There was a question in her big, blue eyes but her lips remained sealed on it.
As the first bite of my food graced my tastebuds, everything just slipped right into place. The echoes of chaos faded from my mind and I was able to fully focus on what mattered, what we needed to do.
I devoured my meal in silence and Kyan appeared with a towel wrapped around his waist as I was finishing up, grabbing his plate of heavily fried heart attack out of the oven where Blake had left it to keep warm.
He fell on his breakfast like a savage, using a combination of his fork and a slice of toast which he held in his goddamn hand to shovel the food into his mouth as fast as possible.
“Monroe is in,” I said firmly, setting my knife and fork down. “But I’m not forcing his hand as far as joining us goes, he needs to choose that for himself. I’ll put in the necessary phone calls with Mother today and get her to smooth over the transition into his new role as headmaster. She’s got half of the other school board members terrified of her and the rest can be bought if needs be. Brown’s reputation can burn along with his job. That asshole left us all to fight for this place while he hid away from the violence like a fucking coward. I’ll make sure he never teaches again. Hell, I’ll make sure he never works again. Not anywhere that matters anyway. He’ll be lucky to get a job serving fries in a diner when I’m through with him.”
“I’d like to see that,” Blake joked.
“Monroe isn’t like one of your usual stooges,” Kyan said around a mouthful of food which half fell out of his mouth, back onto his plate. I sneered at him and he smirked, swallowing before he went on. “He won’t just fall into line because you demand it. You’ll have to work with him if you want him to dance to your tune. And I guarantee he won’t just fall in and move to your beat.”
My gaze slid to Tatum and the way her eyes lit said she relished the idea of me not having it easy with Monroe. No doubt she’d take pleasure in any little bit of difficulty I came up against after the things I’d done to her.
“I know,” I agreed. “But we’re bound in blood now. He may have objections but he’s not a fool. I’m sure I can negotiate a middle ground with him that will satisfy us all. But first I need to secure his position in the school. Then he needs to decide if he really is all in with us or not.”
“What does that mean?” Blake asked.
“I haven’t decided yet. But there’s an idea curling through my mind which wants my attention…I’ll let you know once I’ve made my decision on it.”
Kyan huffed irritably as I refused to continue along that line of the conversation, but he knew better than to push me on an idea before I’d had time to consider every outcome of it. I wasn’t the kind of predator to dive in with teeth bared and claws drawn, ready to battle in blood for what I wanted. I was the snake in the grass who lay waiting for prey to walk into my trap. No one ever saw me coming until I struck and once my venom was in them, there was no anti-venom unless I saw fit to dole it out.
“The more pressing issue is securing the school,” I went on. “I’ll have a full sweep done. Any and every person within these walls will need to isolate until the forty eight hours is up. Anyone who turns out to be infected will be escorted beyond the wall to seek treatment in a hospital. We need to make sure this place is clean and free of infection. Then we make sure those fucking gates stay locked. I’ll get Father to make a donation to the school so that they can hire more guards. A fucking army of them, armed with guns to keep people the fuck out of here.”
“Then what?” Kyan asked. “Are we just gonna stay locked down in here until they get an antidote?”
“Yes,” I replied crisply. “No matter how long it takes. Once this school is secured, we keep it that way. No one comes in. No one goes out.”
“And what about Tatum?” Blake asked in a low voice, his gaze flicking up to her where she sat watching, listening, waiting.
“What about her?” I asked.
“What if she turns out to be sick?”
“She’s not sick,” Kyan snarled, thumping his fist down on the table so that the cutlery clattered on the plates.
I raised my eyes to the girl we owned and she looked back at me steadily as she waited for my verdict.
“Tatum belongs to us,” I said simply and her eyes flared with a fierce denial at my words, but she didn’t voice her protests. “So she stays with us. No matter what. Until the end.”
Kyan chuckled darkly at my words, leaning back and slinging an arm over the empty chair beside him.
“How are you feeling, baby?” he called.
“Fine,” she replied, but the beat of hesitation she’d offered up first revealed her doubts.
“Check your temperature again,” I commanded.
The petulant look she offered me said she didn’t appreciate that, but she scooped up the thermometer all the same and stuck it in her mouth.
The three of us waited in silence for her to reveal the result and the moment the thermometer bleeped, she drew it from her lips and looked down at the display.
“Still normal,” she said, her shoulders sagging in relief and the three of us expelled breaths at the same time.
