“Maybe it hurts too bad for him to see you and know he can’t truly have you. It’s the same reason he never took a shift watching you at school, only it’s worse now, because this isn’t just physical betrayal—you let someone else into your heart, and until now, that’s been Marc’s exclusive territory. But he doesn’t have that anymore.”
“But I can’t help that!” I scrubbed my face with both frozen hands. “I can’t help loving Jace.”
“Maybe not,” Vic conceded. “But you didn’t even try. You didn’t love Marc enough to even try living without Jace.”
I frowned, my head spinning, my stomach churning, my heart aching and empty. “This is the worse pep talk ever.”
“This isn’t a pep talk. This is the truth.”
I had no answer for that. Vic was right—again. “But this is about more than our relationship. He broke a promise. He didn’t just leave me. He left you guys, too, when we need him most. People are going to die—some of whom he’s known half his life—and he’s not going to be there to see it. To prevent it. How could he do that to…the Pride?” Because no matter how badly Jace and I had hurt him, the rest of them hadn’t done a damn thing, and they didn’t deserve to be deserted.
Vic frowned, but held my gaze, and my stomach pitched harder. “What?” I demanded, when he didn’t say whatever he was thinking.
“He’s not breaking his promise, Faythe. He’ll be there for the fight.”
“You talked to him?” My heart thumped hard enough to bruise my chest. I’d tried calling him twice, and didn’t even get his voice mail. “When did you talk to him?”“This morning, before your flight landed.”
“And he’s coming back?”
Vic nodded and met my gaze, and the truth shining in his burned. “He promised your dad he’d help you, even if you two didn’t wind up together. And that’s what’s happened, Faythe. He’s coming back for your father and for the Pride. Not to be with you.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, watching Jace stare at his phone. Moonlight shone bright on his face, and his eyes seemed to glow. He was beautiful, without a doubt.
“Hell, no.” He gave me a nervous grin and leaned next to me against the trunk of a massive oak tree in Marc’s backyard. “But we do what we have to do, right?”
“Whatever it takes.” That had become my mantra. I’d do whatever it took to get the Pride back, and I’d sort out the carnage later. And Jace was in it with me, one hundred percent.
“Can I get a kiss for luck?”
I went up on my toes. “You can get a kiss for whatever you want.” Because Marc had washed his hands of me, so there was no reason not to kiss Jace now. So why did I still feel half-empty inside? Why was I sure my chill would last long after I went in from the cold?
“Well, at least there’s a perk.” Jace kissed me, and though my heart ached, my body responded. Remembered. But it wasn’t the right time. There hadn’t been a right time, because there was no privacy in such a small house.
But privacy wasn’t the real problem. The problem was that being with Jace could only make me feel better for a few minutes at a time. Marc was always there in the background, just out of reach, while my hands ached to touch him. I couldn’t tell Jace that, and eventually I would learn to deal with my loss, but getting over Marc wasn’t as easy as jumping into Jace’s bed. It would take time, and denying that would be doing us both a disservice.
A car door closed in the front yard, pulling me from my private agony. In the house, they were waiting for us, all packed and ready to go. We just needed official word from Patricia Malone that her husband and his men were on the ranch. Once we had that, we could leave. We’d eat dinner on the road and arrive in time to attack before dawn, when our invaders were hopefully still asleep.
Uncle Rick, Aaron Taylor, and Bert Di Carlo were all standing by with their men, within a few hours’ drive of the ranch. Waiting for word. The thunderbirds had assembled a couple of hours’ flight from the property, ready and eager to swoop in on command.
“I guess it’s time,” Jace whispered against my ear, and I tightened my arms around his neck.
“Yeah. Let’s just get it over with.” I understood his dread and respected his willingness to work through it.
He stepped back and autodialed.
“Jace?” His mother answered on the first ring. “Is that really you?”
“Yeah. It’s me.” He turned away from me, and I stared at the back of his head, brown waves shining in the moonlight.
“You shouldn’t be calling here. Cal says you… Do you know what they think you did?” Over the line a door opened, and her light footsteps rushed quickly over a hard-surface floor.
“No, but I know what I actually did, and I know why I did it.”
“They said you turned Lance Parker over to the thunderbirds and let them kill him. Cal says you tried to kill Alex, and that you cut up Colin’s face. Is…is any of it true?”
Jace sighed. “I never tried to kill Alex. I was just defending myself and Faythe.”
“But you did the rest of it?”
He leaned against the tree again, and I could see his frustration in profile. “I don’t know what all Cal’s told you, or what you believe, but you’re my mother, and I was kind of hoping you’d take me at my word, even if my version doesn’t line up with his. Cal framed us, Mom. Lance killed a thunderbird, and Cal set us up to take the fall. We had to turn Lance in to keep them from slaughtering the rest of our Pride and killing Kaci Dillon. We did what we thought was right. And I stand by that.”
Patricia was quiet for a long moment. Almost half a minute. “I’m sorry you were put in such a difficult position.”
“I’m still in that position. Cal’s put Kenton Pierce in charge of the south-central Pride and kicked us out. We’re living in the free zone, Mom. All of us. Women and children included.”
Her sharp inhale spoke volumes. “That can’t… That’s not safe, Jace. You have to send the women back. Kent will take them. I know he will. Or we will. Send them here.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the tree trunk, but Jace answered without even glancing at me. “They won’t go. I need to talk to Cal, Mom. I have to work something out. Can you put him on the phone?”
“He’s…” Springs creaked as she sat on what sounded like a bed. “He’s not here. He’s still helping Kent get everything set up in Texas. But don’t call him there, Jace. Not unless you’re going to send the women to us. If you come back into the territory, they’re going to arrest you, and Cal says… Jace, he doesn’t think he can keep the other Alphas from giving you the death sentence. Treason is a very serious charge, and they don’t seem inclined toward mercy.”
I nearly laughed out loud. Cal couldn’t convince the others to go easy on us? Patricia Malone was either in serious denial or completely brain-dead.
“I…” Jace faked a hesitant pause. “Thanks for the warning. I guess I better lay low for a while.”
“Yes. But thank you for calling. It’s good to know you’re okay.”
“Thanks. Can I call you again, just to check in?”
Brilliant! If Patricia were inclined to tell Malone that we called, he’d be ready to take advantage of another call later, but hopefully completely unprepared for the imminent attack.
“Please do. I love you, Jace.”
“Love you, too, Mom.” He flipped his phone closed and shoved it in his pocket before turning back to me, and when he did, his fists were clenched at his sides. “I hate what he’s done to my mother. To my father’s Pride. And he’s completely warped Melody.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, wishing I knew how to comfort him.
“Let’s hit the road. I don’t want to lose any of this anger before I see Calvin.”My anger was in no danger of fading. In fact, I was confident I’d still be marinating in rage until Calvin Malone spat out his bitter last breath.
Thirty-two
I was a bundle of raw nerves, buzzing with bloodlust, drowning in impatience, and cranky from spending nine hours stuffed in a car. Again. Jace and I were in the lead, with Michael and Holly in the backseat. Behind us, Owen drove with Ryan, Manx, Kaci, Des, and Mom. Parker, Vic, Dr. Carver, and Brian rounded out our caravan in Vic’s car.
We’d considered leaving the women in the free zone, to keep them as far from Malone as possible. But the truth was that they’d be no safer there—largely unprotected and surrounded by strays, most of whom had never even seen a female of their own species—than they would be inside the south-central territory. So long as Malone died without ever finding out they were there.
I wondered if the others were all as restless as I was. So far, Jace and Michael seemed to be taking everything in stride, though I knew from the tension in Jace’s arms that he couldn’t be as calm as he looked.
“So, you guys do this all the time, right?” Holly asked, leaning forward with a hand on the back of my seat. “This fight is no big deal? It’s not really dangerous?”