So much for his wolf giving him a pep talk.
With a snort, his wolf answered his thought. You’re on your own this time, buddy.
In the back of his mind, he could feel a tingling, and he knew it was Elizabeth trying to reach out to him telepathically. It would be so easy, like breathing really, to open his mind and let her travel the path that connected him into his mind. The ease of the opening was exactly why he couldn’t allow himself to do it. His body hadn’t realized what his heart and mind knew—she wasn’t to be trusted.
Now, if only he didn’t want to tear apart the world every time he thought about it he might make some progress toward getting off the ceiling. One way or another he was going to have to figure out a way to channel some of this anger into something productive. Like it or not, he wasn’t the giving up kind.
The door swung open and his father sauntered in like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Your mate seems to have called the police. Foolish girl. The women who are beholden to me at my compound know better. I’m going to have to teach my mate how to better control her people.”
Rex raised his head to look at his father. He knew this game. Their father had strung Gabriel up like this many times as punishment. It had never been how Kendrick had treated Rex, but perhaps the old man couldn’t tell the difference between any of them anymore. Or maybe the evil bastard just didn’t care to differentiate anymore.
Rex had to clear his throat to speak. “Your mate?”
“Correct.” Kendrick walked closer to Rex. “Surprised?”
“Confused.” Rex made an attempt to shrug. “But I’ll be honest, I don’t care much.”
“Liar.” His father laughed like Rex had made a joke. “You always were amusing.”
“Guess I should say thank you?” He wanted to rip out the other man’s heart and feed it to his wolf.
I don’t want it. Indigestion.
Well, it had been a thought.
“Your mother was not my mate. I needed her; she was the perfect candidate to keep the bloodlines pure. A seer had told me she could produce a daughter, and it had been one thousand years since anyone in the Kane family had a female. They’re rare and very important.”
Rex shook his head. He couldn’t remember his sister Angel, but Tristan had daughters, so producing a female couldn’t be as difficult as Kendrick seemed to think it was. “What is it a Kane woman can do other wolf-shifters can’t?” His father rubbed his chin. “They can communicate with the dead. Sometimes they can even bring them back. Imagine it, Rex, a whole army of undead wolves for me to command.”
“You already have it. You make zombie wolves all the time. I’ve killed about a hundred of them myself.”
“You’ve just made my point. They can be killed. The already dead can’t be defeated and they’ll be mine.”
Rex’s blood went cold, as his father’s plan seemed suddenly so clear to him. “You need Westervelt to bring out the zombies. You needed Angel and Westervelt. That’s why the attacks are more intense now. She’s there.”
Kendrick clapped. “You are amazingly astute, considering you are not my flesh at all. Yes, your mother got Angel to the island; got her to do just what I needed her to do and now all is as it should be. It will all be over soon. Maybe I shouldn’t kill you. Maybe I should keep you like I did Gabriel.”
Rex felt like he’d been stabbed in the chest. For a second, he was certain he’d stopped breathing all together. “Gabriel?” His brother who had taught him to fight, taught him to defend himself, to never be weak. Gabriel had been acting odd lately but he was not a traitor. Never. He wouldn’t believe it. Kendrick could sling words of malice all he wanted. It would never change the absolute fact Rex knew Gabriel as well as he knew anyone and Gabriel was not a traitor.
“I’ve had him by the hook for years.” Kendrick shook his head. “But that is neither here nor there. I was telling you about you.”
“No need. I know myself pretty well.”
“Again, you are so amusing.” Kendrick patted him on the cheek. His hand felt greasy. “Drea was my mate. I’d known it since the moment I met her. We bumped into each other on the street. She was helping out with the war effort, working as a nurse.”
“The Civil War?” Rex couldn’t remember how old his father was, but he was older than Cullen Murphy who was really, really old.
“Right. Good, I’m glad you’re paying attention.”
His father’s involvement in the Civil War was not what interested him. A Kane had fought in every major war since time began, it seemed. Human entanglements they couldn’t seem to stay out of. But it was Drea being alive so long that interested him.