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Robert frowned. “Killing you then would have been too easy and entirely lacking in emotional satisfaction. I wanted you to know exactly why I chose you as my sacrifice. We have so much more in common than you realize.”
“I am absolutely nothing like you.” Jace’s jaw clenched into a tight line, and he ground his teeth together. If he didn’t fight back his rage, he would charge Robert right then, and that would be a mistake. He needed to wait for the opportune moment.
“We’re both a rare breed. Beserkers destined to follow a warrior bloodline.” Robert laughed mockingly. “To think that you were convinced you were werewolf. Self-righteously killing for years to atone for your absent-daddy issues. No reason to cry in fear now, Jace. He’s long dead.”
Jace stepped forward. He couldn’t let this creep get into his head, under his skin. But how…?
“How do you know about my father?”
Robert shook his head and clicked his tongue as if he were disappointed in a small child. “I thought you would have been smarter than this, Jace McCannon.”
Anger pulsed through Jace’s veins. “You heard me, asshole. How do you know about my father?”
A twisted look twinkled behind Robert’s eyes. Jace had seen that look before. His breath caught.
Robert grinned in triumph. “Because Thomas McCannon wasmyfather, too.”
23
Jace stood frozenin a vacuum of his own thoughts as he processed the words Robert had just spoken. His stomach churned.
Robert was his brother?
No, there was no way. He didn’t have any brothers. He had been his parents’ only child.
Jace shook his head. “You’re bluffing—another one of your sick mind games. Are you so desperate that you have to fuck with my head? Be a man and just fight me already.”
Robert wagged his index finger at Jace. “Now, now, don’t throw a hissy fit because you’re no longer the only child, big brother.”
A snarl tore from Jace’s throat before he could stop himself.
Robert took a step toward him. “Don’t try to kid yourself, Jace. You know it’s true. I know you can see the resemblance.”
Jace stepped back. “I don’t give a shit whether we look similar or not, you’re not my damn brother. It’s not possible.” Jace couldn’t hear this. He couldn’t. Not another damn word of it.
Robert made a tsking noise, then sighed. “Explain to me how it’s not possible, brother. How many times did our father stumble home drunk after he’d spent the night fucking countless whores? Tell me. Tell me how many times he tossed your mother aside to sheath himself inside some nameless slu—”
“Shut up!” Jace roared. Was it really true? And if it was, how the hell had Shane missed that bit of information? He fired another round into Robert’s torso.
Robert’s body jerked with the hit, but he didn’t fall. Laughing hysterically, he stared Jace down with the same fucked-up look Tom had always given him. “When our father finally left you, he shacked up withmymother. But unlike you, dear old Dad took me under his wing. He told me all about you. How you were weak, not man enough to follow in his footsteps. But I was stronger. So much stronger.” He gestured to his chest and pulled his shirt open to show the bullet emerging from his body and the skin healing over, as if to demonstrate his superiority. “He taught me how to kill, how to live. I knew I was a berserker. Iknew.”
Jace’s breath caught. “You killed him so you could come into your full power.”
Robert smiled. “Unfortunately, no. By the time I went to the otherworld and learned I needed to kill our father to become a true Berserker, he was long dead. After all that time, can you believe the lucky old bastard died in his sleep? A heart attack from old age. Such a normal, boring way to go, don’t you think? Especially for someone who spent a hundred and fifty years on this earth.”
He flipped his knife around in his hand, admiring the gleam of light on the bloody blade. “I traveled the world for a while, perfecting my technique before I came home again. It started out as nothing but good fun—killing the women here in Rochester. The occasional wolf. But it became so much more than that.”
Robert gazed down at the knife blade. “I realized I could use them to lure you to me. I realized I didn’t need to kill our father to gain my abilities.” He met Jace’s eyes. “I just needed to kill you.”
Before Jace could react, Robert threw his knife. The blade hit Jace’s shoulder, lodging in his flesh with a sickening sound. Pain shot through him, and he fell to his knees. Blood gushed down his arm. His grip weakened and he dropped the gun, which skidded across the floor. The knife must have nicked an artery.
The old man died of a heart attack. His heart stopped. His heart stopped.Jace’s thoughts screamed the truth at him.Robert’s not into his full power—yet. We’re both berserkers.
He scrambled for the knife. If he could stab it through Robert’s heart, he might have a chance. He ripped the blade from his shoulder and launched himself at the other man. At his brother.
Frankie’s heartstoppedwhen she saw Robert throw the knife at Jace.
“No!” she screamed.
