Page 97 of Destined to Fight

The handwriting on the page was beautiful—the kind a person has only after years and years of practice.

My dearest son,

I write to you because I know there is no other way to safely get this information into your hands. I cannot take the chance of anyone hearing what I am about to tell you. There is a human girl in Dallas who is a descendant of the Katz family. You must find her and protect her at all costs.

27

Without thinking about opening her mind, Kelly used her voice to call Kade. At least she didn’t yell, that would have scared every person in the house. Her tone was off, though. Hopefully no one would notice.

As she opened her mind, Kade’s messages hit her one after the other. He was worried; he’d heard the urgency in her voice.

Kade, calm down, I’m fine. I just have something to show you, something I found.

Gods, ye scared me. It’s strange to hear yer voice now.

A few minutes later, Kade came into the room with a plate of fruit. He set it on the bedside table and went over to the desk to stand behind Kelly, placing his hands on her shoulders.

She thought the letter to him, even though he could probably read it from where he stood.

My dearest son,

I write to you because I know there is no other way to safely get this information into your hands. I cannot take the chance of anyone hearing what I am about to tell you. There is a human girl in Dallas who is a descendant of the Katz family. You must find her and protect her at all costs. A member of the Upper Council will move on her soon, and they will use her against us all. I’ll tell you more the next time we meet. Just find her and protect her, son. She doesn’t know what she is, and it will be up to you to show her. Her name is Kelly Hart, and she is living out of her car with no known address.

Be careful, Keegan, and do not tell anyone you don’t trust with your life. If the Arcane people find out about her, it will take an army to protect her.

The letter wasn’t signed, as though someone interrupted him as he wrote.

Kade ran his hand through his hair and began pacing the room. Clyde joined him and serenaded them both with the songs of his feline people.

Kelly gave him a minute before she opened herself to his thoughts. He seemed to feel her there and asked her to shut her mind again. That threw her off, but she did as he asked and went to the bed to eat some of the fruit he’d brought up.

After watching what had to be at least twenty laps around the room, Kelly couldn’t take it anymore. She spoke so he would know she hadn’t been listening in on his thoughts. “Would you mind sharing what’s going through your head, since you don’t want me to listen in?”

“I dinnae think that’s best, lass. I’m a little torn right now, and what’s in my head isnae all that kind toward ye.”

“I’m a big girl, Kade. I can take it. Hell, I can guess at half of it, but I don’t want others to hear.”

“Don’t say I didnae warn ye.”

Opening her mind, Kelly braced herself for what Kade was feeling. Anger and betrayal hit her hard, along with sadness, loneliness, and a longing for what had once been. Disbelief and curiosity mingled in his emotions, too, but they were buried deeper down.

Just going to take a guess here and say that you can’t help but feel that I’m at least partially responsible for your father’s death, am I right?

Aye, yer right. There is a part of me that wants to kill ye for even remotely being the reason he’s dead.

Being all too familiar with the emotions Kade felt in that moment, she couldn’t blame him at all.

You can’t help what you feel right now, Kade. I can’t help that I’m involved either. You’re allowed to be mad at me, but please save it until after the hearing tomorrow. Your dad just told us someone there knows about me. Someone other than Camille is after me, Kade.

Aye, we kent that was a possibility this entire time. And after tomorrow, every single Council member will ken who ye are, and it won’t stop there.

Right, so can you be mad at me later please?

He nodded.

Thank you. She sent warmth and gratitude at him so he knew she truly appreciated him setting his emotions aside. So what are our next steps? Apparently, we’ll need an army?

Aye, but let’s leave that for the morning. We’ve only got a few hours before the sun is up, just enough time to get some sleep in. We’ll talk to the others tomorrow about how to get more Arcane on our side, on yer side, but we need to keep the letter to ourselves. We also need to prep for the Council’s questions, and complete a final blood exchange a couple hours prior so our power is at its best.

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