Page 21 of When Kings Fall

“The situation was too hot, we needed to get her out of there. And because of what you did, she wasn’t speaking to us, so I had to use other methods.”

He shoved Colt out of the way, then ran me into one of the many trees lining the driveway of the mountain lodge. “You’ve hurt her by doing this! You don’t get to make the final decision when it comes to her! You don’t, Mason! You fucking don’t!”

I choked as he wrenched me by my pale-blue Henley shirt and slammed me back against the tree over and over again. “You told me,” I rasped. “You told me to make sure I did whatever it took. This was it.”

He stilled, his fingers fisted in my shirt.

And then he shocked me as he abruptly released me and staggered back, letting out an awful pained cry that echoed hauntingly through the night.

He collapsed to his knees and hung his head, burying his face in his hands.

“It’s ruined… it’s all ruined.”

Colt and I exchanged an incredulous look.

Levi didn’t break down.

Ever.

Even when he was upset or hurt, it came through in rage and reckless actions.

Not… this.

As Colt ran to him and knelt down beside him, emotion clogged my throat at seeing Lev like this.

“It’s not ruined,” Colt was telling him, as I pushed off the wall, adjusted my shirt, then walked to them.

“It is,” Levi uttered, in a broken voice we hadn’t heard from him since that day we’d come to see him in the hospital after Roman and his team had rescued him six years ago. But Bree… she brought emotion out in Levi that we’d thought had been long lost. She was doing the same to me as well, she was focusing Colt with the duet, and he’d kept that up with altering the makeup of Mythic Cry and songwriting non-stop.

She was changing everything.

But with everything good, there was usually an element of bad to balance it out.

And this pain because he was feeling things again that weren’t just rage and recklessness of his adrenaline junkie ways was the bad side for him.

“You don’t understand,” he was murmuring as I reached them and stood there as Colt stroked his back, trying to comfort him. “It took so long and everything I had to bring Brianna to me, to draw her close, to get her to trust me. Then with Chloe’s revelation that was jeopardized. Now my actions bringing Royce right to our doors. Not telling her that they’re even alive, let alone that I was pursuing them this entire time… now Mason doing this and actually kidnapping her… it’s fucking destroyed.”

I reached down and stroked his hair. “Levi, I won’t allow it to be over. I’ll fix this. I’ll take the blame that’s due me and I’ll spare you. The rest we can work out.”

He looked up at me with pained eyes swimming with emotion. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because you’re correct. I shouldn’t have made a unilateral decision. Colt was right on. I shouldn’t have. I just… the idea of them coming at her and succeeding this time… I panicked.”

“You panicked? You?” Colt asked, as shocked as Lev clearly was.

“I did,” I confirmed. “I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. And I’m sorry. Lately… I’m fucking up everywhere. With you coming back, Lev, and starting up Hex again, I saw hope for the first time that I could do it this time, that I could take my father. And it’s clouded everything, it’s twisted me… that desperation.”

“Mason,” Colt said, reaching out to me as well and rubbing my shoulder. “You’re not infallible, not superhuman, we get it. We’ll work on it. Together.”

I nodded sadly and told Levi, “I’m so sorry. I love you, brother.”

“I love you too. Both of you.” He reached out and took my hand. “But I can’t bring it back from this with Brianna. And I just… I can’t go back to how it was when I was trying to win her over, before she was in our lives, before I finally had her as mine. I can’t return to that emptiness. I should’ve told her much sooner. I didn’t want to hurt her and I didn’t think she was ready. But my dad told me that it’s not my call to make. I get that now, but it’s… it’s too fucking late.”

“It’s not,” Colt and I said in unison.

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