Soul Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1) (19 page)

***

Kane didn’t owe
her
anything. She may have found him, and perhaps she was
right—perhaps he
was
lucky she did. Still, the fact
remained: she planned to take his life, and in the meantime, toyed
with him. Yet, much as it should have angered him, it didn’t. Kane
scratched at his scruffy chin. “It dosen’t put me out. You’re
right. After what others of my soon-to-be kind have done to you,
I’m glad I can do something … nice.”

Ayden’s eyes
seemed to drill into him.

“So how does
it happen?” he asked, his voice lighter than before.

“How does what
happen?”

“The memories.
Imprinting, you said. Transfer of memories.” He sniffed. “What, do
they just magically pop into my head?”

“I don’t know
exactly how it works. It’s another sick lycan trick.”

Arms still
resting atop his knees, pulled tight to him, he sat quiet for a
moment. “You know, as humans, we’re allowed to feel. It’s what
separates us from inanimate objects. It’s okay if the memories made
you … feel something again.”

“And I don’t
need your goddamn pep talk, lycan. Or your permission. If you think
this little Dr. Phil session is going to keep you alive in the end,
you’re wrong. Dead. Wrong.”

He chuckled.
“You remind me every time I see you. How could you possibly think
I’d want to live? Why would anyone want to become one of them?”

“You may not
now. But soon you will. In fact, you’ll fight for your survival.
And when you do, I’ll be there to fight for your death.”

He stared
blankly. “And I hope I have the wherewithal to prove you wrong or
hand you the weapon.”

“Aren’t you so
honorable?” The sarcasm rolled off her tongue.

“I no longer
know the meaning of the word.”

Silence
lingered for a moment.

Kane reached
his hand out to her. “You’re welcome to try again if you like.”

Her scowl
returned and Ayden knocked his hand away. “No. I don’t want to
try
. In fact, I’m finished talking to you.” She stood. “I’ll
have Bennett replace your bindings. No more trickery crap from you,
lycan.” She stalked toward the door.

Kane huffed
and fell back against the pillow.
Holy shit, the woman is
nuts.

Ayden paused
at the doorway and glanced back over her shoulder. “I’ll see if
Annabelle can scrounge up a meal for you. Maybe some scraps from
the catch drain in the sink.”

The door
slammed closed behind her as she left the room.

***

Stupid!

Once again,
the halfling had incited the kind of aggravation that made Ayden
want to claw the eyes out of the innocent.

On the way to
the kitchen, she passed the billiard room and paused mid-step when
she spotted Gavin on the couch, staring off at what appeared to be
nothing. A minute passed before she stepped inside the room and
took a seat next to him. “What’s going on?”

His expression
seemed to carry some frustration. “Calla.”

“Who’s
Calla?”

“The girl we
brought home last night?”

“Oh, right.”
Comprehension clicked in the thick of what Ayden couldn’t remember
from the night before. “Her name is Calla?”

“Yes.
Apparently, she’s mortified and whatever else human females go
through.”

Ayden shifted
on the couch to face him. “Why?”

“Well, aside
from the fact that she begged to get in my pants all night
long,”—Gavin rubbed his eyes with one hand—“she’s fucked up with
the Alexi and afraid to go back.”

A burst of
laughter escaped Ayden. “Don’t you mean the other way around? You
tried to get in
her
pants, right?”

“Contrary to
what you might think, Ayden, we’re not a bunch of raping bastards.
I’ve never taken advantage of a woman in all the centuries I’ve
walked this earth.” His eyes had a weariness to them as he looked
up. “Had you been interested in more than casual sex, you might’ve
known that.”

Ayden sunk
back into the chair. “Sorry. I just meant, why didn’t you … if she
was willing?”

“Because I
like my females to
experience
sex with me. Not beg for it
because of some stupid pill that screws with their minds.” He
pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What?”

“She’s a
virgin.”

Something
seemed to be missing from the conversation. “You’ve never been with
a virgin?”

The apathy
radiating from his expression could’ve disintegrated her if it’d
been laced with lasers. “Of course I have. But I wasn’t about to be
her first if she wasn’t going to remember a damn bit of it. What
the fuck’s the point?”

Ayden nodded
beside him and patted his thigh. “You’re a good man, Gavin.”

He frowned.
“But apparently not good enough.”

“Please, let’s
not do this, okay?” She sighed. “Do I need to talk to her or
something?”

“If you think
you can make her stop sobbing all over my sheets, then, yes. Please
do.”

Ayden pushed
off his thigh but he grabbed her arm.

“Ayden.” His
grip held strength around her forearm, squeezing that tender,
mutilated skin. “Perhaps we can discuss the contract. Make
adjustments
, as necessary.”

A chuckle
threw her head back. “How many of your brothers would be pissed at
you for changing the rules now?”

“I’m
serious.”

She stared
down at him, her body suddenly rigid. “If you’re suggesting
changing the terms so I’ll sleep with you, the answer is no.”

“Am I so
unappealing to you as a potential mate?”

“No, Gavin. I
think you’d make the perfect mate to the perfect woman. But I’m
not
the perfect woman. I’m broken.” They were words that
rang true in her mind. “And neither you nor anyone else can ever
fix me again.” She wriggled her forearm from his grasp and left the
room.

***

Ayden knocked
lightly on the door of Gavin’s room and entered. The familiarity of
the space hit her like a curtain of warmth. She’d spent so much
time there when they’d first met. He made her feel safe when she’d
left the Alexi.

Long black
drapes sealed most of the light, aside from what trickled in
through the sheer curtains beneath.

Calla lay on
the bed, curled in a ball. Sleeping?

Ayden moved to
the side of the bed. Calla’s eyes were fixed on the light; her
hands balled at her mouth. Red splotches indicated she’d been
crying for hours. “Calla?” Ayden spoke softly. “Can I get you
anything?”

She shook her
head and pursed her lips, obviously trying to hold back another
wave of sobbing. A large glistening tear pooled in the corner of
her eye. “Draven was supposed to be my first,” she murmured.

Ayden took a
seat beside her on the bed. “Draven?”

Calla
sniffled. “My boyfriend.”

“Nothing
happened between you and Gavin, you know that, right?”

“That’s what
he said. But I’m not sure what happened.” The tear spilled onto her
cheek. “I took one of those pills at the party and …”

“I know. I
followed the two of you.”

Her eyebrows
drew closer. “Did he …?”

Ayden shook
her head. “No. You were attacked by wolves before anything
happened. He’s dead.”

Calla nodded.
“Thank you. You’re Ayden?”

Leave it to an
Alexi not to be phased by the death of another human being.

“Yes,” Ayden
said. “You’re an Alexi soldier?”

“You don’t
remember me, do you?”

“You look very
familiar to me,”—Ayden didn’t carry the slightest shame in not
remembering the girl—“but no, I’m sorry.”

Calla’s gaze
dropped away from hers. “You’d probably remember my brother more,
anyway. You were the one who got in Wade’s face when I refused to
join the Alexi if he didn’t take my brother.”

Ayden smiled.
“I remember that.”

“I never
thanked you. You left soon after I joined.”

“What were you
doing at that party alone?”

Calla shook
her head. “Classified.”

“Dammit,
Calla.” Sternness tinged Ayden’s tone as she flailed her arm . “You
think they’re going to let you waltz back in there after this? Get
used to being on your own now.”

Calla clutched
her stomach and twisted in on herself. “This wasn’t supposed to
happen,” she whispered.

“What
was
supposed to happen?”

“Wade got word
that you had taken up with Wrath Demons. But no one was willing to
talk or tell him where to find them. So he—”

“Sent you to
seduce one of the demons in hopes of finding out where they live.
And, ultimately, where he could find me.”

Calla
nodded.

“I knew it.
Dirty son of a bitch.” Ayden shook her head. “He’ll never give up.
And Draven is an Alexi? Of course he is. Wade wouldn’t have it any
other way. What is he to Wade?”

“Second-in-Command.”

“As I was.”
She ran her hand through her hair. “Listen to me, Calla. What he
did … it was … cruel.”
Damn, the same word Kane used.
“He
may have told you that you were doing this for the good of the
whole. But it was wrong.
He
is wrong.”

Calla sucked
in a breath. “Where am I going to go?” Her voice quivered as if she
might cry again.

Ayden reached
for some level of compassion but nothing could overpower the level
of detachment Calla’s tears incited.

“The Alexi is
all I know. And they still have my brother.” Calla spoke through
sobs. “This life works for you, but I don’t want to be hunted down
like some animal. I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know you
didn’t. We’ll come up with a plan to get your brother out.” Ayden’s
tone carried zero inflection—not a shred of comfort that she could
impart to the girl. “As for what happened last night, Gavin is a
good guy. He’s fierce at times, but a good man. If he says he
didn’t touch you, you can believe him, okay?”

Calla sniffled
and nodded.

“Draven. Do
you love him?”

Calla’s eyes
closed and a solid stream of tears trailed down her cheek. “He’s
not the man I thought he was.”

“I’m sorry,
Calla.” Ayden patted the bed beside her. “Hey, we’ll figure this
out. As long as you stay here, you’re safe.”

“Ayden.
There’s one more thing.”

Calla leaned
over the edge of the bed and fumbled with the pocket of the
miniskirt lying on the floor. She pulled out a small cell phone and
handed it to Ayden. “They’ve been tracking me.”

~

A black SUV
idled at the roadside beside Draven and Wade’s overturned
vehicle—one Wade’d called the compound and ordered, along with a
couple of men. Shadows shrouded Draven in his spot on the
backseat.

“Fucking
ghouls,” Wade muttered as he climbed in beside Draven. “Anyone
happen to remember my goddamn pants?”

A pair of
black slacks was passed to back to him.

The ghoul had
decided to have a bit of fun with the two men, parading around in
their clothes, tormenting them with embarrassing acts into the
early hours of morning, before it finally disappeared.

Draven sat
lifeless in his seat. Undeterred by the events of the evening, only
the sensation of dread, as he’d watched the McLaren speed around
the corner and out of sight, seemed to break through his thoughts,
playing over and over again.

I’ll never see
her again.

The more he
thought about it, the more it made sense. Wrath Demons weren’t
going to hand her over to the Alexi. If they didn’t kill Calla,
they’d keep her imprisoned. Or worse: use her to sate their sexual
needs. Like the jagged surface of a knife twisting in the very pit
of his gut, the thoughts of everything he’d heard about them raked
at his conscience.

What have I
done? Why didn’t I stop this?

Calla had
always been his only source of sanity during his stint as second to
Wade’s command.

So innocent,
so good.

She’d somehow
managed to sap away the guilt and frustration that came with
following Wade’s orders. In return he’d made her a promise to marry
her someday, to give her a life with children and a home.

He’d failed
her.

Took her to
Wade.

Chided her
when she agreed to do the assignment.

For the good
of the whole.

Forced her to
undress in front of him and don her fishnet stockings and
miniskirt, all the while calling her a whore and cursing her name.
His anger had gotten the best of him when she finally stepped out
of that vehicle. He’d never even looked at her as she made her way
into the party.

As if she had
any choice in the matter.

Draven
grimaced at the memory—one of only a handful that he would never
forget as long as he lived.
Soiled,
he told himself.
She’s ruined now.

“Sir, we’ve
tracked her. The signal is coming in.” The Alexi in the passenger
seat pecked keys on a computer screen that flashed in the darkness
of the vehicle. “They’re about twenty miles north of here.”

“Do we know
how many live in the compound?” Hips thrust forward, Wade buttoned
up his pants.

“No, Sir, no
one knows.”

Wade sucked in
a deep breath through his nose. “There could be a few or hundreds.
Even if we rounded up most of the soldiers, a dozen of them could
wipe out our numbers.”

“It’s worth a
shot.” The first words Draven had spoken since earlier in the
night.

Wade shifted
in his seat to face Draven. “Is it, mister wizard? And what happens
when those demon bastards wipe out half our army, huh? You think
we’ll ever get the upper hand on the lycans?”

“We have the
Lywa antibody, we can
create
soldiers.”

“
We can
create soldiers
,” Wade mocked, “I keep forgetting you’re the
goddamn expert in this operation, boy wonder.” He rested his hand
on the headrest of the backseat. “The one who spent years on failed
human trials? No? That’s right. You were too busy pissin’ and
shittin’ in your diapers!” He slapped Draven upside the head.
“Soldiers can’t just be
created
. Six die for every one that
lives. So I suggest you shut the hell up and get your fucking head
out from between your legs. The girl is theirs now. She was a
sacrifice that had to be made and you will learn to live with that
or you’ll find out what happens to soldiers that defy my orders. Is
that clear, boy?”