Page 31 of Siege of Blood and Betrayal

“That would be my take. Yeah.”

I’m still considering who from the true-blood vampire community might want to do that when my phone buzzes in mypocket. I pull it out, scan the screenshot images of faces popping up on my screen.

The text that comes in next is from Zane:

These men need to die. The woman is mine—she’s the one behind this.

I upend my drink and rap my knuckles on the bar. “Thanks for the chat, J.D. Always a pleasure.”

Jaxon has the good sense to stay quiet all the way back to the car. He knows I got a text and is practically vibrating with curiosity, but maybe my lecture about him keeping his mouth shut actually sank in.

I fight not to laugh out loud at the thought.Fat chance.

When we’re in our seats, I tilt my phone over for him to see. “Zane must have access to the security feed in the residence. He sent us the faces of the ones to take down.”

I flick my thumb to swipe the screen and close to two dozen faces stream by.

“Shit. There are a lot of them. I imagined they would’ve gone in all stealthy and assassinated him slick and quiet. Those images make it look like an invasion.”

What he says rings true. The more bodies there, the greater their chance of being discovered and someone sounding the alarm. An assassination team would’ve been tactically smarter.

Still, Francesco is dead, so who are we to quibble about the wisdom of their coup tactics?

That brings up an important point…

Tapping the text box, I send a question back to Zane:

Are they occupying the residence?

Yes. The bitch left with my father’s head, looking very pleased with herself, but her men are still there.

And the members of our seethe?

Some are there. Some got out.

Do we have the numbers to retake the compound?

Not until we know where allegiances lie and how many they have in their army.

What a massive clusterfuck. Instead of continuing a text, I get out of the car and hit the call button, hoping he’ll pick up. I may not be his squire, and he may have chosen Scotland over me, but I’ve earned my place defending the Toronto seat of power.

Zane knows that—doesn’t he?

He picks up on the first ring. “Yeah.”

“A text stream can be read by anyone. We need to talk. I take it that this is a secure phone?”

“It is.”

“Then fuck you, Z. I deserve a fuck ton better than to wake up after having my neck snapped and learn you ghosted me to be part of Zanland again.”

“Zanland? What the fuck does that mean?”

“Zane plus Scotland? Zanland. It’s what humans do with the names of super couples.”

“Humans are fucked. Look, I didn’t like how we left, but Scottie was in a state. She’d just seen our fathers assassinatedand was battered and bleeding. I followed her lead to calm her down.”

And there it is. Zane is the king of rationalizing the reasons why he’s right and everyone around him needs to suck it up and get with the program.

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