Page 40 of Unhallowed

But what the fuck is she doing here? This is official business. She shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t know about our operations. Did he tell her everything? Did he beat me to it? That was my trust building exercise, just like I did back before we got married. He stole that from me, but it’s only fair since I stole her. You can’t have everything, Killian.

Chill the fuck out.

She chosehim.

And according to the council meeting, it’s fair game. But then again, all is fair in love and war. Right now, I don’t know the difference when it comes to the three of us. Is this war? Is this war over love? But no, I don’t love her. Am I hopelessly obsessed? Hell yes I am. Maybe it’s war over obsession. I don’t fucking know anymore.

I stare out into the pond, refusing to look at them, and pretend I’m looking at the most riveting sight in front of me even though the water is barely visible under the new moon and it’s murky as fuck anyway. The nerve of Draven to bring her to my house without considering my feelings. Besides, this isn’t a beer and chill session. We’re here onofficialbusiness.

And here he is rubbing her in my face.

“What is she doing here?” I ask through gritted teeth, because I won’t start talking about everything until I either know she knows something, or she leaves my fucking house.

A silence descends upon us, and just as Draven opens his mouth to reply, Branden and Seth—the rest of The Heathens and soulmates—show up and sit across from us. They catch the vibe, but Branden—as always—tries to lighten up the atmosphere.

“Do you always need to hold our meetings in the middle of the fucking woods? It’s giving Pine Pinnacle vibes.” He smiles as if he enjoys what happens there—all our rituals, the fucking sacrifices, the blood drinking—and I know he does. He might look like a fucking saint among us, but I bet he’s the most dark and twisted of us all. Thequietone. They’re the ones to worry about. His brown eyes crinkle as he smiles, but it quickly smooths out when his eyes settle on Angel. He looks apprehensive—as he should be. A cold gust of wind blows over us and I see Angel shiver from the corner of my eye, though I focus on the way Branden’s black hair blows with the wind, the way his strong nose scrunches and he sucks his full bottom lip into his mouth as he looks at my girl.

“It’s peaceful here.” I reply with a sigh, stretching my legs out in front of me, pretending I don’t want to skin alive anyone and everyone who dares to look at Angel. “This is official business, Draven. She’s gotta go.”

“She’s not going anywhere.”

“What does she know?” I ask him with narrowed eyes, finally looking at him. His face tells me nothing, and the fucker has a good poker face, I’ll give that to him. It makes me want to beat the shit out of him.

“Everything.” Angel says with a shrug and all of us laugh.

Her face turns red with rage—almost like she wants to hurt me, stab me,something—and when my laughter finally dies down, I look her in the eyes and say, “I highly doubt that, baby girl. But I bet you know more than Draven is letting on, so I’ll let you stay for the first part. The second part though? You’ll get the fuck out of here if you know what’s good for you.” Amalia’s disappearance is none of her fucking business. She’s the daughter of my father’s soulmate, and he’s been disobeying his leaders. The Fellowship are still not the top motherfuckers around here. It seems like there’s always someone above each society—it’s never fucking ending. But if I had to guess…he’s not following some kind of order and his daughter got taken to make a point. Do it, or she’s dead. Yeah, that’s probably the outcome.

“Careful, Kill.” He points at his neck. “She’s been feisty lately.”

I look at the wound on his neck and Angel raises a brow at me. “Angel leaves for the second part.” Is all I say, uncaring of the little fire flaring in her irises. I don’t really care about how she may react.

Draven and I make eye contact at that, and he nods once. I don’t have to say it for him to understand this is top fucking secret. And it is.

“Alright, Draven.” I continue to hold his gaze, and feel hers hot on my face, but I don’t stray my eyes from his. “There’s a shipment of coke and guns. It’s your turn to take this one.”

Angel stiffens at my words, and I look down. Her hands have a death grip on the chair, her knuckles turning white, and I smirk. But her face is determined, her eyes hard, her lips set into a thin line. She’s trying to be strong right now—or maybe she just is. Maybe she can handle this knowledge after all. Angel thinks she wants to know our business, so let her. Now she’ll have to get a little colder, a little less sensitive if she wants to deal with this information. I was starting to think she’d be better off in the dark, just as Draven wanted her. Now, I’m not so sure. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt for the sake of seeing what she’s capable of—what she can handle. It’s a good thing she has no friends, because if she blabbed, even I couldn’t save my poor little wife.

“We can talk about the details later.” He replies, nodding once, and I roll my eyes.

This is why Angel shouldn’t be here. She doesn’t need to be listening in to half stories and then being kicked out. He doesn’t want me to give details, except I’m sick and tired of my second in command trying to tell me what to fucking do.

“No.” I shake my head. “If you want her to stay she hears all of it.” His arms wrap around Angel’s waist protectively and heat rushes from my chest to my ears. I want to cut those fucking arms off. But Angel looks at me like she’s waiting for me to continue, which she probably is, and I look at her when I say, “Draven, you will meet with Armando and Damien for the coke.” They work for the cartel somewhere in San Antonio, Texas. “Camden,” the first in command of the Vipers, “will meet you for the guns. You’ll be in charge of this operation. It’s your turn to organize it and oversee it. Seth did the last one, it’s only fair.”

“You want me to do the exchange with all of us together?” His face pales slightly, which makes me smile. I didn’t take him for someone who’d be scared of a little exchange. He never has been before. Unless that’s not what he’s scared of. Maybe it’s leaving her alone.

“Why not? Two birds with one stone, or whatever, right?”

“Isn’t that a little…dangerous?”

“Damien and Camden do business all the time.” I reply with a roll of my eyes, “They’re not gonna fuck each other over. Damien is not the kind of guy you fuck with anyway, so Cam wouldn’t dare.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow night at eleven.”

“That’s a bit soon, don’t you think?” Draven asks, running a hand down his face.

Now he’s starting to annoy me. “Don’t worry, I’ll look afterourgirl.”

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