Page 42 of The Hero Within
"I don't need to speak Spanish to know you just swore. And I do care." Her voice softened. "I do."
Johnny reached for the flask in his bag. "Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?"
Sharp eyes watched every move he made. He could see the judgment in them. Then sudden soft dawning, as if she'd had a realization about him.
"What?" he all but snarled.
"You get your flask out whenever I push you," she murmured, resting her hands on her thighs.
He did?"Maybe you're driving me to drink?"
"Maybe you're using it as a crutch, every time I get close enough to stir your emotions."
"I'm not emotional." He was a goddamned omega warg.
And half alpha.
"Oh no, you're fine," she mocked. "You're not helping me because you feel guilty. You don't owe me a debt. You're just crossing the Divide—which might get you killed by the way—for the heck of it."
Smart-ass. He tipped the flask to his lips and swallowed. Not much left but damned if he'd give her the satisfaction of resisting. As if what she'd said bothered him. "I seem to recall blackmail."
"I seem to recall some dick luring me out of my bed with promises I shouldn't have trusted before he threw me in a hut with a transitioning warg. But I'm also starting to wonder if my recollections of certain events aren't clouded by my own emotions about everything that happened between us."
Johnny froze. "I knew Adam wouldn't hurt you. He loved you. I knew he'd give in to Cane's demands."
And I didn't have a choice.
If he'd fought Cane over it, then the consequences would have been bad.
For her.
He'd spent years trying to deny Cane by then, feeling the kickback of pain as Cane broke him to his will. Years of torture. Years of losing the fight, bit by bit, until sometimes it was easier in the end if hedidn'tfight.
The second Cane saw him kissing Eden McClain, Johnny knew the bastard would try to destroy her—if only to ensure nothing ever came between Johnny's "loyalty" to him. In some sick and twisted part of his mind, Cane had thought of Johnny as his ally.
His nephew.
His possession.
"You ever run like your mother did, and I swear I'll burn your world down around you. I'll find you, no matter where you hide. I'll repay you for every ounce of your treachery. You belong to me, boy. You understand?"
His only option at the time had been to yield to Cane's will. Bring Eden along, throw her in the hut, use her to get what Cane wanted from Adam.
If he'd hesitated....
If he'd stood against Cane....
Then Cane would have killed her. Slowly. Painfully. And he'd have made Johnny watch, after he'd broken him again.
When did you stop fighting? When did it become easier to give in, just a little? When did you become numb, even as a part of you died, over and over again? He wished he didn't know.
The lesser of two evils. How many years had he spent making a choice between the lesser of two evils, so he wouldn't rouse the devil in Cane?
"Tell me about Cane," Eden whispered.
"No."
He didn't want to think about Cane ever again.I killed him. I finally killed him.But he still felt the ghost of Cane hanging over him, every damned time he woke up.
