“Yes, he died in my arms...and before he went unto the Fade, he told me when they got outside…they smelled slayers, and then heard a clicking sound? They were tasered. Dragged farther down the alley. The killings were quick, and he doesn’t know why two were spared. I don’t know any of their names, not even his. He didn’t give it to me before he…I would recognize their pictures, though. Every one of them.”
“I know you would,” V said roughly. “You did everything right.”
Wrath’s head turned from side to side, and he visualized the brothers who were around him in his mind. “And no one’s called anything in? On our emergency response line.”
“Not yet,” Tohr wheezed.
“I did try to find out who they were.” Allhan spoke faster and faster. “As soon as I could, I went back into the club to see if any of their group were still in there, but everybody was gone? Shuli will know—”
“Who’s called that male?” Wrath barked.
“He’s not picking up.” V’s nasally voice spoke up. “I can go over—”
“I’ll go,” Tohr interjected between coughs.
“Oh, fuck that,” someone said. “You two can barely stand—”
“I’m going—”
“—no,I’llgo—”
“You guys are fucking staying home—”
There was an eruption of talk, all the brothers and fighters in the corridor speaking at once, volunteering to head over to L.W.’sahstrux nohtrum’s, telling V and Tohr to take a load off, each one of the males and females ready to fight if they had to or console the families if that was what came next.
Wrath closed his eyes behind his wraparounds and pulled Beth in close. Every instinct he had was telling him to jump in, take control, issue orders, and wait for the next phase of dealing with the attack. But he wasn’t going to do it.
He hadn’t traveled across time and space to lose the female at his side. And somebody would step up. Out of the Brotherhood, out of this community of fighters, one of them would. It was how they’d all been bred, how they’d always lived. First and foremost, for the species.
As he remained silent, the cacophony got louder and louder until a kind of critical mass was reached—then it all petered out into a confused silence. And even though he couldn’t see, he knew all of them were looking his way.
The void he was leaving by not being on the throne felt like a cavern in the very heart of Caldwell. And then it dawned on him that V and Tohr probably didn’t even know what he’d said as he’d left the garage. What he’d decided. Some of the others did, though.
Yet nobody said shit at the moment, no doubt it was because they didn’t want it to be true.
“So, who do you want to go,” came the prompt from over on the left.
The feel of Beth against him was a clarifier, but Wrath didn’t need it. The conflict he’d had with her was the reason for the accident on the Northway tonight. As a bonded male, he was always going to put her first, and if he hadn’t been on the throne, he wouldn’t have been forced to drop him and hisshellaninto the shit situation that had led to their argument in the first place.
In which case, two of the Brotherhood’s best assets wouldn’t have almost died. Before another six of the species were taken out by the enemy.
Bottom-line, he could not lose his mate, and without her support when it came to the throne, he couldn’t do the King job anyway.
Opening his mouth to make the formal announcement to everybody, he—
“Wrath. Wrath will go.”
Beth spoke before he did, and as he jerked his head in her direction, she took his hand and squeezed firmly.
“What are you talking about,leelan,” he hissed. “I’m not leaving you—”
“So I’ll go to see Shuli with you.” Her shrug registered as a shift against his ribs. “We go together.”
Chapter Thirteen
As Beth walked into their bedroom, she ditched the robe and the boxers and went to her bureau. With sloppy hands, she threw on a bra under her shirt and some underwear, and then it was a one-tug on some faded jeans. On a second thought, she traded up for a turtleneck on top—whatever her hand landed on. No sweater.
Adrenaline was keeping her warm.
