Page 17 of Blades and Bone

Garrick nodded. “Probably, but I wanted to see you.”

“What do you want me to say? I wasn’t given the respect or courtesy of being told.” He didn’t want what might be their last conversation to be an argument. “I don’t hate you…but I’m also not ready to forgive you.”

“I understand.”

He didn’t, though. Hamish could tell from the way he looked away. It was a risk, but he took it. “I’d do the same again.”

Garrick lifted his gaze from the file on the coffee table. “I know, which didn’t make things easier.” He glanced at Brodie. “Enjoy your dinner.”

“Thank you for stopping by.” Brodie’s hand brushed Hamish’s lower back as he walked past to see Garrick out.

Perhaps he should have walked Garrick out, but it wasn’t his house, and he didn’t have anything else to say, not when people were listening. Instead, he walked over to the coffee table and picked up the Reid file on Brodie Ashby.

It would only be as accurate as their research, but it was more than what he’d had five minutes ago. Had Ann approved this file, or had Garrick made it for him? A small gesture that could never undo what had been done or soothe the sting of betrayal.

“Shall I get out your file so we can compare notes?” Brodie asked. “Or should I ask you what it is you’d do again?”

Chapter Ten

Brodie considered the way Garrick and Hamish interacted in the meeting and then in his lounge room. It was obvious there was something between them, but he wasn’t sure what it was or what impact it might have on his situation. He wasn’t even sure he had the right to know. Hamish had sworn to Vivian, so his past no longer mattered…yet the action he’d taken spoke of who he was, and those things didn’t change.

Hamish sat on the sofa, still holding the file. “I helped him on a job that didn’t go as planned.”

There was more to it than that. “So why didn’t he give you this file, or tell you beforehand?”

“If I could read minds, I doubt I would be sitting here.” Hamish turned the page.

Brodie couldn’t deny that his curiosity was piqued. What did the Reids have on him? “Humor me and take a guess.”

Hamish glanced up at him, clearly weighing how much truth he deserved. “It was a loyalty test for Garrick, and he wasn’t allowed to tell me. For me? Maybe she wanted me to fuck up.”

Whatever had happened on the job had created problems, and for the moment, he didn’t need to dig deeper. “You don’t need to explain what happened, but I am interested to know why you would make the same decision again.”

Plenty of people would do things differently given a second chance, especially when the consequences were being married into another vampire family. He pulled the file he had on Hamish out of the sideboard, curious about how accurate their intel gathering was, and placed it on the coffee table as he sat next to his husband in blood.

Hamish was quiet for several seconds as if intently reading. “Do you think I am foolish for making the same choice, knowing that I’ll end up here?”

“No, it speaks of something that matters to you. Loyalty to your uncle?”

Hamish laughed. “At the time, though it seems to be rather one-sided. I did what I thought was the right thing, and I still believe it was the right thing, which is why I would do it again. However, the right thing isn’t always what is expected.”

“Is that the polite way of saying that Garrick and you disobeyed an order?” And if it was, did Hamish’s promise mean anything?

Hamish leaned back on the sofa and looked at him. “Have you ever been on the ground doing a job?”

“No. I know there is an Orlan incursion on your territory, so I’m guessing you were involved in the fight.”

“First job to wet my fangs,” he said with a little too much bite. “I was watching until it became a rescue. Some thought the rescue was too risky. But we were on the ground and had all the information. Sometimes you have to trust the people who are there…well, that’s what I think, which really doesn’t matter as I’m not paid to think. I’m supposed to obey without question. Which is why I’m here. Close enough to have standing, trouble enough to be removed. Congrats on your prize.”

Brodie blinked, surprised at the amount of information in Hamish’s answer—not about the job but about him and his feelings about it and himself. “You’re used to being listened to at work.”

“I am. And I trusted Garrick’s judgement—I still do. If he’d had reservations about this.” He pointed at Brodie and then himself. “He would have warned me, though I’m not sure what good it would’ve done.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“And your assessment of the situation now?”

“Garrick passed, the danger lingers, and I need to rebuild a life on ground I’m not sure of. You?”

Brodie wanted to ask more about the test that Garrick had passed, as everything he knew about him suggested he wasn’t the kind of man who made mistakes. He’d done something that bothered Ann, and she had been the matriarch of the family for a very long time. Perhaps he’d simply taken liberties, thinking he’d be protected because he was her son, and Hamish had followed out of love and duty for his uncle and his own assessment of the situation. Whatever had happened, he may never find out, so he had a choice to make he trusted Hamish’s assessment and believe they were on the same page, or he chose to view him as a liar and a spy sent by the Reids—though what they had to gain he wasn’t sure as they were a bigger rich family and the Ashbys were just trying to get by without running into trouble with humans or vampires, something that was becoming increasingly harder due to technology and the Orlans.