33. Chapter Thirty-Three

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CREED'S POV

I watch her small figure walk off into the pitch-black night, the darkness enveloping her as she quickly moves in the direction of town. She grows smaller and smaller as the music blares behind me, a voice talking near me and adding to the noise. Except I couldn't hear anything or take my eyes from her disappearing figure.

I clench my fists. This was for the best.

She wasn't good for us.

She had almost ruined the plans I had painstakingly worked on over the past few months. Getting this connection would push us one step closer to our goals. She couldn't derail all of the time and effort I put into this deal. She was too wild and unpredictable, and we didn't need that right now.

Ezra, Annex, and even Mallyn were too absent-minded around her, which could put them in danger. They needed to get their heads in the game and focus on the task at hand.

"…Veronica will be pleased." Nathan's voice reaches my ears as I turn back toward the abattoir. "I only gave her a little advice, and she went feral." He clutches his torso, his face wincing with the movement.

Usually, I wouldn't deal with someone so pathetically weak, but The Clarens have a good network of people. They weren't a part of the old clans but had established themselves well enough over the last couple of centuries, earning a spot near the top and not one easily touched by others. Their power would be useful for my plans and give us a much-deserved leg–up.

"You can't have someone like that around. She would ruin your reputation with her brash and vulgar behaviour." He brushes his hands down his jacket as my eyes narrow. "That's one of the many differences between her and Veronica. Veronica would never act like some uncouth animal. Micai didn't know her proper place." His face twists as he spits her name out like some sort of dirty curse.

An anger I thought I'd buried long ago begins to rise in me again, one I'd hidden deep beneath the surface and hoped I'd never see again.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I grit out, feeling my power on the edge, pushing to break free and pummel the worm in front of me.

The bastard sighs, raising a brow. "I've done my homework, Creed. You've allowed her around you and your boys for far too long. It's fine if it was a passing fling, but now it's time to put the toys back in their box."

I feel a grin lace my lips with his words, though it's not one of joy. No, it's completely void of any humour as I watch the pathetic ass in front of me flap his lips.

"If you want to be serious, you need to push the riff-raff away. The Banes' eldest daughter holds no real status or power; she won't do your group any good. And there's no point in you all wasting your time with her. What could you possibly gain from someone like that? Maybe she was fun to play with for a while, but…" He sighs, a patronising smile appearing on his lips as he shrugs. "Let's be real here, Creed. You want my house's connections and the status we hold." A greedy glint flickers in his gaze. "And we can avail of your many talents ."

He means the power my brothers and I hold, our abilities unrivalled by those who have tried and failed to cross us.

They wanted to use our strength and abilities for themselves, connecting us to his sister, Veronica, to gain control of us and more power. But we were no one's pawns or prized stallions.

He continues, oblivious to my darkening mood. "I want your group integrated into our house. Veronica will take you and Ezra as her partners. The other two are a little too… unsafe for Veronica's taste. But I'm sure we can place them somewhere." His gaze flickers back toward the abattoir, a grin stretching his lips. "You will get a powerful house to back you, and we will get to avail of your abilities. It's a win-win for both sides." He turns back toward me, and I have to clench my fists with the smug look in his eyes.

"That, and Veronica is beautiful and the better choice between the two." He shrugs, and my brows pinch further together.

How the hell had he come to that conclusion? He was apparently weak and delusional.

This tiny dickhead thinks he can play matchmaker between me and his annoying red-headed sister. She clung to me earlier like gum on a shoe, her touch making me itch and her eyes laced with an annoying gaze that kept roving up and down me. One I now realise was the stare of someone thinking she already owned someone else.

And what the hell did he say about my brothers? That they were ‘unsafe' and not to that thick dolt's taste?

Who the fuck asked? This plan and connection to them never involved any of us having to be with Veronica. So who the hell planted that shit into their heads?

My boys and I would never want a partner so pompous or pristine.

If I had to choose an annoying chick to be paired with, I'd prefer the stubborn blue-eyed one my brothers chose. At least her gaze was always genuine; that little gleam in her eyes was one of want and affection for my brothers…and I was stupid enough to think otherwise.

I drag a hand down the back of my neck and glance out toward town.

What the fuck do I do now?

How the hell do I tell my brothers that I pushed away their mate for some bastard that clearly treated her like shit? And that I not only chose his side over hers, but forced her to leave?

Nathan follows my gaze, raising a brow as he opens that pompous mouth of his again.

"She shouldn't have thought she was on your level to begin with, Creed. You and the others deserve someone with more class."

My gaze narrows. Who the hell did he think he was talking about?

Micai had more sense and class than all of the assholes grinding their sweaty bodies together behind us.

I'll probably never tell her this, but I would take her company over his precious Veronica's any day.

"If you need a little ‘fun' to alleviate some stress, I can find you a much better substitute. A girl with much better standing too." He pats my shoulder, my body stiffening instantly with his cold words toward someone completely undeserving of them.

An irritation bubbles inside me the longer his voice drones on.

How the hell had I been so blind? Why the fuck was I aligning myself with these pricks—the very epitome of everything I hated?

Why was I trying to please these stupid fucks who saunter around my domain like it's their own?

I had allowed them to walk all over my home and my people. And for what?

I was so blinded, trying to get one step closer and one day quicker to our end goal, that I forgot why I was doing it all.

Corrupt bastards like Nathan and Veronica from high-status clans were the reason why the families became so twisted and corrupt in the first place. Bad seeds lead to rotten apples.

They were the ones keeping the corruption alive and well, and here I was, being subservient to them to reach my goals quicker.

But I had never taken an easier or quicker route. It was the harder path that forged me into the man I am today.

And the one they wanted to use as their weapon.

My mind becomes clearer, the tension I had been holding for months, leaving me in an instant with the realisation.

Even if the journey to our goal was longer and rougher, it was worth it when we stayed true to our beliefs.

"Anyway, I'm sure she'll find someone to latch onto soon enough. People like her always spread their legs for the right price—"

I finally snap, his words crossing a line they never should.

My fist meets his jawline before he can finish his words, knocking him back and sending him tumbling into the abattoir wall beside us.

I fucked up and put these pricks before my people. But not anymore.

I tower over the dickhead, his eyes wide as he tries to open his mouth. I slam my fist into the bricks beside his head, cutting him off. The bricks instantly crack, with flecks of the old cement hitting his face as I lean down toward him. He flinches back into the wall like the coward he is.

"Take your sister and get the fuck out of our territory." I pull myself straight, my eyes narrowed toward the shrinking fool. "We don't need you or your kind here."

"W-what the hell?!" His gaze flickers to the empty parking lot behind me. "Is this because of her ? You're making a mistake—"

"The only mistake I made was ever trying to make a deal with you." My lip curls up as I watch his thin brows pinch together. He wasn't worth the muck on my shoe. "Dirt like you should stay where you belong. Under my feet."

He grits his teeth, mumbling quickly under his breath as bright pink static forms on his hand. He fists it before aiming for me, but his movements are too slow, and his power too weak.

My power whips out like a wave, crashing into him before he can reach me and slamming him into the wall again, the bricks cracking further with the force of my hit.

A pained groan leaves his lips as my black smoke coils around him, wrapping around his throat and pulling him up to face me.

"You'll take your precious sister and leave, or I'll send you both home in pieces."

My power coils tighter and tighter around him, only releasing him when he nods in submission.

"What the hell's going on here?" Annex calls, sauntering through the abattoir's doors, his fists dripping with blood and his face covered with tiny red specks as well. "I thought all the fun was to be had inside. But here you are having your own private playtime, and you didn't invite us?"

Nathan scrambles away with the arrival of the boys, scurrying back into the abattoir like the rat he is, just as Ezra and Mallyn arrive behind Annex.

A curious expression forms in their eyes as they glance around the parking lot.

"Where's Micai?" Ezra asks, looking around the area as his brows pinch together.

A tightness spreads in my chest, remembering her face when she left—a deep look of anger, pain, and disappointment swirling into one.

And I had caused it all.

I look out past the parking lot and into the dark, feeling three sets of eyes follow my gaze.

"Creed?" Mallyn steps up beside me as I drag my gaze to him. I wasn't the apology type, but I owe my brothers one right now. And Micai.

I had pushed their mate away. Forced her to leave.

I was no better than that scum, Nathan.

"She definitely came out this way… " Calls Ezra, his eyes narrowing toward me, my brother knowing something was off and able to read me better than most. "What happened?"

"I fucked up." I look to each of them; Annex and Mallyn's brows pinch together as Ezra's expression darkens.

"What did you do?" He bites out, rage swirling in his gaze toward me. And rightfully placed.

"I…took that dickhead's side. He did something, or said something, and she defended herself." I shake my head, my brows furrowing. It was obvious when I saw the scene before me. I knew he must have done or said something to her, but I still chose his side. "I worried more about the deal and how it would help our plans rather than listening to her side of things."

I had never felt the need to explain myself to anyone, not even Morgan. Except there was now a horrible dark feeling swirling inside me as I remembered what I had said to Micai. Pure frustration and regret taking over me as I continue. "I forced her to leave. I threw her—"

Before I can finish the words, Ezra lunges forward, his fist clenched and meeting my face faster than I can anticipate or dodge.

I had forgotten how well my brother fought. He wasn't usually one for violence, but when he was angry, there was no one who could stand in his way. He could get just as bloody as Annex if needed.

Pain sears down my cheek and jaw as he rears back to hit me again, but Mallyn catches it, pulling him from me.

I steady myself and gaze into Ezra's glaring eyes as he pushes Mallyn away, his face twisted up in rage. "Who the hell gave you the right, Creed?! Micai is our mate! She's been through enough pain and shit without you adding to it." Anger and pain swirl in his gaze toward me.

"I thought you would come around, come to your senses and see the future I did. I thought you just needed a little more time, but this..." He shakes his head, a deep look of disappointment joining the hurt and anger I see in his eyes.

"She's a part of me, a part of us…" He gestures toward the others as they nod. "Even before I knew she was my mate, she was already one of us. She has been since the first day we all met her. She's accepted every part of us, Creed. Even the dark, painful, twisted parts of us that we've tried to bury deep inside." A frown pulls at his lips, his brows creasing as he watches me.

"Even you, Creed. We have a chance at something more than this…" He gestures to the space and abattoir around us. "What we had before Micai was only strings holding us together. Small threads that tethered us to this world but that could easily break at any time. But now…" A soft smile tilts his lips as he flicks his gaze back to Annex and Mallyn before turning back toward me. "She makes it so much brighter. I can finally see a future, Creed. One with all of us. Why do you keep fighting it?" His brows pinch together again. "I know that some part of you already realises what she could be to us, and you're just scared of letting her in."

He shakes his head, his smile disappearing as he continues. "Lashing out at her, rejecting her, and hurting her first before she ever has the chance to do it to you…that's not living." He shifts a step closer. "Stop pushing her away. Because you're pushing us all away with her."

I taste the tang of metal on my lips as Ezra sighs.

"She's a part of us now. She makes us whole and happy. Life without her was an empty black hole, filled only with schemes and blood…And I grew tired of that long ago, brother." A frown pulls at his lips, a genuine look of sadness in his eyes as he watches me.

I glance between the three of them. We have been through so much together over the years. They are the family I chose. One that's always had my back. I thought I was protecting them…and never realised I could be the one hurting them.

I look back to Ezra as he turns away and leaves before Annex approaches me.

"Apologise properly when we bring her back, you dick." Annex bumps against my shoulder as he passes before turning back to glare at me. "Or I'll poke holes in your Dodge charger and make it look like Swiss cheese." There's a slight bite to his tone but no real venom in his gaze. "Don't fuck with Red, ‘cause I'll always take her side. Even when she's wrong. Which I'm sure she'll tell me she never is."

A grin breaks out on Annex's lips before he jabs forward and punches me in the torso. The hit has me leaning forward slightly, pain searing through the spot, and something definitely broken as all three of them head toward our hidden garage.

I glance back at the abattoir door as it slightly sways back and forth, the music and noise of voices floating out toward me. I guess I had to sort this shit out first.

And then we can properly sit down and talk about our future together…and where Micai fits in.