I couldn’t approach you. I waited and bided my time. Allowed you to grow into a man.”
“Allowed me to suffer, you mean,” he choked, shame and regret clogging his throat. “The pendant didn’t save me from doing what I had to do to survive. You should have intervened.”
“You grew stronger,” Malik countered. “Because of your trials, because of the darkness you encountered at the hands of others, you learned to feed your own.”
“So that’s the real reason.” He hung his head. “You let me suffer to feed this awful rage inside, so you could one day come in and show me how to hone it into a weapon.”
“You needn’t make it sound like such a harsh decision,” the Unseelie said with uncharacteristic gentleness. “Are you not strong? Are you not ready to stand at my side?”
A bitter laugh escaped his chest. “Strong? Not so sure. Stand at your side? I don’t fucking think so. I stand alone. You taught me how, remember?”
To his surprise, Malik smiled, looking extremely proud. “Yes, I do. And I taught you well. Had you agreed, that would have been a great disappointment. No one will ever be your equal, boy. Not even me, given time. I have more to teach you yet, but you have all the makings of a fine Unseelie king. My son.”
He backed away, panic fluttering. “No, I don’t. And I’m not your son. Not in any way that matters.”
“You are, and you will prove me correct.”
“Yeah? How’s that?” He was about two seconds from bolting. Fuck, he needed out of here.
“You will see.” Malik paused, studying him. “Have you forgotten why you came here today, to my humble cabin?”
Kalen’s mind was a mess. He thought for a few seconds before he recalled his original reason for the visit. “You claimed my mate lied to me. That she knew something and wouldn’t tell me.”
Malik paused, then detonated his world. “Your Mackenzie knows that you are my son. She knows that the baby she carries is my grandchild.”
The room dipped and the Unseelie’s clawed hand steadied him on his feet. “You’re lying!”
“No. I told her several days ago, a fact that you can easily confirm by speaking with her. Which I assume you will do.”
“Does Nick know?” he managed.
“That I cannot say.” Malik shrugged. “But he is a Seer, is he not? How many, I wonder, hid the truth from you? Perhaps my other wayward son—your half brother, Sariel? Did he lie as well?”
His conversation with Sariel in the infirmary flashed through his mind in snippets.
Kalen couldn’t speak. There were no words for the agony of betrayal. His mate’s, perhaps Nick’s and Sariel’s, too. So many lies and half-truths, he didn’t know who to believe. Who to turn to in his confusion and pain. And Malik understood exactly how to apply salt to the wound.
“Those pathetic humans you’ve come to trust, they will destroy you,” the Unseelie said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“They won’t.” But he was no longer sure. Hadn’t Nick promised that if Kalen gave in to the darkness he’d be executed as a rogue?
“The commander practically has a hard-on at the possibility of being able to blow your brains out. And Sorcerer or not, there’s no coming back from having your gray matter splattered over the forest.”
That image reminded him of another, this one very real. “You really did murder my mother and my fa—David Black,” he accused, seething.
“Yes. I wiped from the earth the man who had abused you for years and the woman who stood by and allowed it to happen.” He regarded Kalen coolly. “And when you saw their bodies, didn’t a large part of you wish that
God help him, he couldn’t deny that.
All he could be thankful for was that his grandmother had died months before he was forced from his home. Ida May never knew the horror that befell her daughter.
Wait. “You never harmed my grandmother, did you? Because if you did—”
The Unseelie held up a hand. “On my word, I never touched Ida May. We locked horns many times, but I rather admired the old bat, in my own way. As far as I know, she perished of natural causes, whatever those might have been.”
Strangely, he believed that, if anything, was the unvarnished truth.
The two of them stood for long moments, neither speaking. In all of the horrible revelations, the one that hurt the most centered on Mackenzie. She was the sole bright light in his entire miserable existence. If he couldn’t count on her, he had nothing.
“You are thinking of your mate,” Malik said. “She kept two very important truths from you, but don’t take my word. Confront her for yourself and you will see.”
“I don’t need your advice on how to conduct my personal life.”
He shrugged. “Whether you heed my advice or not, it doesn’t matter. The reality is what it is.”
If only he could grasp what that reality was. He turned to get the hell out, but the Unseelie grasped his arm.
“You’re forgetting something.”
Kalen glared at him, ready to snap out a retort—and then the Unseelie opened his wrist with a claw and held it out.
“Your blood reward.”
“I don’t want it.” He gritted his teeth against the tantalizing scent of the blood, so intoxicating. Better than liquor. He wanted to resist, but was about as successful as a junkie trying to turn down a hit of heroin.
“Taste. And this time, do so knowing who you are and that you’re mine.”
The wrist waved in front of his nose and he hesitated a few heartbeats before grabbing it and giving in to temptation. His panther purred, glad to have any blood that he didn’t have to hunt. His other half enjoyed letting the sweetness, so like molasses, slide down his throat to warm his belly. It infused his body with a shot of adrenaline, filled his soul with wickedness.
He wanted to hurt those who had lied to and misled him. Longed to crush them all. Except his mate. Her, perhaps, he would show mercy. But the others? There was no limit to his wrath, no stopping his revenge.
Delicious tendrils of excitement snaked around his balls. This sort of absolute power was pure arousal, frighteningly addictive. Drugs were never a lure for him, but this was different.
“My boy,” Malik whispered. “My son. Take all you need. I give you my strength to add to yours.”
Kalen drank until he couldn’t think straight anymore, while Malik stroked his head and murmured.
“Embrace who you are. Then make them pay.”
The wonderful darkness had obliterated all reason. Hadn’t he endured enough agony? What had he ever done to deserve the abuse he’d suffered his entire life? All of it was too much. His mind, his will, could no longer stand against this seduction.
“Make them all pay.”
Yes. He wanted that. “How?”
“First, you will kill Sariel. He is a threat to me, to us,” Malik said quietly. “I know this will be difficult for you, but it must be done.”
“But . . . he’s my half brother.”
“Yes, and he must die, or you and I will. If we perish, so does our mission—to rule the world and put paranormals at the top of the food chain. Remember what I told you before about the greater good. Sometimes sacrifices must be made, my boy.”
“I understand.”
“Very good.” He gave Kalen a sly smile. “Have no fear. You will come to enjoy the killing. Do you feel the wicked rush in your veins from the blood reward?”
“Yeah.” He wanted more.
