ChapterForty-Five
KINGSTON
“Iknow exactly who we need to kill. Those fucking parasites on the Council. They’re the ones who sent an assassin after Sunday.” Anger seethed in my veins. If I wasn’t so worried about my mate, I’d already be out there hunting down the cocksuckers who dared to come after what was mine.
“Believe me, taking out the Council has been a goal of mine for decades. I nearly succeeded once upon a time, but they come back time and again.” Cashel stood with his back to the wall nearest the bathroom, the dead vampire’s blood seeping over the threshold and staining the edge of the white carpet.
“What’shestill doing in here?” The growl in Caleb’s voice was so pronounced that if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was a wolf. Accusation burned in his eyes as he stared Cashel down.
“It’s my house. I’ll stay as long as I bloody well want to.”
“And you, being the master of the house, could also let anyone you’d like inside at any time.”
What the fuck was Caleb smoking, and where could I get some?
“What are you insinuating, Priest? I wasn’t anywhere near Sunday when the attack happened. I was toe to toe with you.”
Every head in the room jerked in his direction. What reason could those two possibly have to meet up? They seemed more likely to brawl than meet for a polite chat. Then again, looking from Cashel to Caleb, maybe a fight was precisely what had happened.
“My father wasn’t part of this, Caleb. I know him better than—”
“Perhaps you should ask your uncle Callum about that. Oh, forgive me, you can’t. He’s nothing more than a pile of ashes after your father staked him.” Caleb was really fucking going for it. “Not to mention the fact that the Council tried and convicted him as a traitor before most of them were conveniently disposed of. People who oppose Cashel Blackthorne seem to end up dead or missing more often than not.”
“That’s enough. If you’re going to continue to insult my father, you can leave. We have a perfect spot to isolate a testy vampire. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? The well.” Noah’s tone was icy, his gaze intense on Caleb.
“Fuck, I think I finally see what Sunshine likes about you, Thorne.”
He cut his gaze to me and then rolled his eyes.
“Let’s give Sunday some time to recover in private,” Olivia said, playing peacekeeper before the vampires came to blows.
I bristled. “No. We already have the fae coming after us, and I want to know what you intend to do to keep the Council off our backs. If they won’t stop coming like you say, then we’re not safe here. We won’t be safe anywhere. So, what’s the plan? You must have one, big bad vampire boss that you are.”
Cashel glared at me. “I am aking.”
I smirked. “So am I.”
“No, you’re a boy playing at being king. You won’t earn that honor until you prove you’ll sacrifice everything for your title.”
“Titles are meaningless. It's the people connected to you that matter.”
“In that, at least, we are agreed.” We held each other’s stares, Cashel eventually giving me a brief nod as if I had passed some sort of test. “You were right about something else as well.”
“Of course I was.”
“Such a wanker,” Noah muttered under his breath.
“I do have a plan. If we can prove the child is not an abomination, the Council will have no reason to come for your mate.”
“How are we supposed to prove that? A paternity test? Wait until she pops out the kid and see which one of us it looks like? Or better yet, if it comes with its own set of fangs?”
Sunday shook her head. “She. We’re having a girl.”
“Sorry, Sunshine. We all know she’s mine. There’s no reason the Council should think otherwise.”
She rolled her eyes. “Kingston, there are three very virile reasons they could think otherwise.”
Alek placed his palm on her shoulder. “She’s a little shieldmaiden. A descendant of Freya herself.”