CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

Eli stopped off at the smoothie bar on his way to collect Casey later that week. He was hoping he could soften her into agreeing to stay at his lodge the whole weekend. He had plans. Mostly that they spent it naked.

Thinking of his mate all spread out on his bed, he wore a ghost of a smile as he walked back to his SUV … right up until four males slid out of the shadows of the parking lot. Even as everything in him shot to alertness, he almost grinned at the sight of the balaclavas. Fucking ridiculous.

Resting the smoothie on the hood of his SUV, Eli inhaled deeply, taking in the scents of car exhaust, warm pavement, motor oil, and falcons. His wolf peeled back his upper lip, bracing himself to spring.

Eli’s skin tingled with the agitation heating his blood, but he remained calm. Brawling with multiple attackers at once was almost always a losing situation. He didn’t suppose they’d kindly come at him one at a time. No, they’d swarm him as a group, hoping to take him down fast. And if they did take him to the pavement, it would all be over. He’d find himself being kicked, stomped on, and beaten into submission. Not happening.

Given how outnumbered he was, his odds weren’t good. Technically. But what the falcons didn’t know was that he’d trod this path many, many times; had been repeatedly thrown into a fighting pit with multiple opponents. He’d won, but he’d never won with ease. Injuries were inevitable. He could only aim to minimize them.

It was a shame his cell phone was tucked in the pocket of the jacket he’d left on the SUV’s passenger seat. He could have discreetly pressed the panic button and alerted his pack mates. They’d not only have known he needed backup, they’d have known his location through the GPS tracker on his phone. He’d just have to hope that Ally had a premonition of the incident but, considering her gift was playing up, that hardly seemed likely.

Not that he couldn’t take care of these bastards alone—in fact, he’d enjoy teaching them just how fucking stupid they’d been to target him. He’d just prefer to instead round them up and take them back to his territory for questioning. Maybe he’d leave one alive so that he could take him to be interrogated.

Eli identified the leader easily. Taller and broader than the rest, he stood just a few steps in front of the others. And Eli knew he’d need to attack him first, since that would be a blow to the rest of the mob. Luckily, the leader was also closest, which meant Eli wouldn’t need to wade through the pathetic gang to reach him.

Eli planted his feet. “You really think this is wise?”

The leader shrugged. “It’s nothing personal, Axton. We respect you and your pack. But someone’s willing to pay good money for you to get your ass kicked, and we’d be fools to turn down that kind of money.”

“I see. Just who hired you?”

“We can’t say—it was part of the deal. We haven’t been ordered to kill you, though; don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t. You won’t even show me your faces. That’s pussy behavior right there.” Anger thickened the air. He probably shouldn’t antagonize them. They might not have been told to kill Eli, but people would go much further in a group than they would do when alone. It was that whole mob mentality. Still, fuck it.

“They also want us to record everything,” added the leader. That was when one of the others pulled out a cell phone and held it up.

Eli stilled, and his wolf’s claws sliced out.

Three would-be attackers, one male recording the attack … The whole thing echoed Roni’s assault far too clearly. It couldn’t be a coincidence. No, someone had hoped that reconstructing what she went through would anger him enough to knock him off-balance.

Well, they were wrong. He’d long ago learned to shut off his emotions while engaged in a fight. Even now, the familiar numbness was creeping up on him—it was pure instinct to let it settle in.

Sadly, he wouldn’t have the luxury of giving each bastard a real beating. He’d need to finish each falcon off in record time. The longer he took to end the fight, the likelier chance they had of overpowering him. He’d have to incapacitate each of them fast with powerful, well-placed, explosive blows.

Eli sighed. “My mate’s going to be pissed.”

“Because you’ll be beaten to a pulp?”

“No. Because she didn’t get to punch you herself.”

The leader cocked his head. “I’ll give it to you, Axton, you’re pretty calm for someone who’s about to get their ass handed to them.”

“You think you’re stronger and safer because you’re part of a group?” Eli shrugged. “It’s all right. You won’t be the first to make that mistake. You don’t think you could kick my ass without the help of your friends here? It’s big of you to admit that, I suppose.”

Anger flashed in the leader’s eyes, and his fingers retracted like claws. “I can take you, Axton,” he bit out. “But I’m going to give our client what he paid for, which was to see you flattened by a group.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t come at me one at a time, does it? Come on, you first. Let’s see how well you do. Or are you as much of a pussy as I’m sensing you are?”

Clenching his fists, the leader dropped his chin, angled his body, and shifted one foot slightly in front of the other—it was a fast, fluid move.

Eli was faster.

He ducked the fist that flew at his head and aimed a precise punch to the side of the falcon’s knee joint, instantly dislocating it.

The others gaped at their leader as he collapsed to the pavement, his face creased in agony.

“You sure you want to do this?” Eli asked them.

The leader growled, pointing at Eli. “Get him! Now!” And, of course, they stupidly obeyed.

Eli backed away fast, positioning himself between two cars, forcing the falcons to form a line rather than come at him from different angles. The first lunged at him. With adrenaline surging through his veins, Eli struck hard and fast. Targeted the pressure points. Aimed for the weakest spots. Delivered maximum pain and damage.

The first falcon went down easy, out cold, but the second could sure take a punch. He flew at Eli with devastating kicks and cheap shots. Eli evaded most of them—ducking, dodging, and jumping backwards. Other shots hit him hard.

Flesh burned as it tore open. Wounds stung as his sweat dripped into them. His jaw and ribs throbbed like a bitch. If it wasn’t for the adrenaline dimming the pain, he’d be feeling a whole lot worse.

Eli fought just as dirty as his opponent. Using his arsenal of teeth, claws, fists, palms, knees, elbows, and feet, he delivered bone-fracturing blows, clawed at the falcon’s face through the balaclava, headbutted him hard enough to daze the fucker and split his eye open.

Growls, snarls, curses, and grunts rang through the air, but they were overridden by the car alarms that had started blaring when Eli and the falcon each accidentally banged into the vehicles, denting metal and smashing windows.

It was hard not to be distracted by the feel of his mate’s anger and bone-chilling fear pulsing along their bond. Eli hated that she was experiencing his pain with him, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Pushing it to the back of his mind, Eli kept on fighting hard and mercilessly. The scents of blood, anger, and fear tainted the air, feeding his wolf’s thirst for vengeance.

It was while the second falcon was trying to recover from a punch to the windpipe that the first falcon—having rose from his unconscious state—rushed around the car, trying to come at Eli from behind.

Having expected the move, Eli pivoted on the spot, dodged the punch, grabbed the bastard’s arm, and struck the elbow joint hard. The falcon’s cry of pain faded into a gurgle as Eli stabbed his claws into the asshole’s throat and twisted, severing arteries.

Just as the falcon dropped like a stone, thick arms wrapped around Eli from behind. Son of a bitch. Eli slammed the back of his head into the fucker’s face and heard a telling crack that made his wolf bare his teeth in a feral grin.

The arms that were curled around him dropped. Eli spun. A little dazed, the falcon threw a wild punch that was so slow in coming it might as well have had a postcard on it. Eli blocked it with his arm and punched the bastard in the throat so hard that he doubled over, gasping for air. That was when Eli grabbed the falcon’s head and twisted sharply, snapping his neck.

With a muffled curse, the male holding the phone backed away, hands shaking. Eli stalked toward him, evading the cell that was thrown at his head. Of course, the little shit tried to run.

“What’s the rush?” asked Eli, fisting the falcon’s shirt and dragging him backwards.

The falcon spun to face him and tried striking out with his talons. One swipe of Eli’s claws slit open the bastard’s throat. The male cupped his bleeding neck, eyes wide in disbelief, choking on his own blood, and dropped to his knees.

Satisfied, Eli turned and headed for the leader, who was now ridiculously trying to hop away. Then the male shifted in a flash, squawking as he awkwardly flew away in his falcon form. Shit.

Breathing hard, Eli stood there—jaw tight, muscles trembling, knuckles burning. He glanced at each of the falcons that were sprawled on the blood-spattered pavement. All were dead. It took a few moments for that thought to truly sink in. Once it did, the battle adrenaline began to fade, and the numbness started to clear from his mind.

He snatched the smartphone from the floor and looked at the screen. Smashed. He pressed the buttons, but it didn’t power to life. Still, he’d take it home and see if Nick could get anything out of it.

He could feel eyes on him, knew there were plenty of spectators watching. Some were even snapping photos. He also knew none of them would have called the police—shifter business was shifter business. And anyone who’d seen how inhumanly fast Eli and the falcons had moved would have known instantly that they were shifters.

He whipped the balaclavas off the dead falcons, hoping he’d recognize at least one of their faces. It was a pointless hope.

A quick search of their pockets revealed that none had wallets or cell phones on their person. There was, however, a cheap-looking cell phone in the pocket of the jeans the leader had shredded when he shifted into his falcon form. It was most likely a burner phone, but it could have some info on it. He needed his wounds seeing to, so now wasn’t the time to check.

Both cell phones in his hand, Eli grabbed the smoothie from the bonnet and jumped into his SUV. The move pulled at his wounds and sent pain rippling through his ribs. He cursed between his teeth, gripping the wheel hard.

Taking stock of himself, he figured he had a fractured wrist, puncture wounds in his sides, a few broken ribs, and ugly gashes along his chest, thighs, forehead, and arms. Awesome.

Letting out a deep sigh, he tossed the phones onto the front passenger seat and took his own ringing cell from the pocket of his jacket, unsurprised to see his mate’s name on the screen. Her soul-deep panic raced along their bond and tightened his chest.

Placing the smoothie in the cupholder, he swiped his thumb across the screen of his cell and said, “I’m fine, baby.”

“You’re not fine! I can feel your pain!”

“I’ve had worse.”

“That does not make me feel better! What happened? I would have come to you, but I have no idea where you are. I called Roni, but your pack have no clue either. Cassidy had had some sort of knowing but it hadn’t given them anything to go on. Seriously, what happened?”

“Falcons.” He switched on the engine, deciding not to tell her that driving would be painful, thanks to his fractured wrist. She’d insist that he remain where he was. The injury would begin to heal as he drove.

“Where are you?”

“Outside the little row of shops near the new movie theater.” No need to yet spoil the surprise of the smoothie. In this mood, she’d only berate him for buying it, claiming he wouldn’t have been attacked if he had just driven straight to her apartment.

“That’s about fifteen minutes away from your territory, right? Go home, let Ally heal you. I’ll meet you there.”

“Baby—”

“Don’t argue with me, canine, I’m not in the fucking mood!”

He couldn’t help smiling. Apparently, she not only went quiet when she was pissed, she fumed when she was scared. Although he despised that she couldn’t quite beat back that fear, he couldn’t help feeling warmed by it.

“Don’t think I don’t know that you’re smiling,” she said. “Now drive. I’m staying on the line until you’re home.”

“Casey, you don’t need to—”

“Drive, canine, drive.”

Lips twitching, he put the phone on speaker and set it in the second cupholder before driving out of the lot. “How was your day?”

“Don’t talk to me right now.”

His mouth quirked. “All right.” He heard her speaking to someone in the background, asking them for a ride, and heard a female voice respond—the words were too muffled for him to make them out, though. When he finally crossed the border of pack territory, he said, “I’m home.”

“I’ll be there soon.” The line went dead.

After parking the SUV, he headed into the main lodge. Many of his pack mates were pacing in the living area, looking various levels of panicked.

It was Bracken who saw him first. The enforcer gaped. “What in the holy blue fuck happened to you?”

“A gang of falcons decided to have some fun with me.”

Roni let out a string of inventive curses that made her mate’s eyebrows fly up.

“Oh God,” muttered Ally. She pointed to a sofa. “Sit.”

Eli obeyed, placing the phones on the seat beside him. She laid a hand on his arm, and her healing energy flowed into him and set to work on his injuries.

“We’ve been trying to call you,” said Nick, jaw tight, “but the line was busy. I’m guessing it was Casey.”

Eli nodded. “She wanted to stay on the line until I was home.” He gave Ally a thankful nod when he felt his wounds close over.

Roni blew out a breath. “I’ll bet she freaked.”

“She did,” said Eli.

“Want me to pick her up and bring her to you?” asked Derren.

Eli shook his head. “Thanks, but she’s already on her way. One of her pack mates are giving her a ride. Contact whoever’s guarding the border; tell them to let her pass.”

“Will do,” said Derren, pulling out his phone. “Where exactly where you when you were attacked?” he asked, his thumbs flying across the screen of his cell as he no doubt texted the enforcer on duty.

“The parking lot outside the little row of shops near the new movie theater,” said Eli. He looked at his sister. “Casey said she called you; said you told her that Cassidy had a knowing.”

“We couldn’t make any sense of it,” Roni told him.

Shaya rubbed her temple. “Cassidy said she just knew you shouldn’t buy a smoothie. That you’d be hurt if you did. We called and called but your phone just kept ringing.”

“I must have already stopped at the smoothie bar by then—I left my phone in my jacket pocket, so I wouldn’t have known you were calling.” Eli sat up a little straighter. “The falcons were clear that someone hired them. I’m guessing it was Ignacio. I think he did this to hurt Casey—that’s what he does, he retaliates by going after the people you care for. He wants to punish her, so he did it through me. But as he did it using the falcons, we can’t prove he had anything to do with it.”

Nick dug his cell out of his pocket and tapped the screen a few times with his thumbs. Everyone heard the phone ring clearly, since his brother had placed the call on speakerphone.

“Ah, Nick,” Ignacio greeted. “What a surprise.”

Still furious, Eli’s wolf snarled at the sound of the cat’s voice and lashed out with his claws.

Nick’s face hardened. “Tell me, Ignacio, why has my brother just been attacked by a group of falcons?”

There was a pause. “I’ll take it by your tone that you think I had something to do with it,” said Ignacio. “Now why would I send falcons after Eli—or anyone, for that matter—when I have cats to do my bidding for me?”

Nick’s hand tightened around the phone. “Because you know damn well that sending your cats would lead to my pack and hundreds of minks seeking revenge on you. A strike at Eli is a strike at Casey—her pack wouldn’t let that go.”

“Well, I suppose that would be a good reason to operate under the radar. But I can assure you, Axton, I am not behind this attack.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Truth be told, I don’t care what you do or don’t believe. I can only respond to your questions, which I have done. Pin the blame on me if you must. But be careful—if you don’t take the time to consider other culprits, the true one will escape your notice.”

Nick ended the call with a muffled curse. “It has to be him. Has to be.”

Shaya frowned as he began furiously tapping the screen of his phone. “Who are you texting?”

“Donovan,” said Nick. “I want him to call his contact within Ignacio’s pride and see if said contact knows anything. All I need is confirmation of Ignacio’s involvement.”

Bracken looked at Eli. “If we can talk to the falcons that attacked you, we can make them tell us who sent them. I don’t suppose you let any live.”

“One. He shifted and flew away.” Eli gestured at the phones on the sofa beside him. “I got them from the falcons. There were four males in total. Three came at me. The fourth was recording the whole thing—apparently, they’d been paid to do it.”

Roni hissed, clearly coming to the same conclusion that Eli had. “That motherfucking cat needs to choke on his own motherfucking dick.”

Marcus soothingly rubbed her back. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Derren examined the damaged cell phone. “This is probably a goner, but there might be something saved into the memory card.” He pulled open the cell, and his lips flattened. “There’s no SIM. Looks like he removed it just in case you managed to wrestle the phone from him, or this could be something he uses purely for ‘business.’”

“No personal info or call log on this burner either,” said Bracken, holding up the leader’s cheap cell. “There is, however, a text message.”

“Saying what?” asked Shaya.

“‘Don’t disappoint me.’” Bracken placed the phone in Nick’s outstretched hand, adding, “If there was an exchange of messages before that, they’ve been erased. The number hasn’t been saved into the phone as a contact.”

“We’ll give the number to Donovan, see if he can find out who it belongs to,” said Nick. “But I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it’s the number of yet another burner phone.”

Eli pushed up from the sofa. “Need to clean myself up a little.” Lethargic from the adrenaline crash, he headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall and wiped the blood from his exposed skin, but there was no ridding the stains from his clothes. He would have gone to his lodge and changed before Casey arrived, but he suspected she was almost at his territory.

Whipping out his cell, he called her and asked, “Where are you?”

“Nearly there,” she replied. “Does my pack mate have permission to cross the border of your territory when we reach it?”

“That’s a stupid question. Of course they do.”

“I felt your pain fade. You’re healed now?”

“I’m healed.” Eli walked out of the lodge and sat on the porch step, intending to wait for her.

“Did Ignacio send the falcons?”

“Probably. But he’s denying any culpability.”

“Bastard,” she spat.

“Yeah.”

“What exactly happened?”

By the time he’d finished giving her a bullet-point version of the fight, excluding the ugliest aspects of it, he heard a car approaching. “I take it you’re here.”

“I’m here.”

“Good. I’m sitting on the porch.” He ended the call and waited.

Moments later, a car drove into the lot. He recognized the driver as one of the females who worked in the bakery beneath Casey’s apartment. He gave the baker a nod of thanks, and she gave him a quick wave in return. Once Casey slipped out of the car and shut the door, her pack mate drove off.

Eli stood. “Come here, baby.”

She walked into his open arms, buried her face in his chest, and fisted his shirt. “Sorry I yelled at you. I don’t handle fear very well.”

Hugging her tight, he nuzzled her hair and breathed her in, taking the scent of her into his lungs, letting it steady both him and his wolf. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“I could feel your pain, I had no idea what was happening or where you were or if you’d be okay.”

The shake in her voice made his chest ache. Sliding one hand up her back to palm her nape, he pressed a kiss to her temple. “I wouldn’t have done too well with that kind of fear either.”

Casey drank in his scent, so fucking relieved he was okay. She’d known through their bond that he was fine, but she’d needed to see that for herself before she could fully believe it. Her mink had needed to see.

Earlier, Casey had felt his agitation at first but hadn’t thought much of it. Then there’d been a spike of anger that was quickly buried under a strange numbness. And then there’d been nothing but pain, and she’d been so terrified for him that she couldn’t see straight.

It had only made it worse that she had no way of knowing where he was. She’d felt utterly helpless. Useless. Even now, the fear clung to her like a bad smell. She just couldn’t quite shake it off, though having him there with her—alive, well, and safe—was helping it slowly drain from her system.

With a growl, she pulled back a little. “I can smell them on you. My mink wants to go hunting.”

“How about we shower instead?”

“You should be angrier than this.”

“Believe me, baby, I’m thoroughly pissed, because this was a strike at you.” Eli was just set on burying his fury so that he didn’t exacerbate her own.“I’d love to rip Ignacio’s throat out, but we can’t prove it was him who sent the falcons. And we need to be sure, because a battle means people will die. We need to be one-hundred percent certain that the people we’re tearing into deserve it.

“When my old pack was at odds with coyotes, the pack’s rival pack orchestrated on attack on our Betas, making it look like the coyotes were responsible and tricked them into going to war. They all realized too late that the people they were slaughtering were innocent of the crime. Pups became orphans. People lost their mates, friends, and family members.”

She sighed. “Okay, yeah, I get that we can’t just storm Ignacio’s territory, but that doesn’t mean I can’t really, really want to.”

He kissed her. “No, it doesn’t.”

“How will you get proof that it was Ignacio?”

“A confession from the falcons would have been nice, but the one I let live flew away. I figure they were mercenaries. They did leave cell phones behind.” Leading her to his SUV, he retrieved the smoothie from the cupholder as he told her about the text message on the burner phone.

“Let’s hope Donovan can find out who sent the text.”She melted into him, settling as his own sense of calm moved through her. “Thanks for the smoothie.”

“You’re welcome.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “Stay with me this weekend. All weekend.”

“I didn’t bring enough clothes.”

“That’s fine. You won’t need them for what I have in mind.”

Her mouth canted up just a little. “I had the feeling you’d say that.”

Just then, the front door burst open and Kathy stepped onto the porch, her breaths coming hard and fast. She looked Eli up and down. “You’re all right? I heard what happened.”

“I’m fine,” he told her.

Her gaze sliced to Casey and hardened. “I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

Casey’s spine snapped straight. Oh, the bitch had not just said that. “Excuse me?”

“If you hadn’t brought Ignacio into Eli’s life, none of this would have happened.”

Wow, she’d really gone there. Casey’s mink lashed her tail, snarling. “Don’t tempt my inner bitch to come out, Kathy—it doesn’t play nice.”

“Mom, back off,” Eli warned through his teeth.

Kathy looked at him. “Everything was fine until she came here. Fine.”

“Except for the part where I was miserable, yeah, it was fine,” he said.

Kathy flicked a dismissive hand. “Now you’re just being dramatic.”

“You’d know all about dramatic, wouldn’t you?” Casey folded her arms. “Go on, say everything you’ve been itching to say to me since the day I came here. Let it out. Have your tantrum. See if anyone respects you for it. See if you can still respect yourself afterward. Because in your shoes, I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to.”

Some of the Mercury Pack members gathered on the porch, but Casey didn’t give a single flying fuck if they’d come to defend Kathy. The woman needed to hear this shit.

“You know, people have told me to be patient with you; that you’re scared of seeing Eli go through what you went through and that it’s messing with your ability to be happy for him,” said Casey. “But me? I think it’s about more than that. You clung to your kids to get you through a difficult time. But you lost Nick to his mate, then you lost Roni to hers, and Eli was all you had left … until me. Now you’re feeling adrift, aren’t you? Like there’s no one to hold you here anymore.”

Kathy’s eyes flickered, but she didn’t confirm or deny it.

“I can sympathize with that. I can. I do. But I can still judge the everloving shit out of you for not putting your son’s feelings before your own.”

“You know nothing about me,” clipped Kathy.

“Maybe not. But you know nothing about me either. Hasn’t stopped you from passing judgment or being a passive-aggressive heifer, though, has it?”

“I am not passive-aggressive.”

“And my tits are big.”

“Nor am I a heifer.”

“And my ass is small.”

Kathy’s eyes narrowed. “You have a hell of a mouth on you. Does your mother know you speak to people that way?”

“Probably not. I haven’t seen her in over a decade.”

The bluster left Kathy in a rush. “Oh.” The tension began to leach out of her muscles, and she sighed. “Your inner bitch really doesn’t play nice, does it?”

“Not even for a second. Now are you done with your boring, self-centered bullshit or what?”

Kathy looked at Eli. “You going to let her speak to me like that?”

Eli pursed his lips. “Yeah, as it happens, I am.”

Kathy harrumphed, but she didn’t seem angry. “Don’t come crying to me when her mink kills you in your sleep.” And then she stormed into the lodge.

Casey turned to Eli. “Does that mean it’s over?”

He curled an arm around her and pulled her close. “It’s over. Sad as it is, that’s the closest to ‘welcome to the family’ that you’re going to get from her.”

Casey shrugged one shoulder. “I can live with that.”

It was dark when Casey’s eyes fluttered open in the very early hours of the morning, but her shifter night vision enabled her to see clearly. It hadn’t been a noise that woke her. It was a sense of restlessness humming down the mating bond, so it didn’t surprise her to see that Eli was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts.

She snuggled closer to him. “What’s wrong?” Her voice sounded thick with sleep.

Blinking, he looked down at her. “Nothing.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

Nothing? “Liar,” she said softly. “I can practically feel you brooding through the bond.” She let out a contented sigh as his fingers began exploring her back, even though she sensed he was taking comfort rather than offering it. “You’re lying here seething about something. Is it the falcons? Or is it that Donovan’s contact hasn’t responded yet?” But he didn’t answer. “Talk to me. Please.” It seemed to be the plea that got to him.

He sighed. “It’s not so much the attack that gets to me. I don’t even care that I had to kill the falcons—and yeah, I am aware that that doesn’t say good things about me. What really pisses me off is that they were told to record it.”

Casey stiffened, anger rising inside her. “You didn’t mention that part yesterday. Don’t think I didn’t notice how vague you were—” She broke off as it hit her. They’d tried to record it, just as one of the humans had tried to record the attack on Roni. “Motherfuckers.”

“This shit has dredged up bad memories for her. My sister is one of the toughest people I’ve ever known, but her attack took something out of her. Not just because it was as traumatic as any assault could be, but because her brother had been forced to kill for her. It weighed on her, ate at her.

“It was hard for us to watch Nick change little by little over the years. Every time we visited him at juvie, he seemed harder. Colder. But he never regretted what he’d done. I think the thing that bothered him most about his actions was that he’d been able to kill so easily without feeling any remorse. He was only thirteen.”

She doodled circles on his chest. “And how had you felt about the whole thing?”

“I wished I’d killed the other humans that were part of the assault.”

Intuition pricked at her, but she still asked the question that she suspected she already knew the answer to. “Where are those humans now?” He didn’t reply. Just looked at her, his face blank, and she sensed her suspicions were right. “Does Roni know you killed them?”

“Probably, but she’s never said anything.”

“Are they the ‘bad things’ you mentioned you’d done?”

“Some of them. But they’re not things I regret. Those pricks deserved what they got. My sister didn’t. If you’d seen her after the attack … She was pale. Shaking. So scared.” And he’d felt like he’d let her down, because he hadn’t been there to help defend her as Nick had.

“It’s a measure of her strength that she got past it and became an enforcer, especially since any form of violence should have taken her back to that day.” Casey genuinely admired her for it.

“About a year after her attack, she asked me to put her in a chokehold; said she wanted to learn how to escape one.” Eli’s blood had run ice-cold. The very last thing he’d ever wanted to do was make her feel helpless ever again in her life, but she’d pushed and pushed him until he agreed. “She panicked at first. It was fucking hard to hold her like that, but she’d made me swear that I wouldn’t let go; that I’d give her the chance to beat back the panic and free herself. And she did. My sister’s a fast learner.”

“You taught her to fight?”

“I taught her to kill. Not defend herself, not just fight dirty, but to fight until she was the only one standing—to inflict as much pain as possible, and to do it without any mercy.”

“Why are you looking at me like you think I should be judging you for that?”

“You’ve seen me at The Den, baby. You’ve seen how brutal and pitiless I can be. I’ve never killed there, but I could have done it within seconds if I’d wanted to. I made sure she could do the same.”

“Then I’d say it wasn’t so much that you taught her to kill, it was that you taught her to survive. You gave her the skills she needed to be confident that no one could ever put her through a trauma like that ever again.”

“Someone did try it again. A jackal. There was a battle on our territory; it was all tied up with that fucked-up website I mentioned to you. She later thanked me. Said she felt like everything I’d taught her had prepared her for that night.”

Casey stroked his chest. “Obviously, then, I’m right.”

She wanted to ask him again where he’d learned to fight—mostly because she could sense he was expecting judgment from her about something related to the matter, and she wanted him to understand that she’d never judge him for anything. But pushing someone to reveal their secrets before they were ready to do so didn’t help anyone. And it would mean more to Casey if he shared with her because he wanted to.

Plus, right then wasn’t the time, and she really didn’t want him falling any deeper into the dark memories he was wading through. She could practically see him slipping away.

Casey touched the side of his face and said softly, “Come back.”

His eyes focused fully on her. “I’m here.” Kissing her soft and slow, he rolled her onto her back, giving her his weight. “Need you again.”