Page 87 of The Fate of Eternity

She blinks at me, her lashes fanning across her cheeks a few times before she stands up on her tiptoes so we’re eye to eye.

“He can call you for a duel, Cassian, but it will be over my dead body that he puts an end to you. I’m not watching you go anywhere. Not without me. We’re united in darkness, we’re intertwined in love, and we’re undivided in strength. Don’t let that man take that away from us. We deserve this, we deserve each other, and it doesn’t end simply because someone other than us deemed it so.”

My jaw falls slack as I stare at her, unable to comprehend the wisdom and power in her words that hold me captive. It’s like she knows what I need to hear, even when I don’t have a clue myself.

“She’s right, Cass,” Brody states, slowly approaching with the others until we’re practically huddled under a tree. “There’s no I in this team. It’s us against the world, deranged family members included,” he adds, and I snicker despite myself.

Janie catches the movement and takes that as her hint to join us. Addi releases me, pulling Janie into her side so the pair of them can stare me down together.

“You’re so screwed, Cass,” Janie whispers, watery eyes shimmering at me as she wraps her arm tightly around my woman.

“Yeah, you could say that,” I rasp with a nod, which makes her grin.

“I thought I could smell half-breed blood on my grounds.”

My heart stills at the sound of my father’s voice, and I curse at myself for letting him turn up on us like this instead arriving prepared like I should have. There’s no time to dwell on the fact now, though. It’s true what Addi said. We’re united, we’re intertwined, we’re undivided. Always.

“Father,” I state, my voice void of the emotions I was carrying mere moments ago. I turn to face him, spying the flutter of wolves among the trees as he summons an audience, but he’s not looking at me, he’s looking at Addi.

“I declare a duel,” he announces, and she frowns. He must sense her confusion because he carries on before she can speak. “Don’t worry, I’m not dueling with you, Pet. I’m dueling with him,” he reiterates, pointing a finger my way while keeping his eyes locked on hers, and his next words explain why. “We’ll duel to the death. The winner gets youandyour powers.”

43

CASSIAN

As if my father hasn’t put me through enough, he’s determined to break mebeforehe tries to put me down. A feral shiver burns up my spine at his words, the disgust bringing a coppery taste to my tongue as I sink my teeth into my cheeks.

Win her? Win her powers? Over my dead body because it certainly won’t happen any other way. I will never understand the confidence this man possesses. The ability to think so little of others while thinking so mightily of himself.

Those aren’t the tendencies of a wolf. If anything, it sounds like I’m describing a vampire, but even that doesn’t seem worthy enough of the egotistical bastard that he is.

“I won’t duel for that,” I spit out, my lip curling with anger as my hands ball into fists. He sparked a reaction out of me, just like he wanted, but fuck the consequences. She’s mine to protect, especially from him.

“Now, now, Cassian. You know that’s not how this works. I’m the alpha of this compound, duels are as I see fit,” my father taunts as more wolves sweep through the forest, descending on us as they await the long-overdue duel between father and son.

“When are you going to understand that I washed my hands of this compound long ago. You banished me, remember?”

“Yet you still come back,” he sneers, stepping toward me with a challenge crinkling his eyes. The dark rings that circle them confirm his lack of sleep. I wish I could blame this delusional state on that fact, but it’s not true. He’s been this deranged for as long as I can remember.

Edging toward him, I make sure I stand perfectly in front of Addi so he can’t look at her. “I come back for the people I care about. I come back because I always wanted this to be my home, I just never wanted you to be my father.”

The words leave my lips and a weight lifts from my shoulders. It has such an impact on me that it leaves me lightheaded. I’ve carried the weight of that fact for so long, I don’t recall life without it. Now, as I stand here with my woman, my brothers, and my sister behind me, everything makes sense.

This man is my tormentor. He was never truly my father, or my alpha, he was my pain and suffering. Without Janie, I would have never known kindness. Without my brothers, I would have never known loyalty. Without Addi, I would have never known love.

Kindness. Loyalty. Love.

Three powerful words that can’t be used to actually describe my blood connected family.

Twisted. Sinister. Treacherous.

I would use those for him instead.

A flicker of my mother dances at the edge of my vision, but I tamp it down. He took her away from me as well.

Everything I am is a byproduct of wanting to be nothing like this man. I should thank him, really, for teaching me how not to act, but he doesn’t deserve my thanks, not even as a thought.

“You are the most ungrateful heir of this compound that has ever existed. I gave everything for you to follow in my footstepsand you tossed it all away. You could have been forged in greatness, but instead, you’re tainted by weakness,” he snarls, his face reddening with every word. He takes slow measured steps around the clearing between us, leaving me to follow after him, anticipating his first move.

---