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“If it was nothing, nothing would be there,” Kaleid says. “You know how fast we heal.” He eyes Solon. “Don’t tell me you still don’t know how to keep your beast on a leash.”
Solon’s features tighten but he manages to refrain from saying anything.
“You see, Lenore, I have one too,” Kaleid says simply.
I snap to attention. “What are you talking about? A beast?”
He nods. “Benefit of being a son of Skarde. Everything that made him the monster that he is was passed to us through blood. Fortunately, my beast is a little more, well, sane than Solon’s. Doesn’t help that Solon was a madman for a few hundred years.”
Solon’s eyes lock with Kaleid’s for a moment, razor-sharp. The animosity rolling off of Solo fills the air, almost has its own smell. “Enough with the fucking chit chat. Tell her what you told me and then get the hell out of my house.”
Kaleid’s eyes widen playfully. “Touchy, touchy.” He looks to me, but my face is telling the same story. Get the fuck on with it, buddy.
“Right,” he says, clapping his hands together, loud enough that it makes Ezra jump in his chair. “I’m here because I want to destroy my father and I need your help to do it. Both you and Solon.”
I had a feeling this was where this was going. “Why?”
“Many reasons. But mainly that I want him dead.”
“So go kill him.”
“Not that simple. I have power, but not as much power as my father. But Solon and I together, then we can take him down.”
“So you don’t need me…”
“Ah, but we do,” Kaleid says. “The more the better. Besides, you are the whole plan.”
Solon clears his throat, glances at me briefly. “He doesn’t speak for both of us.”
“Right,” Kaleid says carefully. “I think I’ve convinced Solon to help me, lord knows we want the same thing, as hard as that is for him to admit, but I have yet to convince him of your involvement. See, Lenore, what you did to Yanik and the Dark Order was very, very impressive. And that was raw, unfiltered power. Imagine what you can do if you master it.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t mastered it,” I say, crossing my arms across my chest, since his gaze keeps dropping to my nipples every now and then. “I don’t even know how to use it when I want to.”
“Even with all your visits with Jeremias?” he asks doubtfully.
“Jeremias can and will only help me if I embrace my dark side. And that’s something I don’t want to do. I don’t care to end up like him…or like you, for that matter.”
Kaleid presses his hands against his heart. “Oooh, that one hurt. I’m sure in time you’ll see what I’m trying to do. The darkness is what I’m trying to escape from. I commend you for not even entertaining the idea.” He licks his lips. “But, despite you not being ready now, I believe you will be in time. When it counts. And more than that, we need you because you’re what Skarde wants.”
“So, I’m bait?” I cock my brow.
“This is exactly why I won’t let you do this,” Solon says gruffly to me.
Oh, but he just said the wrong thing.
“You won’t let me?” I repeat. “Screw that, Solon, you don’t control me or tell me what I can or can’t do.”
“It’s not for lack of trying,” he grumbles.
“Well that’s for sure,” I say with a dry laugh. “You can be protective or possessive or any kind of alpha you want to be, but I make my own decisions. If I go with you to…where again?”
“Helsinki,” Kaleid supplies, looking hopeful.
“If I go with you to Helsinki, it’s because I made the choice. Not you.” I look to Kaleid. “What does Skarde want with me? Just my death?”
He shakes his head grimly. “Just the opposite. He wants you alive. He wants you to be his bride.”
My mouth drops open while I simultaneously shiver. “His bride?” I squeak. Ugh, hell no. No, no, no. I haven’t even seen Skarde and I’m entirely disgusted. “Why me?”
“Because it is foretold,” Kaleid says. “And whether I believe it or not, Skarde believes it. He wants you, period. And you’re going to get us close to him.”
“I really don’t think Lenore should be put in this position,” Wolf says, coming over and handing me my espresso.
I take it from him. “Thank you, Wolf. But again, you don’t get to make these decisions for me.”
Wolf’s expression darkens as he stares at me. “You have to think long and hard about this one. Solon isn’t being overprotective. This is a new world, in new territory. You will be tested like never before, and before you’re ready. I won’t even be there to keep an eye on the two of you.”
