Before he could answer, Tohr pushed open the glass door of the office.
“Oh, Tohr is here,” she said, unnecessarily. Jesus, her mate had a helluva nose.
Wrath nodded to her. And then called forward, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
“Yeah, probably,” the Brother said as he limped out into the corridor. “Duty calls. You got a minute? To talk privately.”
Just as Beth opened her mouth to take her leave, Wrath put his arm around her. “Myleelancomes with.”
Tohr bowed. And then wobbled as he straightened. “Of course. Let’s do this in my admin digs.”
The training center’s office was a tight space, and the desk and chairs didn’t help. But at least Tohr had something to collapse into as he went around and dumped himself into the seat from which he ran the training center. And on the whole, he looked a little better. He was pale except for where the bruising was still coming up in his face, and his navy blue eyes were low-lidded and kind of glassy—but his voice was strong.
“Thank you for seeing me,” he started.
“Cut to the chase.” Wrath leaned back against the glass wall. “Just say it.”
“The Brotherhood…”
“Picked a bad fucking night to expect you to be upright and ready to argue with me.” Wrath turned his head in her direction. Turned it back to his Brother. “Have you two been talking?”
As she met Tohr’s eyes, she shook her head. “No.”
“No,” the Brother echoed. “And that’s the truth. You can smell it.”
“But he and I are thinking the same thing,” she murmured. “Aren’t we, Tohr?”
The battered fighter nodded and sat forward, his hands resting on the desk. “You can’t leave the throne, Wrath. You really can’t.”
There was a long silence. And then, through the glass, she saw Emile’s parents stop in front of the examination room he was in. Rhage and Phury were with them, the Brothers standing sentry to the crushed couple who were clearly taking a moment to brace themselves before they saw their son.
Despite their tailored, expensive clothes, they were utterly disheveled, and between one blink and the next, Beth recalled the female hit the floor at her grand, formal house, her Chanel suit matching the black and white marble tile of her foyer with its bouquets of fresh flowers, even though it was winter.
Grief was both individual and universal, wasn’t it. Sparing no one, no matter how rich. And she couldn’t help but measure them against what she had seen those years ago at the Audience House, so much ahead of the family, so much to look forward to.
They just hadn’t known what fate was really going to deliver to them.
And as the father and mahmen looked desperately to Doc Jane for some last-minute reprieve that they had to know wouldn’t be—couldn’t be—coming, Beth knew that there was only one thing that might bring them some relief:
A leader. Who was going to take charge and fight.
“Dresden and hisshellanare here,” she said roughly as she looked back at Wrath. “Your civilians need their King, even the aristocrats. Especially on a night like tonight.”
Those black brows dropped down behind the wraparounds. And before he could speak, she cut in. “They deserve to see their King, Wrath. This is…the worst moment of their life. They need you. Weallneed you.”
“She’s right.” Tohr cleared his throat. “We’re not going to make it without you on the throne. Not with where this war is heading.”
Wrath shook his head. “I get the sentiment, I fucking do. But I’mnotlosing my mating over the job. That willnothappen. So, something’s got to give—”
“I will,” she choked out. “I’ll give in. L.W. was right. I don’t want a pass just because you’re the King. All the other mates worry about theirhellrensandshellansout in the field. I want you to do what you have to for the species, for the Brotherhood…for me. For L.W. Do what you have been born and bred to do, for all of us. I will deal. Somehow.”
Wrath lowered his head. And then in a hoarse voice, the great Blind King said, “I can’t live with you and me at odds. I will fuck off the species, the Brotherhood, even our own son.” His chin re-leveled, and his head turned toward her once more. “As a bonded male, you always come first to me—that’s never going to change. So this is your decision, really.”
She went over to him and took his face in her hands. “I love you. I’m with you. And I want you to be our King. That’s my decision.”
His exhale was full of emotion. “Are you sure.”
“Yes. I am.”
