killian’s accusations knocking into him.
“This is all of our fucking problem.” I busted through their dick-measuring contest, strolling up to them. “So just shut the hell up.”
Scorpion snorted from the other side of the room, sitting back in a chair, Caden and Birdie flanking him.
I snarled at Scorpion, and he flipped me off.
I wanted to hate the fucker, but I couldn’t.
Not even in the worst torture would I ever admit this, but I had faith in him.
I trusted him with Kovacs. I knew he’d do anything to save her life, to protect her.
Because of that I couldn’t detest him, which made me want to hate him more.
Birdie nodded at me, but my attention slid from her to Caden. Instantly my guard went up, prickling like nails, stabbing back into my gut.
The anger I felt when entering wasn’t from Killian
It was Caden.
His brown eyes flicked around, his jaw set, but I could feel it.
Vengeance, wrath, death.
A mirror of my own emotions.
His gaze shot to mine as if he could sense me too before he looked away. Neither of us had really spoken since that day in the lab. The day his father tried to rip my essence from me and give it to him.
Not a bit of me wanted to contemplate that day or believe I shared anything with captain one-pump.
Though no amount of denial could explain how I knew Caden would step out into the pit that final night in Věrh?za before he did, or how I seemed to sense him around, feel my own essence in him. The same hate and rage.
Killian cleared his throat, yanking my focus back to him. He had regained his health and strength, looking every bit the pompous ass he was before, though his dark cargo pants, long-sleeved shirt, and worn boots took him several levels down from douchebag.
“Report,” he demanded.
Never mind. The douchebag was still flying his flag.
“Sonya’s fully moved in. We saw hundreds of soldiers already wearing her insignia.
Servants, tanks, armored cars. Looks like she took all Leon’s military items and whatever you left and stamped her mark on it,” Ash offered.
“Thinking your crap is either at the bottom of the river or she’s going to have one big estate sale this weekend. ”
Killian’s shoulders tipped back as he sucked in air. I could tell it was hard for him to sit back and take this. The instinct to fight for your home and kick the squatter’s ass to the curb had to be overwhelming.
Sonya was astute. Very shrewd. She hadn’t played this game for so long to let it go easily. We had to play this smart.
“Repeat what you guys found.” Killian motioned to the group across. They had been sent on a similar stakeout mission, but to HDF.
“From the outside, everything—according to him—is the same.” Birdie motioned to Caden.
It took Killian and Mykel a lot of convincing to let Caden go, but Birdie volunteered to babysit and make sure he wasn’t signaling his old comrades.
From the swelling rage I could feel coming off him, his hate for his father was severe.
He wasn’t exactly on our side, but he wasn’t on theirs either. Defected. Lost. Hurt.
Even though his mother was alive and resting in the next building, I could sense another one feeling the loss of Kovacs. She had been his anchor for so long, his best friend. Her presence would help him find his feet.