Embry nodded. “What happens next?”
“We lock down,” I said bluntly. “What we did tonight is either gonna send the message that we won’t tolerate that shit or we’ve started an all-out war, so we need to be ready.”
“We were already at war,” Saint growled. “If we aren’t ready by now, we ain’t never gonna be.”
He stood, hurling his chair back with a screech, and strode from the room, leaving a pained silence in his wake. At least, it was painful for me because he was right. Every messy night and never-ending day had led us to this point, and now we were staring down the barrel of the endgame. Either we won this war and found that magical place we could justbe, not fighting all the time just to live, or we didn’t, and I’d lost my entire family for nothing.
Cracker took advantage of Saint’s departure to right his chair and reclaim his place.
Mateo glowered across the table, letting him know he had no qualms repeating Saint’s performance, if Mateo had any qualms at all.
More hysterical humour bubbled up my throat, but I held it in this time, giving the order to take shifts snatching rest and shoring up the compound security. To send home any fucker who didn’t need to be here and tell everyone we cared about to stay alert.
I dismissed my council.
River didn’t take my call. I couldn’t risk sending Rubi back to Porth Luck, so I called Skylar, the friendly nurse.
He listened to my explanation with a heavy sigh, and I felt his pain. It was my pain too. “When does this fucking stop?”
I had no answer and I didn’t have time to think of one. “Just tell him, okay? I need him here where I can keep him safe.”
Skylar hung up.
I tossed my phone on the table in front of me and buried my face in my hands, shutting the world out, searching for the peace and quiet I needed to think clearly.
Embry put his hand on my shoulder, but I ignored him. Talking it out wasn’t gonna help. I needed this shit to end.
Too bad for me Embry didn’t take the hint.
He pulled out a chair and sat down so close he was practically on my lap.
I let out a world-weary sigh and faced him. “What?”
Embry handed me a mug of herbal tea.
“No beer, father?”
He smiled a little, though he looked as ragged as I felt, a shiner on his cheekbone, clothes torn and dirty. “You need to sleep.”
“So do you.”
“Saint rode out. He left you a message.”
“Did he now?”
“He said to tell you not to wait to find Alexei.”
“I can’t leave the compound and fuck off to Bristol.” Without Saint’s body pressed to mine, I was thinking clearly enough to realise that.
Embry frowned. “Alexei wouldn’t come here?”
“Because I tell him to? Fuck no.” I allowed myself a tired grin, but it went nowhere because it was bathed in worry. Alexei hadn’t picked up the phone since he’d sent me a one-word text the wrong side of yesterday, and it was starting to scrape at my brain. Logic told me he was fine and living his own damn life, but he’d never left a call unanswered this long. He always called me back.
Always.I wondered when I’d started thinking about him with a permanence I hadn’t earned. A commitment that he’d never even hinted that he fucking wanted.
He wantsme, though. No one could fake what we’ve shared.
I wrapped my hands around the mug Embry had brought me and let out another tragic sigh. He gave me a look that probed too deep and I averted my gaze. Embry was the easiest dude in the world to talk to, but I wasn’t in the mood. “Did Saint ride out alone?”
