Page 139 of Echoes of War

“I don’t need to see whatever the fuck is hiding behind your borders to know I’ll hate living under a dictatorship with no rights.”

“You’re powerful,” he said, toying with a strand of my hair. “Of course you’ll have rights.”

I reeled back. “The fact that you can even say that and see nothing wrong with the sentence makes me question everything I ever loved about you. You don’t know me at all.”

Disgust tugged at my heart. Did I ever know Seth or had it all been a version of him he’d decided to become once he got here? He looked like the man I loved. Physically, there was no doubt that Seth Moore stood before me. That was where the recognition ended.

Everything else about him had changed. The way his icy blue eyes scanned me right now was predatory. It scared me and I was pretty fucking hard to scare.

“That’s not true, and you know it.” He took another step toward me, taking my breath away.

So badly, I wanted to see the man I loved before me. Instead all I saw staring back at me was a monster.

“There are more fates intertwined than ours. I love you, Seth,” I conceded. Needing him to see the truth behind the pain of my words. “But I see a future without you where everything will be okay. I wish I could say I’m sorry, but much like you, I don’t think that I am. Not really.”

The last bit came out as a humorless, empty laugh.

“I can’t accept that answer, Moe.” His eyes darkened, lowering as he gazed down at me through half-closed lids.

I should have expected the fight. The defiance in his eyes. The two of us falling in love had been like a fistfight after all.

“Or what?” I said, shrugging off the idea and taking a small step back. “You’ll kill me?”

Seth shifted uncomfortably, considering it. He broke our challenging stare, eyes darting at the ground, his usual smirk cleaned off his face.

“I won’t lose another family. That’s what happens if I go with you. People die.” Reasoning with Seth was not possible. I wasn’t quite sure why I tried.

This was on him, after all. Him and his kooky, crazy-ass father. Guess that made Seth one of the crazies now that I thought of it.

Reina may have been an idiot for going to search for him, but I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been holding out hope he was playing both sides. I’d forced myself to shut him out, close any open doors in my mind to keep things Seth-free.

Now that he was here in front of me, it was harder to pretend his betrayal wasn’t real, that he hadn’t chosenthislife for us over what we could have had. He robbed me of the choice of the happy ever after or whatever that he’d pretended we could have. I wasn’t just sad anymore, I was angry.

Seth recoiled like I’d slapped him. “I thought you said we were family.” His mouth hung open.

“Notanymore.”

We’d offered that to him once, and he’d spit in our faces. There was no second chance for him and he didn’t get to come back as a hero. Scoffing, I turned away from him, opting to walk away from this, from him. The universe had shown me what would happen if this escalated, but maybe, if I walked away, this future would change.

I scraped my tongue across my teeth, nodding at the sight of Seth reaching for his gun in my peripheral. My soul splintered into a million fragile shards. Raising Wrath back in the air, I turned around. Seth’s gun pointed in my face. The edge of Wrath taking residence at his carotid artery. I was fast. You had to have a quick draw if you chose to fight with metal against magic or you risked being Pansie chow.

Seth was faster. He’d taught half the cavalry how to quick draw and shoot with accuracy. The men who’d already been gifted with the skill still looked to him for guidance, as he’d shaped them all to be a force to be reckoned with. If he wanted to shoot me, he would have.Right?

His thumb trailed over the safety, knocking it off with a click. “You’re coming with me, Moe,” Seth commanded. “Even if that means I have to beg for your forgiveness again?—”

“I don’t recall you begging the first time,” I said candidly.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to make you my woman again. I love you.” His eyes glistened at his confession. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I know that now. I don’t deserve you, but I sure as hell want you. I’m askin’ you nicely. Please come home with us.”

“You’d think asking me nicely wouldn’t consist of a gun pointed at my head and a blade at your throat.”

“You never were one for being wined and dined,” Seth chided.

A sarcastic smile teased my lips. “Sorry to disappoint but neither I nor Reina will be joining you today.”

“So you’re saying there’s hope, then?” His usual rough voice was replaced by a lightened, hopeful tone. “That you’ll come with me?”

“Why don’t you come back? Why do we have to go where we’re not welcome? Call your father off, Seth. Let him leave Monterey Compound in peace. He’s stolen enough from us.”

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