Page 216 of At the Edge of Surrender

Now he was standing guard over mine while I was here.

The tattoo on the back of my hand throbbed. The stacked Ss and the wilting rose on top. I’d never been so sure that there was no turning back.

“There’s just…something in the air. Don’t like it.” In agitation, Theo ran a tattooed hand through his crop of black hair.

“Nothing but the fact that bastard is breathing the same air as us from a mile down the street.”

Where he worked as the manager at an autobody shop.

Theo scratched at his jaw. “Think we should just take him out and rid the world of his stain rather than putting Sophia and her son through the bullshit of starting new lives.”

Something unsettled rumbled in my stomach, and I clutched both hands on the steering wheel. “Not the way of Sovereign Sanctum.”

We did our best to keep it clean unless circumstances required otherwise.

It was the safest for everyone involved. At least, that’s what we’d decided when we’d established it.

Droll laughter rolled out of Theo, and he swung his attention toward me, staring me down. “That’s not the way you do it, though, is it?”

My chest tightened. “What are you talking about?” I defended.

Disbelief filled his features. “Don’t play dumb, Kane. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Fuck. He knew. How the fuck did he know?

“Not Sanctum business.” I tried to assert it casually, though it cracked through the clench of my teeth.

Air puffed from his nose. “Sanctum is family, and you know it, so it most definitely makes it our business.” He paused for a strained beat before he continued. “Know why you do it. Know what you did and what you continue to do.”

What the fuck?

Adrenaline pumped through my system. “Theo…”

I struggled to find a way to explain my actions. Why I’d gone behind Sanctum’s back for all these years.

His head barely shook. “You did the right fucking thing. Those bastards deserved to die, just like they still do.” He shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “Just so you and I are on the same page. And now that you have Maci and Emery in your life, figured you might need backup.”

“Won’t get you involved in that.”

“Look around us, Kane. We’re all neck-fucking-deep. It’s our destiny. Ridding the world of the scum, because sometimes what it takes are monsters to wipe it clean.”

He glanced down the street, his voice dropping low. “Because there are innocents who need us…just like them.”

I shifted so I could see where his focus had gone.

To a dark-haired woman who was coming up the sidewalk with a little boy’s hand in hers. She wore a willowy floral dress that swishedaround her ankles. She appeared so downtrodden it made my insides ache.

Another stark reminder of why we did what we did.

It grew thicker.

A dense severity that blazed in the space.

Theo stirred, and I could almost hear the screaming of his spirit. The way aggression and rage slipped beneath the surface of his skin at the sight of her.

“Look at them.” Theo’s words barely broke the air.

“It’s why we’re here, brother.”

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