Kylo pondered the strange wording—had James’ lack of humanity changed so drastically over a shorter period of time than Kylo thought?
“I held her. She played. I thought she was happy.” Wyatt paused, and a frown crossed his face as he glanced at that spot off-screen again.
It was so frustrating, waiting as Wyatt and James were clearly communicating between themselves.This is my time here. Why won’t you talk to me?Kylo felt the weight of Conrad’s hand on his shoulder, as if holding him in his seat.
“I thought she was happy until the day the lab they created her in burned down,” Wyatt said. “It was after the ones you know as Nico and Teilo came into being. The house you destroyed was not where they created them.”
Shit, that means there is another location. Although… if it’s been burned down…
“Selina was angry, almost manic in her fury. Her magic made her far more powerful than the scientists conceived she could be. She was jealous of the cat shifters—it was her that put them into cages when they were cubs. I set up the separate house, the one your brother bombed—moved the operations for her so she wouldn’t be upset. It wasn’t enough.”
“Are you saying she was manipulating her father as a child?” Kylo couldn’t bring himself to say “you” when it was Wyatt he was looking at, but James’ words were the ones spoken.
“They told me to kill her. I wrapped my hands around her slender throat and stared into eyes so full of trust and emotions I couldn’t describe. ‘Are you always going to be a puppet, father?’ she said in that moment. ‘A puppet who kills because someone else is scared? You’re not scared of me, are you, father?’ I would never admit that I was. Not to her. Not my daughter.”
“Fuck.” Kylo rubbed his hands over his face and then looked back at the screen. “What about Roiu? She was found wandering in the forest as a child under ten years old, by our family friend. She was taken in, presumed mute and abandoned, and was looked after by him and us. We cared about her. Are you telling me the fire and those words came from a child, not yet a teenager?”
“Yes.” Wyatt met Kylo’s eyes squarely through the screen. Kylo wished with everything he was that it was James’ features he could see. “She thought you were quaint, like toys or cute woodland creatures. On her frequent visits, when that old man believed she was asleep in her bed, she would come to me and talk about the ‘normals’ and how they lived. How she was fascinated by the magical books and cookies, viewing them as her right to have. And then she’d say, ‘They don’t know. Aren’t I clever, father?’ And, of course, I would tell her yes.”
Kylo tried to absorb what he was hearing. He was stunned, unsure what else he could ask. A timer appeared on the top corner of the screen, counting down from three minutes, while Wyatt watched him steadily.
“How do I protect my family?” Kylo asked at last, with just one minute and twenty seconds remaining. He had a million questions, and he realized they didn’t matter. His family did. “If you couldn’t kill her, then who can? How do I keep my mate and family safe from her?”
Wyatt’s eyes flickered again to the same corner, and there was a tiny shake of his head.What, damn it? What?The timer ticked down. With fifteen seconds to go and Kylo despairing of ever getting an answer, Wyatt said simply, “When your hands are around her throat, don’t flinch, don’t hesitate, and block your ears. That’s what I should’ve done.” The screen went black.
“No!” Kylo wanted to hit something. He actually grabbed the computer screen in both hands, wanting to throw it, and see it smash into a million pieces against the wall. Conrad pulled his arms back and held them tight against his side.
“We will find her,” his mate said simply. “And I don’t flinch.”
Chapter Nineteen
Conrad
Sweaty and breathless, Conrad kept Kylo pinned to the bed, offering him the blanket of security he needed after ridding him of the angry frustration the call had created.
If his mate thought he’d kept his thoughts to himself, he’d be wrong. Conrad got all of them, and though there was little he could do about Kylo’s need to see James—right then—he needed to fix the terror Kylo felt for his family.
The years of training with other assassins had its upsides. Conrad knew who to call to talk about how to catch a magical user—Ekon.
He kissed the side of Kylo’s neck, the damp skin salty. “I’ve a call to make.”
“To who?” Kylo’s voice was drowsy and a little hoarse from all the shouting and pleading he’d done for Conrad to let him come.
“Ekon. He has an interest in magic users, and if anyone can tell me how to capture Selina, it’s him.” Conrad found himself flat on his back, and he watched Kylo’s ass flex and sway as he hopped off the bed. He walked to where they’d placed their cell phones earlier, away from where the computer was, at Wyatt’s request.
Conrad got the reasoning behind it. A reflective surface could easily reveal what James looked like, and a quick snap of a camera would give a person a chance to find more information.
“I was snuggling you.” Conrad kept his voice light when Kylo swung around. “And possibly thinking of strutting my stuff in that tiny thong your mom bought me.”
Laughter, deep and rich, filled the room as Kylo shook his head. “Please, never do that. I don’t think I’d survive the laughter.”
The gleam that came into his eyes suggested the exact opposite, and Conrad tucked the idea away from another time. “Your loss.”
Kylo sat on the edge of the bed and offered Conrad his cell. “Can you ring Ekon now?”
The simple answer was yes. Conrad took the cell and flicked open the screen, going to contacts, and then pressed on Ekon’s name. As it rang, he put it on speaker.
“Conrad, you know it is the middle of the damn night here, right? And that some folks actually class that as a time to sleep?” asked Ekon sarcastically.
