Page 64 of Under a Wicked Moon
Gerard stared at the bag and backed up. “Planning for World War III?”
“Are you working for Slate? Did you coordinate to send me into act as a stud horse so you could sell the brainwashed lycans to the highest bidder?” God, he hated repeating himself.
No answer.
Ky slammed a hand into the wall, leaving a dent in the drywall. “Was it for money or power?”
Gerard swallowed hard. “Where are you going with that many weapons? Tell me. That’s an order.”
An order. A direct order from a representative of the monarch.
“I seek to protect the world and all its inhabitants.” Ky stepped back, his hands shaking, and despite his best efforts they wouldn’t stop. That was the truth. Maybe not the full truth, but he hadn’t lied. He wouldn’t tell what was in the bag. This was imperative.
Ky felt the truth bubbling up. He bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking.Will not speak of the relics.Blood filled his mouth. The force behind the compulsion to follow orders dove into his brain. Pain overrode everything.
The voice of the witch, the one who cast the original spell came back to him, soft and commanding:By this blood you are bound to the monarch of England…to serve for all the days you live.
He screamed to drown out the words, not even realizing he vocalized. Even if it left him in ruins, he would never betray his brothers. He wouldn’t betray the world. The items in the bag had to get to safety. This was worth death. “I am a protector. May God drive my moral compass.” He gripped the pendant of the saint tightly and uttered a Hail Mary prayer. “Help me be strong, Michael.”
He remembered every time he’d given in to this human’s orders and obeyed even when he questioned the orders. Never again would he do that which he didn’t agree with for humans who sought to enslave his kind and make them do despicable things against their will. Like forcing Vivi, who abhorred violence, to become a killer.
“Jesus Christ, Ky. I believe you’re a protector or whatever.” Gerard was next to him. Not touching him, but worry etched into his face. “I needed to know whose team you played for.”
Ky found himself sitting on the floor, hugging the bag with no memory of how he’d fallen to this position. He swallowed the blood in his mouth.
He said, “I serve the monarch. That hasn’t changed.”
Slowly, he got to his feet.
Gerard tried to help him up, but Ky shook him off with more force than intended. Gerard stumbled to catch his footing.
“Seriously, Ky. I’m not questioning you.”
“You just did, asshole. You still do.” He stepped back to increase the space between them. “Let’s not pretend you trust us or care about our well-being.”
“That’s not true. I do care about you three. Did you kill the girl?” Gerard asked.
“Are you asking because you want her dead?” he countered, kicking himself for potentially pushing him to give an order to kill her. Which he wouldn’t follow.Her name is Vivi. She’s a person. A beautiful creature who doesn’t deserve what’s going to happen to her.
“I don’t know her,” Gerard said. “If she’s a threat, then you guys deal with her. If you haven’t already.”
“She’s been handled; she was a threat, but no longer.” He rocked back and glared. “You knew what went on in those facilitiesbeforeyou ordered I go in to find out, didn’t you? You knew today she’s a product of whatever mind manipulation they’re experimenting with.”
Gerard wouldn’t make direct eye contact. He wished he could force this human to tell him the truth with voice coercion, but it didn’t work on him, since Ky and his brothers had to do his bidding.
How would they handle their curse, their job against terrorists,if they didn’t trust their handler? This was the person who passed down marching orders from the monarch, orders that most of the time didn’t come directly from the Crown, but from Gerard, acting on the Crown’s behalf. The monarch didn’t give two shits about the minutiae of paranormal creatures threatening humans around the globe. But they couldn’t question every single order. There had to be trust for this to work.
They needed out of the curse. Never had it become more imperative that they not be beholden to humans. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to work for God, on the other hand, but at least the deity might have more interest than the king in feedback from them regarding their directives.
Ky smoothed out his voice to eliminate emotion. “If you’re wrapped up in this with Slate, then that’s going to be a problem. Remember, our curse binds us to the Crown. The king calls the shots, not you. You’re a peon who passes orders from the Crown to us. You’ve grown overconfident in that you see yourself as an equal to the Crown when you’re not. If you’re involved in this scheme to manipulate, murder, and breed lycans in order to hurt and control people across the world, that makes you an enemy, a terrorist of far greater threat than many you’ve sent us to eliminate. If we confirm this, we will speak with the king to determine if you’ve become a problem we need to hunt down, along with all others involved in those facilities.”
Gerard paled. “I’m…I’m not involved.”
Ky squinted and worked his jaw back and forth. “Pick sides carefully in this war. It’s about to get messy. You of all people know when faced with a threat this large, we can recruit help from otherworldly resources, even gods and angels. We don’t stop fighting until we win. Losing isn’t in our DNA.” He picked up the duffel bag.
“There’s a witch in Namibia I need all three of you to go takecare of.”
“Now?” Ky glared skepticism. “What about the confirmation from Slate that multiple programmed lycans and other paranormal creatures are out there? That doesn’t sound to you like a more worldwide threat?”
