Right?
A ghoul.
Unless there’s something I’m missing…
Granted, I will take that into account. There could very well be something I don’t know, but if that’s the case then there’s a whole new worry for every single marked woman in the future.
If they can be turned into someone else’s fated, there will be nothing stopping us from descending into chaos every single time a Marked is found.
I had to fight that son of a whore tonight.
The fact that he still lives is a testament to how strong my bond to Chloe is. I only left him alive so that I could find her. And I have no doubt that if he was able to catch her once, he can surely do it again.
Tapping my foot against the pavement, I start to pace back and forth between the houses again. I can hear the humans inside sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware that I want to rip their throats out for being so bold as to live in my presence at this very moment.
I could force someone to allow us to enter their home… but they would have to step outside first. Unless they invite us inside, a human can’t be glamoured until they cross the threshold of their home.
It’s another one of life’s little mysteries.
Options of staying here are looking slim to none at this point. Unless we all sleep in the car. That’s not an option, being that vulnerable in a city that’s not mine won’t work.
A big black SUV comes racing up the street, and thankfully I can sense my men in the vehicle from here. A fight with any others right now wouldn’t be easy. I’d survive, no doubt, but it would be costly.
As soon as the car pulls up, I jump into the passenger seat. “Where’s the nearest safe house?”
“There’s a hotel about four miles away from here. The safe house we’ve got is on the other side of the city,” Andrei says from behind me.
I look to Raphael. “What about the local pack?”
“There are two rival packs currently. One is deeply entrenched with Nikolaos. The other one is losing ground every month,” he says then looks around. “Which house?”
“Twenty-four houses south of here, left side,” I say, and can feel every neck in the car swivel to look.
“You know you’re not wearing a shirt anymore, right?” Matthias asks.
Looking down at my bare chest, I growl, “I’ll fucking kill him.”
Matthias grunts. “You’ve certainly killed for less.”
“Call the pack that’s losing turf. Offer them whatever it takes to get a security net around this block and the one behind hers,” I say.
“That could cost us,” Raphael says from beside me.
My voice comes out cold and sour. “They’ll be repaid in land.”
“Fuck,” Andrei mutters to himself.
“We going to war?” Raphael asks.
I sigh loudly.
This isn’t going to go well. A war here and now is going to be very costly if I can’t keep the death count low.
But Nikolaos should have known better than to try and steal my woman. Because right now, even if I have to fight every single council member to take what’s rightfully mine, I’ll fucking do it.
“We’ll leave here as soon as the pack arrives. Who’s the leader of our wolves?”
Raphael pulls his phone from his jacket pocket. “Dav Dalton.”
“Tell him if he can have a crew here within the next forty-five minutes, I’m willing to sign a forty-five year peace treaty with them, and they’ll have full run of their own enterprises.”
“Fuck,” Andrei says loudly.
“To answer your question, Raphael…” I say, my voice stopping everyone from talking for a moment. Even Ambrose in the back of the SUV stills. “We’re going to war.”
As we turn away from Chloe’s street, I growl and think about putting my hand through the dashboard.
“Turn around. Stop at her house.”
“Ash,” Raphael says quietly, “I need you crystal clear here. No time to go wandering off into the void of your head again.”
“I need to get something,” I snap and slam my fist into his arm. “Fucking do it.”
The rocking of the SUV stops as he pulls over and whips us around in a u-turn.
“What in the ever-living fuck, asshole?” Raphael growls as he slams his foot down on the accelerator.
“Asher,” Andrei says from the back, “you shouldn’t beat your kids.”
“I’ll fucking end you, Andrei,” I say with a laugh.
“End my existence because you’re an abusive parent? That’ll go down well with CPS.” Raphael laughs next to me.
Pulling up in front of Chloe’s house, I jog over to the body I left on her doorstep.
Pausing to listen to her sounds, I hear the deep rhythmic breathing of her sleeping. If this has been the living embodiment of hell on me, I don’t know if I can bear to think of what it’s done to her.
But she didn’t listen to me.
Bending down, I grab the man by his ankle, and by some miracle I hear the faintest of heartbeats coming from him.