Page 31 of The Monsters We Are

Feeling his nostrils flare, Cain forced his back teeth to unlock. “I won’t take chances with your life.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, so I suspected you’d start with this again. But everything I said last night still applies. Also, consider this: No one will try to kill me. Adam wants me alive. Besides, being immortal now, I’m not so easy to kill anyway. And it’s not like I’d permanently stay dead.”

“We’ve already covered that we can’t be sure that there won’t be a time when you don’t come back.”

“Cain, you won’t get your way here. I won’t agree to have guards. And be honest, you’re suggesting this out of anger, not good sense.”

“Of course I’m fucking angry. Did you expect anything different?”

“Nope. But you’re not a stupid man. You know I have to deal with this matter on my own, just as you know you wouldn’t truly trust any guard to not at some point betray me—we’ve been over this already. We both agreed it made sense for me to handle this my way.”

Cain inwardly cursed. His monster wasn’t annoyed with her. It believed she could take care of herself and it agreed that she needed to make it clear to one and all that she was not easy prey.

“I learned a few things tonight,” she said. “I overheard a little conversation between Missy, Vera, and Kyra. It seems that your speech did a good job of convincing people to back you. Allegedly, most do. Just the same, most believe that Adam wouldn’t truly offer any of his promised rewards and, in any case, they fear you too much to cross you.”

Cain’s hirelings had made that very same assessment.

“Don’t let what happened tonight make you suddenly feel that there are threats to me everywhere. Yes, there will still be some people who are so tempted by the thought of becoming a millionaire that they’ll take their chances. But most people won’t. Most are behind you. And we both know that I can take down any who come for me.”

He rubbed at his nape. He couldn’t even claim she was being overconfident. Not when she was a being that could kill literally anything—including an Ancient. “You could have at least letoneof the witches live so I could get my own message across.”

Her lips twitched. “I totally knew you were gonna complain about that. If it had been me who personally dealt with them, I would have kept one of the bitches alive for you. But my monster was behind the wheel, and it pretty much does whatever it wants.”

Cain grunted. “I’ve noticed.” He let out a long sigh. Rage still held him in a tight grip, but it was no longer hot and wild. It was cold. Logical. Controlled. “You and your coven really played catch with Missy’s severed head?”

“While singing ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’.”

He felt one corner of his mouth cant up for the briefest moment. “And whose idea was it?”

“Mine, of course. The best ideas are always mine. The craziest? Usually Delilah’s, though Xavier contributes his fair share of insane suggestions.”

Cain gave a slow shake of the head. Wynter never did what he expected her to do, but he found that he liked that. “I’m almost sorry I missed it. Other things required my attention, as you know.”

“Shit, I forgot to ask, did you have any luck waking Abaddon?”

“No, but we’ll keep trying. It’s all we can do.”

“I truly think your efforts will eventually pay off.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” Wynter didn’t see how seven beings so unbelievably powerful wouldn’t manage to bring another Ancient out of their Resting state. But she understood why it might be difficult, given how long Abaddon had been under. Snapping people out of comas wasn’t something that people justdid.

“You’ll wake him up, and then you’ll get out of this damn cage, and then you’ll kill Adam and all will be well.” She cocked her head. “What will you do with your freedom?”

“Travel a little. You’ll go with me, of course.”

She hiked up an imperious brow. “Is that so? You know, you could try asking rather than telling.” She doubted he’d do it all that often, though. He was a person used to being in charge and dishing out orders, and he’d been that way for an exceptionally long time. Someone like that didn’t suddenly justchange.He did usually make an effort to tone his highhandedness down for her, which she appreciated. It was likely the best she could hope for.

“But that would give you the chance to refuse, and I want you with me,” Cain told her. “I don’t want to be away from you. And you wouldn’t want me to go alone in any case, so let’s not pretend differently.”

Rather than concede he was right, she gave him a haughty sniff. “Where is it you want to go?”

“Nowhere in particular.”

He merely wanted to get a taste of freedom, she understood. He wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t imprisoned anymore; that he could go where he pleased, when he pleased, however he pleased. “But you intend to come back here?”

“Yes. This place was supposed to be strictly a cage, but myself and the other Ancients made it into a home. I’m proud of that. I don’t wish to build another for myself. I’m content to live here. I simply want the walls of the prison gone.”

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