Page 26 of Beyond the Darkness

“Which you can, as soon as you tell me what happened.”

“That’s fair,” Hudson said. “There was a surface-to-air missile launched into my territory, but it hit near the boundary I share with the gargoyles. I’m not sure whoever fired it meant to do that, but nevertheless, that’s where it hit.”

“There were no casualties, as the cabins there are empty, but they will need to be rebuilt. We also lost some outbuildings too,” Connie said, standing next to the bed.

“Another missile was launched, and this one was actually heading straight toward the main house,” Hudson said. “I transformed into my dragon and brought the missile down.”

“Actually, he incinerated it. There’s not much that’s hotter than dragon fire.”

“So, that was it? No more missiles were fired toward us?” Kit asked.

“That was it.” Hudson shoved his hands into his hair. “I hate to do this, especially at this moment, but I really do need to talk to Kage.”

“Hey, I completely understand. I’m grateful we managed to steal some time away, so you go be king. And Connie? If you need to go be his Right Hand, go. I’m not going to be mad or resentful. This is who the two of you are. I know that.”

Hudson gently kissed Kit’s lips. “Thank you. Thank you for understanding, especially since we just declared our love for each other. I want to do something special, but—”

“Hey, I have no complaints! None. At all. So go do what you need to do.”

“Thank you.” Connie kissed Kit on the cheek. “You have no idea how that helps us. No idea.”

Turning, Kit touched Connie’s hand until he bent down so Kit could kiss him. “Oh, I think I do.” Kit glanced at the table and saw what time it was. “I think I’m going to go have breakfast with whoever is in the communal dining room since it’s getting to be that time.”

“Please don’t leave the compound. At least until I know exactly what’s going on,” Hudson said.

“That’s a given. I won’t. When I get through with breakfast, I might hang out and play pool, or maybe go for a swim. But I’ll stay around here.”

“Thank you. We’ll find you eventually,” Hudson said, getting up from the bed.

“Keep your phone on you, just in case,” Connie added.

“Sure thing.” He’d just stay right here until they got dressed and left, otherwise no one would get anything accomplished today.

They kissed him again on their way out of the room. Tentatively, Kit ran his fingers over his lips, enjoying how swollen they felt. His men had really taken good care of him.

Once the door shut behind them, Kit wandered into the bathroom to take a shower.

IT HAD been an all-out attack. By midmorning, that was all anybody was talking about at breakfast. None of Hudson’s inner circle or the two Ancients were there, but it didn’t matter. Word traveled fast, and bad news even faster.

Kage had been attacked, but no one in his clan had been injured. The damage to his building was substantial, though. The human authorities had forcibly evacuated it, leaving Kage and his clan scrambling to temporarily move into another building he owned.

Kit knew the gargoyles had been attacked, and the rumor was they had sustained injuries, and maybe even fatalities. Axel’s pack was also targeted, and he had lost a few wolves too.

Kit heard whispers that Li Li’s pack was also hit, and that Li Li, the alpha, had been killed. Kit vaguely remembered seeing the beautiful Asian lady at the one meeting he’d attended. Seemed like he remembered she was mated. If that was the case, he sincerely hoped it was just a rumor that she’d been killed.

Raven had been targeted and had suffered losses too. So far Kit hadn’t heard anything about Isadora or the mer people. It appeared as if most—if not all—of the paranormal leaders of San DeLain had been attacked.

A couple of hours had passed since he’d last seen his mates, and he missed them dreadfully. After breakfast, he played pool, then returned to the bedroom they were temporarily using.

He stared at his phone. Should he call his parents or not? He didn’t want to worry them, but if they found out something like this had happened and that he hadn’t told them, they’d be furious—as he would be if the roles were reversed.

His parents should be up by now, and besides that, he really, really wanted to talk to them. The attack scared the hell out of him, but something wonderfulhadcome out of it.

Just as he went to unlock the phone, it rang, startling him. Seeing that it was his pops, he quickly answered. “Hey, Pops, I was just thinking about—”

“Are you okay?”

Kit’s stomach dropped to his feet. “What?”

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