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Octavius had said this one had always been defiant. Which was exactly why they’d singled him out for this, but it also made him difficult. “Sit and fucking listen for once in your life, Zaine,” Octavius said.
“I don’t listen to traitors.”
Saint would enjoy killing him unless he smartened up in the next few minutes. Climbing to his feet, he brushed dirt from his pants. Octavius’s blood had smoothed his rattling nerves and eased the hunger. “Sit. Or I get primal,” Saint growled.
Zaine huffed, then dropped into the chair. He folded his arms, as stubborn as they come.
Saint backed off. This was Octavius’s moment. Saint was just here to make sure the prick didn’t try and attack him again. Octavius was a fighter, but when it came to the Brotherhood, he had a blind spot. He needed them to accept him, to love him, to take him back.
“Let’s get this over with,” Zaine said.
Octavius stared at him. “Whatever your feelings for me, we are Brotherhood, and this isn’t personal—”
“Until you sabotaged us. You’re not Brotherhood, you’re a nyk.”
Saint looked away. His fangs ached. He wanted to take the little prick and slam him into the floor a few more times. They claimed to be brothers, but they knew nothing about each other. How did Zaine not know how much Octavius cared for them? How could he not see it? Was Mikalis’s hold on them so strong they honestly believed life was better if they did not care?
“I didn’t plant a virus in Atlas,” Octavius said, approaching Zaine. “If I were going to destroy it, I wouldn’t need a virus to do it. I had access to every system. I could have undone all of it with a few keystrokes.”
“We have the footage, Octavius. We’ve all seen it.”
“Who gave you that video?”
Zaine swallowed. “It doesn’t matter who gave it to us. It shows what you did.”
“Who gave it to you, Zaine?”
“Raiden.”
Octavius paused, letting the name hang in the air between them.
Zaine snorted. “The comms went down during the Sebastien mission. They were your responsibility. We went in blind because of you.”
“Comms go down, it happens.” Octavius shrugged. “You all turned on me because you wanted to. You want to believe I destroyed Atlas and undermined the Brotherhood because you hate me. You all hate me. It’s easier to believe I’m a traitor than to think it might be someone else who had everyone fooled for decades.”
Zaine flung a hand out at Saint. “You are literally working withhim—the biggest traitor of all. Brotherhood-turned-nyk. Look at him. He’s fucking ancient and dangerous, and he has you all tangled up with his plot to ruin us. He’s using you.”
Octavius leveled his glare on Zaine. “I didn’t let him out, but I’m grateful for whoever did. The rest of you left me no choice. Saint is theonlyone who fucking listens.”
Zaine glared back.
The little Viking needed to learn some manners. Octavius was several thousand years older than him, and Zaine looked at him as though he was dirt under his boot.
Saint circled Zaine, getting into position behind him. “You should know, Octavius is the only thing standing between me and your death, so do try and listen harder.”
“All right, fine, let’s pretend I believe you.” Zaine shifted in the chair. “Why did Raiden do this, huh? What’s his end game?”
“I don’t know. He said, when I called him, that he was going to destroy the Brotherhood. He set all these events in motion. He freed Saint to distract Mikalis. He knocked Atlas offline. He’s made it so the Brotherhood is flying blind at a time when the nyks are getting more and more powerful. I fear it’s building to something he’s kept hidden from us, something to do with the rising nyk numbers.”
“Why don’t you ask your nyk buddy there?” Zaine thumbed over his shoulder.
“He did,” Saint growled. “The nyk numbers have reached critical mass. In a few weeks, they’ll swarm, revealing their existence to the world, and the ensuing chaos will ruin all of humanity.”
Zaine laughed. “That’s madness. You can’t know that.”
“Yeah, he can,” Octavius said, drawing Zaine’s glare back to him. “Mikalis is his sire. He’s also among the first nyktelios ever made. But we’ll get into that later. For now, I just need you to look at me and see I’m not working against you, and neither is Saint. Raiden got inside my head. He set me up. He got in all your heads.”
“You’re insane. Speaking of getting inside people’s heads, you fed from the motel staff and made her forget you. You’re working with—your words—the oldest nyk. And l’m supposed to believe all this shit about you being innocent? Octavius, you wouldn’t even believe you right now. Why the fuck should I?”
