"Yes!" Raven pumps his fist in triumph. "Knew it. I'm gettingsogood at this."
"Since when are you the fucking monster whisperer?" I snap, irritated that Raven of all people seems to have developed some kind of kinship with our eight-foot-plus murder machine.
Raven examines his nails with affected casualness, though I don't miss the smug satisfaction glinting in his eyes. "You're just jealous of my superior emotional intelligence."
I roll my eyes so hard I'm surprised they don't fall out of my skull. "Your emotional intelligence couldn't fill a shot glass."
"At least I have some," he shoots back. "Unlike certain white-haired brutes who think grunting and pissing counts as communication."
"Pissing?" I echo incredulously.
"Children," Geo growls, wiping blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "Can we focus on the fucking issue at hand?"
He's right, as much as it pains me to admit it. We're all dancing around the real question here. The one Knight apparently wants answered as much as the rest of us.
"Fine," I say, turning my attention back to Azarel. He's leaning against the wall, one hand pressed to his ribs where Geo clearly did some damage. Good. "While we're on the subject, let's hear it. What the fuck did you mean about Maybrecht controlling Cosima?"
Azarel's whole demeanor shifts. The arrogant prince facade cracks, and something darker bleeds through. He looks older suddenly, worn down by whatever weight he's been carrying.
"I meant what I said," he mutters, not meeting any of our eyes. "If I don't do what he says, and follow his orders… he will kill her."
Chapter 38
AZAREL
"What the fuckdo you mean, he'llkillher? She's his daughter, and the bastard's a thousand miles away."
Raven's voice cuts through the air like the blade he's gripping, his golden hair still disheveled from our earlier confrontation. The knife has gone still in his fingers, and his blue eyes lock onto mine with none of the theatrical spark that was there before.
They're all on edge now. Knight's metal arm sparks intermittently, those burning blue eyes tracking me from behind his eerily serene silver mask. Geo and Nikolai are both tense and borderline snarling, even though Nikolai is the bastard who had held Cosima captive himself.
The irony isn't lost on me. These degenerate alphas, this ragtag collection of criminals and monsters, are protecting her.
Fromme.
The realization scrapes against every primal alpha instinct that demands I tear through the competition. But if they're as loyal asthey seem—and the fact that they kidnapped a fuckingprincefor her suggests they are—maybe I can use this clusterfuck.
I'm clearly not getting rid of them anytime soon.
"Arthur Maybrecht is a monster," I say finally, brushing dirt off my coat with the back of my hand.
Nikolai scoffs, adjusting his tinted red glasses. One of his eyes looks different. Maybe it's prosthetic. There's a deep, nasty scar cutting across his face that goes clear through it. The golden-haired alpha is the only one who isn't badly scarred.
I shouldn't be surprised. Cosima always did like my scars. She spent plenty of time tracing each one, asking about it and kissing it. She…
"No shit," Nikolai scoffs, jarring me out of my thoughts. Hadn't even realized I'd spaced out for a second. "Everyone in the Outer Reaches knows that."
"You don't know the half of it," I mutter, pushing off from the wall. The movement sends a sharp reminder lancing through my ribs where Geo's fist found its mark. Multiple times, in fact. The pain helps focus my thoughts, keeps the rage at bay. "When my cover was blown, Arthur could have killed me. Should have, by all rights. But he knew I'd be useful in his plans to overthrow the Council."
"So he kept you around like a good little attack dog," Geo says, his voice dripping with contempt.
My jaw tightens hard enough to ache, but I continue. "He needed leverage. Arthur Maybrechtalwayshas leverage. It's how he's survived this long, how he's accumulated so much power."
Geo's eye narrows, understanding darkening his features. "And when he discovered you were fucking his daughter, he had plenty of it."
The crude simplification makes my hands curl into fists, the bandages stretching taut over my knuckles. But he's not wrong. "More or less. But it wasn't enough. Not for him."
"What do you mean?" Raven demands, the blade spinning once between his fingers before going still again.
