"I also know you fed him. "
Layla blinked as the image of that cruel, strangely vulnerable face came to her anew. For a split second, she had the absurd instinct to protect him - but that was ridiculous, and not something she would sustain.
"Of course I will help you and Wrath. I'm glad the king has reconsidered his earlier stance. "
Now the female hesitated. "What if I told you Wrath couldn't know about it. No one could, especially not Qhuinn. Would that change your mind?"
John, she thought. John had told his mate what had transpired.
"I realize," Xhex said, "that I'm putting you in a terrible position, but you know what my nature is. I'll use anything at my disposal to get what I want, and I want to find Xcor now. I have no doubt that I'll be able to protect you, and I don't have any intention of getting you anywhere near him. I just need the general area where he settles at night, and I'll take it from there. "
"Are you going to kill him?"
"No, but I'm going to give the Brotherhood the ammunition to do so. The weapon that was used to shoot at Wrath was a rifle with a long-range scope - not the kind of thing anyone would take into the field on a normal night. Assuming they haven't destroyed it, they'll leave it behind when they go out. If I can get ahold of it, and we can prove what they did, things are going to take their natural course. "
Kind eyes, she thought. . . the male had had such kind eyes when he'd stared up at her. But in fact, he was the enemy of her king.
Layla felt her head nod. "I shall help you. I shall do anything I can. . . and not say a word. "
The female came over and put a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. "I hate putting you in this position. War is an ugly, ugly business that specializes in compromising good people such as yourself. I can feel how this is tearing you up, and I'm sorry that I'm asking you to lie. "
It was lovely of the symphath to offer concern, but her conflict was not with giving false testimony to the Brotherhood. It was the fighter she would be he
lping to kill.
"Xcor used me," she said, as if trying to convince herself.
"He's very dangerous. You're lucky to have come out of meeting him alive. "
"I will do what is right. " She glanced up at Xhex. "When do we leave?"
"Right now. If you're able to. "
Layla called upon deep recesses of strength. Then nodded. "Allow me to get my coat. "
Chapter Sixty-Five
Hours later, as Marissa sat at her desk at Safe Place, she answered her cell phone and couldn't keep the smile off her face. "It's you again. "
Butch's Boston-accented voice was full of gravel. As usual. "When are you coming home?"
She looked at her watch and thought, Where had the night gone? Then again, it was always this way at work. She came in as soon as the sun was safely below the horizon, and before she knew it, the light was threatening in the east, and driving her back to the compound.
Into the arms of her male.
Hardly a chore, that was.
"About forty-five minutes?"
"You could come now. . . . "
The way he drawled those words suggested an altogether different meaning to that verb than "return home. " "Butch - "
"I didn't make it out of bed tonight. "
She bit her lip, picturing him naked in the sheets that had been messy when she left. "No?"
"Mmm, no. " He drew out the syllables - at least until his breath caught. "I've been thinking about you. . . . "