Page 100 of Natural-Born Cullers

Martin eased his head into Gray’s, pushing him back.

“You’ll only hold the culler leash for so long,” he said quietly. “After that, you know they’ll come after Jack, you know they’ll come after Jan… after you, after Light once you walk away from them.You know it because they’ve already come after you.You’re marked. We’re all already half fucking dead because of it.All the Monarchy is doing is waiting until someone bigger and better comes along.” He lowered his look on Gray. “And you? What do you do, eh? Do you want me to really play profiler with you, Gray? Be the cunt here? Because you seem to be missing one vital point here that me and Light see as clear as fucking day.”

Martin shoved him back.

“You spent so long trying to collar Jack, you missed the one the Monarchy slipped around your throat, the one stopping you from really seeing your kid,” said Martin. “You’ve been so programmed by the system—you chose to protectthatsystem over protecting yourownfucking boy. You’re seeing them trained to eat him alive as much as you’re training him to kill them. Where, in anyone’s world, is that right? He’s… a… fucking… boy.Yours.”

Gray pulled back.

Martin didn’t and went back in. “So what does Light do, hm? When he learns you’ve not only done a deal and put a tighter collar around your neck, but his lover’s too, throwing Simon into the mix of everything when he’s already lost Brin?”

Simon stiffened.

“He opens his eyes,” Martin said back to Gray quietly. “Nothing more. But he opens them without a collar having ever touched his neck. He opens them asyourson, with your natural-born instinct to protect those close to him, and he does it by choosing to climb so high to the top of the fucking psychopath chain, he makes it clear there’s no room for anyone on his streetsbuthim and his lover, fuck you, the Queen, the cullers, and any other psychopath out there. Youth and anarchy at its most… defensive. Which is how it should have fucking been from the start withyou.”

Gray frowned.

“So me?” Martin shrugged, but all the anger seemed to drain away from him as he eased back. “I agreed with him. See his… father took the decent path when there is no decent path to walk anymore, not in our world. He took on lead culler. He climbed in the Queen’s bed, right back into the safety of the system’s. And in doing so, he left his kid facing the rejects club for a second time. He left him facing the cullers on his own, facing you. And you’ve already proven with that gunshot to his ear that you’ll pull the kill switch on him before you’ll ever shift it in her direction. And that?” Martin lowered his look. “I’llneverfucking tolerate that, we clear? You turning on him when it’s her and her system at fault. Light has the balls to call this what it is, and I’ll always goddamn well protect him for it.”

Gray tilted his head.

Martin sighed heavily, then looked away. “Goddamn it. If he owned the Blood Eagle back there, just whose creative wings did you think Light saw clipped back there on that floor, Gray? Because I’m betting it wasn’t Seth’s. It certainly wasn’t his own….”

Something jolted in Gray, and he looked down at his feet. A moment later, a touch came at his throat, lifting his look up to Martin’s.

“Yeah. I know that hurts. And I know it kills Light spoke to me. But it doesn’t matter who Light asked to be his friend in the end,” he said quietly. “He learned to ask. Something he couldn’t do when I first met him.”

“Not like that, Mart. Never like that.”

“Yeah.” Martin nodded. “Just like that. He’syourson, Gray. Just as angry, just as open to being blind and fucking up, but such bloody potential over being one of the very rare, top fast-lane players as well.” He smiled, just a little. “His head is fucking stunning, and I mean that. He took me on back in the hall after he played his violin, and there was no fear, not a bloody ounce when he came at me—he was yours in that moment, but also so bloody innocent with it. Too bloody innocent, do you hear what I’m saying? So over the past few months, most times I just listened to what he whispered in my ear. He would have gotten out eventually, we both know that. So I stayed close to make sure he got out safely and didn’t kill any of us in the process. Or I tried to get you two apart when I saw you were both reaching breaking point, like after you’d clipped his ear.” He frowned over at Jan. “Although I wasn’t sharp enough on him getting out without nearly killing you in the process.” He focused back on Gray. “But what happened beyond those gates? For his own conscience, that had to be Light’s choice, not yours, not a culler’s. Part of me wished he’d run far and wide, but….” He frowned. “But I also knew he wouldn’t.”

Gray shook his head. “Not your insight to have, Mart. My son. You should have told me.”

Martin cocked such a soft smile. “Doesn’t work like that, Gray. I wouldn’t break your confidence—don’t expect me to break his, not unless I know it puts him in real danger where he can’t think his way through. And by real danger, I mean danger only ever found at our level. Seth played under strict guidance of the Controller, cutting his creativity and threat working outside of his control in my view, which I’m really surprised you didn’t pick up on. Then you also tagged the Controller as an ex-culler, which meant age went against the Controller himself. Split up, both were out of Light’s league,where he’d be more than able to handle them. And he did, right?”

Gray eased back.

“Oh,” said Martin. “He handled only half of it, and you….” He frowned. “That’s going to piss him off…. You should have given him that kill at least. But when it comes to confidence, Light knew I wouldn’t break that. Light wouldn’t have taken any address off me if he thought I played lover in your ear like you wanted me to either.”

Gray tensed his jaw. “And if he’s played you? Ran far and wide now?”

Martin shook his head. “He’s not running. Not from you, not from himself. He’s so bloody angry, but he’s not scared anymore. He wants this all finished, and hewillfinish it, one way or another, especially if he didn’t get to kill the Controller.”

Gray started to shake, aware of just how… focused Light might be in other directions after not being given the Controller. “Did you fuck up and give him the names of the cullers on my files? Because he’s not dealing with handled creativity and an ex-culler in a wheelchair there.”

“No. That’s a fast-lane danger break point,” Martin said softly. “I kept his focus on Blood Eagle and wherever that took him with the Controller. When everything piles in on him, that’s when he blindly struggles, and your two cullers would have been too much. Light’s still got too much youth, too much he doesn’t know: the gunshot to his ear proved that. And I read those culler files where you didn’t. I know what he’s facing.”

Gray pulled away a little. “But he knows you had access to them. He’ll come for you at some point, or be expecting you… right?”

“Expecting,” said Martin. “But I don’t think he’s soft enough to think I’ll go in alone. He knows I’ll have company from here on in.”

“Good.” Gray nodded. “He’s not wrong. Get your coat. You’re taking a ride with Simon.”

Martin cocked a brow. “Light’s weird choice in lover, never mine.”

“Like you said, Light loves him.” Gray stepped up so close. “He’s less likely to pull a kill switch if you take him. Light doesn’t leave that address until I get there, we clear?”

Martin folded his arms. “And that leaves you where?”

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