“Things change.”
“I don’t.” Raising my hand, she intertwined our fingers the same way we’ve done since we learned about our powers. She fed from me and I from her, exchanging our feelings and energies through touch. And right now, her aura is glowing with love and excitement, an exact mirror of my own. “By blood and by pact.”
“We are one.”
“We are one,” she repeats and then gets a devious look in her eyes that has gotten me in trouble many times in the past. “Now—we have someone to kill. Any preference, or are we going in there, guns blazing like the wonder twins we are?”
“Christ, I forgot how cheesy you can be?” I snort, which causes her to laugh. “That was bad.”
“Oh hush, just because I’m older doesn’t mean I’m out of touch with the youth here.”
Another presence makes itself known a moment later, and I’m not surprised as one never moved without the other before. “Alpha Xadiel, how have you been?”
“Her joy matches my own, Gabriella. We are all happy to have you back.”
The sincerity in his eyes brings tears to my eyes that will never fall. “Thank you, brother.”
“Okay…” Isabella claps her hands, winking at her mate and mouthing the words I love you. “First, did you push the meeting back?”
“I did,” my sister’s husband answers without pause.
“God, I love you.”
My eyes shift to Theo, who shakes his head. We are not that bad, pretty girl. It’s the part dog thing that makes them cheesy. I’m not going to respond to his mind link, choosing instead to turn back into the conversation my sister is leading. “And two?” I ask.
“Two, I know where she is. No one steps onto our land without us knowing.”
The small cottage Elise ran to is deep in the Alaskan wilderness and right near the border of Xadiel’s land. It’s far enough to not draw too much attention, while still being within the territory. It blends into the scenery, a little dilapidated, but enough for one person to hide.
I can hear her heartbeat from where I stand.
She knows we’re here, too.
The moment she sensed our presence, she panicked, the cadence of each heartbeat rising, and her breathing followed. Funny. For someone who’s the daughter of a proud general, she sure tucked tail and ran. She never did the dirty work, but involved her own offspring, lying to each to manipulate her narrative.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if she’d procreated with a human, knowing they’d be weaker—easier to manipulate than that of a full-fledged vampire/hybrid union.
“And she says I’m the weak one,” I say loud enough for her to hear and those around us laugh. “Come out, Elise. Don’t make me go after you.”
Nothing. Not a peep.
However, I do notice the small shift in the front window curtain and the two eyes that peep through. So sad. So pathetic.
“I won’t ask you again.” I’m positioned in front of the door, the only in and out the place has, except for a window in the rear that Cain is currently watching. To leave, she has to exit from here. “You have a minute before I enter.”
“You won,” Elise yells out from behind the door, and that pisses me off. Is this the kind of ire that Theodore feels when I’m wronged? When he’s disrespected? “You took everything from me and won…congratulations.”
“Thirty.”
“What more can you take? Let me live my life in peace here!”
“Nineteen.” My feet carry me closer, every step toward the cottage’s entrance making me shake. In anger. In disgust. “Ten.”
“I don’t want to fight anymore.”
“One.” Her steps retreat into the house, reminding me of a frightened rodent without an out. And I’m the cat in this scenario, kicking down the door with enough force that the wood shatters—the splinters flying across the room and one piece in particular embedding in her back.
She won’t die, but it does hurt.
“No…please. I’ll disappear.”
“You will,” I say, stepping over the threshold while the others stay outside. Not even Theo can be in the room, as we agreed. He wasn’t happy with it, but understood I needed to unleash my anger without distractions, and he is a very potent one. They also know to not interfere, no matter the circumstance. “I want you to regret your birth. To hate your father.”
Anger flashes in her eyes at the mention of him. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what? Call him out for being a piece of shit who treated women as commodities, trophies to own and use at his discretion?” Her features harden, lip curling over her much smaller fangs. “Does that hurt? Having it shoved in your face that he didn’t love you, or is it that he used you as a way to further his own agenda?”
“Shut. Up,” she seethes, her claws extending. “He loved us. He took care of us.”
My tinkling laugh fills the small cottage. “He wanted to sell you to the highest bidder. The problem was that who he wanted had no interest in you. Theo always saw you as weak and superficial, Elise. Just another social-climbing whore who tried and failed to take what’s mine.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Like I snapped your daughter’s neck or how Theo murdered your son?”
“You bitch!” she lunges, going for my head, but I sidestep her. I’m faster. Stronger. Her body flies past me and hits the wall where the fireplace is, shattering the mantle.
“Is that the best you have?”
“You’re dead.”
I don’t bother to answer, because technically, I already am. Instead, I crouch and take notice of her foot placement. Elise leans heavily on the right, and when she jumps to tackle me, I kick out her leg, forcing her to fall into a split. Then, I’m on her and use a trick I picked up from watching Theodore dismember Detective Consuelos.
Digging my new claws in, I tear through her flesh and twist, breaking
