Page 65 of A Lion's Heart
“What if I don’t accept? What about love?” Nisa asked.
“Do you feel like you are in love with Decan? Think about it, Nisa. Think about your feelings from months back up to now. Consider how you felt in those first moments he was near you and in the moments tonight when things were happening and there was a chance that you could never see him again.”
Nisa did think about those things. She thought about how tender and enticing his touch was and how heart wrenching it had been to see those horrible scars on him. She thought about how horrible five years in the SIC must have been for him and how she might feel if it had happened to her. Then she thought about how he hadn’t told her father she was sneaking out to run above ground, but instead had followed her to protect her. Then, she thought about Marlee and the secret mission he and Keller seemed to be on.
She sighed heavily and replied honestly, “How can I know if I love him when I’m not even sure I can trust him?”
It had taken him longer than usual to calm down.
Hell, Decan wasn’t certain he was totally calm at this moment. Not this time.
She’d stopped him from killing Mackey. He wished she hadn’t. Then again, he recalled the feeling of total contentment as he’d heard her voice through all the chaos that had broken out around him. It had been like a bright light through the darkness Decan swore he’d been in for the last ten years. Longer than that, if he were being totally honest. Growing up without his family had taken a bigger toll on him than he’d ever admitted. Until now. Until her.
He could leave now. Cole Linden was back and that’s what the Assembly Leader had wanted him to do. Mackey was now a captive of the Shadow Shifters, the irony in that hadn’t gone unnoticed. To an extent Decan figured that may have been better than the quick death he’d intended for the evil bastard. He would likely never see above ground again and even though he was pretty sure Rome would never order the man killed or tortured, living underground among the very species he detested wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for the twisted leader.
There was no way that Decan was getting the job of Faction Leader now. Not with thecalorsurrounding him and the Assembly Leader’s daughter. So there was nothing more here for him. He could move back to the eastern zone with Keller and they could continue to work to dismantle the Ruling Cabinet and all the havoc and destruction it had caused in the last years.
But he could do none of that without seeing her first. One last time, he told himself, and then he would walk out of her life. Decan had never heard ofcompanheirosthat did not stay together, so he had no idea how that scenario would actually work out. What he did know was that she deserved better. She deserved a mate she could be proud of, one that could stand beside her and fight for the same causes as she and her father before her. Decan wasn’t that shifter.
He turned the corner into the medical center where he figured Nisa would be since the rest of her family was here waiting for information about Cole Linden. The first person he saw was the Assembly Leader.
“I’d like a moment, Decan,” Rome said with a nod of his head toward one of the doors across from the waiting area where he was standing.
Decan thought about telling him it wasn’t necessary and that he would simply leave right now, but he silently walked toward the door instead. Letting himself inside the tiny bright room, he waited while Rome followed and closed the door behind him.
“Tell me about what happened up there tonight,” Rome said.
Roman Reynolds was a force. There was just no other way to put it. The man had been one of the top litigators in the country, running a billion dollar law firm and sitting comfortably on his family’s fortune. He had been unanimously named Assembly Leader and was respected throughout the world for the strides the Shadows had taken in the years of his rule. Decan had nothing but respect for the man, even if he didn’t agree with all of his methods.
“We received news of a private meeting Mackey was having with some of the Ruling Cabinet members. It was my decision not to take a full team above ground to carry out the mission. Once the attendees of this meeting were either contained or deceased, we left the premises. Blaez Trekas and his pack were there. Something left Cole Linden in the middle of the street. We brought the Faction Leader and Ewen Mackey back with us.”
That was a succinct and fairly accurate version but Decan could tell by the way Rome was looking at him that it wasn’t going to be enough.
“Is that all?” Rome asked.
Decan waited a beat before replying. “That is what happened while we were above ground.”
And that was not a lie. It had happened that way. The fact that the mission above ground was unapproved and their goal was to kill and not kidnap which they ended up doing, was an omission. Not a lie.
“You took my daughter with you on this mission?” Rome asked him.
“Yes, sir,” he answered immediately.
He was not going to tell Rome that his daughter had followed them into an unauthorized situation that involved guns, shifters fighting in cat form and something big and powerful enough to cause the ground to tremble. That was not an option.
Rome flexed his hands at his sides. He was standing with his back facing the door, his legs partially spread, arms at his side. “Did you really think I had no idea what was going on?” he asked. “I’m the Assembly Leader. I’m the one the Shadow Shifters look to for guidance. My team and I took down Sabar, Crowe and Boden. We’ve been to the Gungi and back and forth across the US fighting for our cause, for our lives. So when some young renegades think they’ve got a better idea and decide to work outside my authority, I make it my business to watch every step they take carefully.”
Decan did not reply.
“I knew who you were before your father introduced us and I knew who your friends were. Keller Cross believes he’s been operating under the radar but I know about his bunker in Florida. I also know that he was the one who hacked into the vehicle security. X received an alert on the vehicles and I had Jace call you to see what was going on. And while I don’t have proof just yet, I’m inclined to believe he’s the one who broke into two classified files on the holodeck. Although, I have yet to figure out why.”
Keep your enemies close. Isn’t that what Nisa said her father had taught her? But he wasn’t Rome’s enemy, at least he didn’t believe so.
“Our mission was personal,” he said to the Assembly Leader.
“Because you knew I wouldn’t approve,” Rome replied. “We do not kill without being provoked.”
“We were provoked. I was tortured and scarred for five years. Gold’s parents were killed right in front of him. And Keller lost everything he’d worked to build when Mackey and his cohorts exposed him as a shifter and beat him until he had no choice but to shift in front of an office full of people and attack. A pregnant woman died in the stampede of humans hurrying to get away from the vicious cougar, scarring him mentally for the rest of his life. If that’s not provocation, I don’t know what is.”
