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Ignoring the aches in his fatigued muscles, Teague honed in on his half-brother, whose own beast then retreated.
Ronin rolled onto his back, the move stiff and awkward. But he didn’t even attempt to get up. He lay there, heaving in gulps of air, injured in too many places to count.
For so long Teague had imagined seeing this male so bloody, bruised, and broken. Ronin had given Teague’s mother no peace. Had made life hell for her. Had taunted, insulted, and spat at her on a regular basis, blaming her for Soren’s infidelity; for how his parents had from then-on slept in separate beds; for how their relationship had eventually deteriorated until there was nothing left of it.
Teague’s mother had never blamed Ronin or defended herself to him, despite that Soren had lied to her; convinced her that he and his partner were separating. She’d been so ashamed of herself for her naivety that she’d taken Ronin’s abuse almost willingly.
Though Teague had made a deal with Soren to keep her safe from Ronin’s antics, Teague had always sworn to himself that he’d one day beat the asshole bloody. So he felt nothing but grim satisfaction as he stared down at the male who could have been a true brother to him if he wasn’t instead determined to hate him.
“You shouldn’t have come for me, Ronin,” said Teague. “You should have just gotten on with your life and pretended I never existed.”
Lines of pain carved into his pale face, Ronin swallowed. “How could I, when I was being constantly compared to you and always coming up short in other people’s estimations?” he sniped.
“Considering you’re dying right here from wounds I gave you, I’d say that their estimations were bang on the mark. But you already knew that they were right. It’s why you never wanted to duel with me, and it’s why you brought chupacabras with you tonight.” He gave the male a look that called him pathetic.
Ronin shook his head. “I didn’t bring them here to weaken you. I just wanted to see you suffer awhile before I ended you.”
Teague’s beast snorted. “You had no confidence that you could end me.”
An agonized cry burst out of Ronin, whose eyes went wide as his head snapped up. His gaze slammed on something behind Teague, darkening with anger.
Glancing over his shoulder, Teague saw that Larkin’s demon had shoved a chupacabra spine through Ronin’s leg.
It blinked at him, its brow knitting. “What?”
His beast nickered, amused. Teague supposed he should have expected that her crazy-ass entity would involve itself. He turned back to Ronin. “Was coming at me really worth it? Your friends are dead. Your hounds are dead. Your ravens are dead. Your hired help is dead. And soon, you will be as well.”
Ronin’s lips trembled, baring his grinding teeth. “If you hadn’t had backup—”
“Your backup would have overrun us all,” Teague finished. “Which, of course, was your plan. You should have known better than to think that I wouldn’t be prepared for such a move.”
Ronin slid a look at the Black Saints, who stood clustered together a few feet away. “What are they?”
“Don’t you worry about them. They certainly aren’t worrying about you.”
Ronin went to speak again, but then another scream tore out of him.
Teague didn’t need to look to know that his harpy’s demon had probably rammed a quill into Ronin’s other leg. Still, Teague did look. And yeah, he was right.
His face red and scrunched up in pain, Ronin stuttered out a breath. “People will look for me, Teague. They won’t ignore my disappearance. They will search. Especially my father. He will know to look at you for this.”
Teague pursed his lips. “I don’t see why he would, unless you told him you were coming here. Which I doubt. He would have put a stop to it, because he’d have known you wouldn’t survive it.”
Ronin looked as though he’d argue, but then he swallowed, a brief glint of vulnerability in his eyes. “He was ashamed.”
“What?”
“When he heard from others that I’d lost my position, he was ashamed.”
And that had no doubt been a contributing factor into why Ronin had been determined to see through his plan to execute Teague. “Does his pride really mean so much to you?”
“You say you never wanted it. But why else would you have joined the Wild Hunt, when you knew it was what he wanted for me?”
“My decision to be part of the Hunt was nothing to do with him or you. I didn’t set out to steal your future and be better at it than you could, if that’s what you think. I never thought about either of you when I accepted the position.”
Ronin’s lips compressed into a line. “I might have been fired, but the Dark Host will still seek to avenge my death.”
