Page 51
“She’s a threat,” I snap. Taking a breath, I make a conscious effort to stay composed and stick to the facts. “Look. She knows Alexander personally. Her father is working with the Severed. She doesn’t exist outside of that house, and whatever you saw in the twelve seconds you were around her has turned you into someone I don’t even recognize.”
Caelan’s fists clench. “I know what I saw.”
“You saw what your instincts wanted you to see.” My voice rises despite my attempts to stay calm and rational. “You’re an Alpha. Your instincts made you believe there was an Omega who was in distress, and you acted accordingly. Your biology kicked in, and you stopped thinking rationally.”
“Fuck you, Dax.”
“Fuck you back! I’m trying to keep you safe, you idiot!”
“Both of you shut up,” Gav’s booming voice slams us back down into our seats.
“I don’t give a shit about your spat. This—whatever this is—is pack business, so save it for later. Right now, I care more about facts than I do about feelings, and the fact is we have multiple problems and not nearly enough intel to begin solving them.”
Gav scoots back, resting his ankle on top of his knee. “First off, we need someone closer. Dax, do you think we can sneak in? Maybe plant some pics and bug the place?”
“We could try,” I reply, considering our options. “But those wards already fried my tech once. They’ll do the same to mics and cameras. That drone is the only piece of gear I have that can even partially punch through outside of comms, and that’s only because comms are transient tech. They’re not meant for spying.”
“Then we go old-school,” Gav responds without missing a beat. “Boots-on-the-ground. Get eyes on Varenthrall, see what he’s up to. Get eyes on the daughter, as well.”
Caelan shifts in his seat. I can feel the tension radiating off of him. Gav holds up a hand to stop the snarl of disagreement that’s coming. “I know you think she’s innocent, brother, but Dax is partially correct. At best, she’s a naive, sheltered girl who has no idea what kind of monster her father really is.”
I snort. There’s no way. You don’t live with someone without knowing what they are. And make no mistake, Jonathan Varenthrall is a monster. No one who works with the Severed voluntarily is any kind of innocent.
“At worst, she’s in on whatever Alexander and her father are planning. We’ve also got unknown magic in the mix. I can’t afford to trust anyone not in this room right now, outside of Ford and Evander.” He pauses, then adds with deliberate emphasis, “Including the Omega.”
He does it to gauge Caelan’s reaction. To see if he’ll lose it.
And Fates, he very nearly does.
His eyes flash, his palms press flat on the table, and he starts to stand up. He catches himself at the last second, seeming almost shocked to find himself nearly out of his seat, and slumps back down.
Rather than voice the retort, I can practically see sitting on the tip of his tongue, he shifts tactics in a maddening move I should have seen coming.
“I’ll go.” He lifts his chin, and his eyes are harder and more stubborn than I can ever remember seeing them.
I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone right now.
“Absolutely not.” Planting my hands on the table, I turn my full attention to Gav. “Caelan is compromised. Sending him back in is a mistake.”
“I’m not compromised,” Caelan objects, and I swear there’s genuine hurt in his eyes before he hides it under the calm mask he usually wears.
“You are,” I sigh. “You get angry when it’s suggested she’s a threat, you’re snarling at your pack, your instincts are short-circuiting, which is making you misremember what you saw. You nearly ripped Silas’ throat out for making a joke about her name. You’re the definition of compromised.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe I’m getting so pissed because my brother is treating a victim like a villain?”
His accusation nearly knocks the air out of my lungs. He can’t be fucking serious. A victim? She’s a victim now? Unbelievable!
How the hell has this female dug her claws into my brother when they haven’t even exchanged names?
“You don’t know she’s a victim,” I reply, glaring at him. “That’s the problem. You’re making decisions based on emotions, not facts. You’re remembering only what you felt and making assumptions based strictly on that alone. It’s going to get you killed.”
Apparently, my words are enough to push Gav across his breaking point. I don’t blame him, either. We’ve never fought like this in the middle of a meeting. There’s rarely any drama between the seven of us. It’s one of the reasons he gave us our positions in the first place and chose us to be his inner-circle when he could have picked any of the other thousands of Bastards from around the world.
“SIT. DOWN.” His huge body unfolds from his chair until he’s towering over the table.
When he speaks, he’s deadly calm.
“Monday night—that’s two nights from now—you’re going back in, Caelan.”
