Page 91 of Bitter Discord

I tried my damnedest to put it together, what William was doing and why he needed Lonan and Arlo for it.

He mentioned a war between the moon cursed…

The night played out in different ways as I stared at its orchestrator. We were trapped in this building, but if he killed all of us, no one would know what happened or who to blame. It wouldn’t be war. It would be confusion and a mad hunt to find the asshole who’d set it up. Others could say there was a mysterious last werecat that was unaccounted for, and William would be the target, not a war.

“I don’t…” Shaking my head, I started pacing, keeping my eyes on him. “How do you get a war out of this? Did you misstep somewhere? Too many people know you’re in the area. If we all die except for you…” I stopped, mouth open as an insane realization hit.

“That’s another reason Lonan hasn’t attacked me,” William confirmed. “I’m already planning to die tonight. I accounted for that possibility and rolled it into my plans. If he’s compliant, he has a chance to… extend his own because I’ll tell him how to leave before it’s done. I won’t be here to enjoy the glory of my success. I was just about to give him the first order when you showed up and made all of this so much more… interesting and convenient.”

“What’s the first order?” I asked, knowing I would regret it.

“Lonan, go to the second door on the left and bring me what’s inside. You’ll know when you see it,” William said, his eyes locked on mine.

Lonan moved carefully, then I heard the door open and close.

My stomach dropped when I heard what was next.

“What? Hey, let me go!” Arlo protested.

“I’m sorry, kid,” Lonan mumbled.

“Who are you?” Arlo growled.

William only smiled as Lonan tried to bring Arlo into the living room. There were bruises on his face where William had blackened one of Arlo’s eyes and hit the opposite cheek. The bruises distracted me from the cut on his lip, but I saw it next. One of his arms seemed swollen under the hoodie he wore, and he wasn’t using it to push Lonan away.

“He was sleeping,” Lonan said, looking deeply uncomfortable as he held Arlo’s elbow.

“Of course he was.” William turned his smile endearingly to my werewolf. “He’s a little worse for wear. He needed his rest.”

“Arlo…” I said, finally grabbing the werewolf’s attention. His eyes went wide when he saw me, tears filling them immediately.

“Miss Leon… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said before his head dropped, the tears rolling to his shirt, and his shoulders shook.

“Lonan, kill him,” William ordered. “Then killMiss Leon.”

34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“Let him go and kill me instead.” I played the only card I had. I couldn’t attack. William was closer to Lonan and Arlo. I had to hope Lonan wouldn’t kill Arlo while I tried to plead this case. “Just take me. You’ll still get the fight you want. Heath and Hasan will make sure of it. Just kill me, William. Let Arlo go.”

I took a step toward my charge and Lonan, but William slid in front of me. He didn’t block my sight of them in time to stop me from seeing their shocked expressions and their dropped jaws. My heart broke as Arlo cried just a little harder.

“You would…. give your life to let that boy live a handful more days?” William asked.

“Yes, I would, even if it’s a single sunrise, I would.” I nodded, my throat thick with fear and desperation. “He’s innocent, William. I’m not. You aren’t. Lonan isn’t. But he is. I would do it if it gave him one more day.”

“How would I spin that?” William asked softly. “The boy gets away and is able to speak his truth about how he wasn’t behind the murder I framed him for. Rational people like you will protect him when I’m playing to the irrational hate of men like Lonan. I need that side of people, not their good ones. How would I spin it?”

“Um…” I worked fast, trying to figure out a scenario that would make it work for this mad man. “I found Lonan about to kill Arlo. We fought and killed each other. There’s a gun with silver bullets in the house. It’s reasonable that mutually assured destruction can happen, especially if we can’t get out to find medical attention. No one has to know that you let Arlo walk out the front door. He’s injured and young. He’ll move slowly, and if you took away his phone, he won’t be able to call for help. It could take him a day to get to anyone who can help. He doesn’t know where he is. He’ll have to figure it out. We’ll both be dead by the time he finds anyone. Hopefully fast, so it makes sense that we didn’t call.”

Considering the entire scenario was a hypothetical, I had to hope no one caught how I knew Arlo would be found immediately after he left the house.

William crossed his arms.

“When Heath gets here, or my sister, they’ll blame each other. Hasan will blame Heath. Other werecats will want Arlo’s head, and Hasan will want it as well, regardless of the truth at that point. Two werecats died but not a single werewolf. Hasan will want Heath dead. A friend of Lonan may kill Arlo just to get revenge… or, yes, a member of my family.”

“It’s easier to kill you all now,” William murmured. “You see, Lonan won’t be able to lie and say he didn’t knowingly kill an innocent werewolf boy. He also won’t be able to lie about how he killedyouas you defended the boy. He’ll live as long as he can survive once I let him out. That’s his option.”

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