Viggo nodded. “The soldiers who got past the perimeter were killed. They still have no idea how many of us there are. Only the Clovers know.”
“They won’t get in again,” Pax stated with a frown. “The only reason they were able to was because they hid behind PARA to do it. They don’t have the numbers on their own.”
“I’m still not pleased they know,” Amaros murmured, setting his glass on the table. “We need to speed up the plan. And I want that entire group handled.”
“We will,” I said gruffly before inhaling a drag of the cigarette. “We’re leaving now to go home. We’ll start making plans right away.”
“Now?” Amaros repeated. “I thought you’d want to stay a bit longer.”
“Too much to do, Dad,” Viggo said with a grin. “Humans to kill and all.”
My mind was focused on getting Kali, but I hadn’t said a word to Amaros about it. He didn’t need to know anything about her. If he knew I was thinking like this about a human, he’d be curious, and I wanted to keep her far away from my father.
“Keep me updated. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.” Amaros nodded in farewell before standing and striding back toward the house. He was never one for emotional goodbyes. Or emotional anything. But he loved us. I just wasn’t sure if it was because we were his sons or because we were the ones carrying on his legacy.
“Let’s go,” Pax muttered, rushing to his feet. He hated being here more than either me or Viggo.
I followed my brothers back to the front of the property and climbed into the truck. It was going to be a long seven-hour drive back to our city. I took the passenger seat while Viggo stuck the key into the ignition. Pax didn’t say a word from the back seat as Viggo pulled onto the dirt road. Pax had been quiet ever since I’d gotten back, besides apologizing to me multiple times.
He blamed himself for me being taken in the first place. Technically, it was his fault. If he’d been honest about Kali in the beginning, I doubted any of this would have happened. But I wasn’t angry, just like I told him. If I’d known Kali was human when I first met her, my decisions might have been different. Maybe I never would have let myself get close to her like I did when I thought she was a vampire. Everything happened for a reason.
“We haven’t found her yet,” Viggo informed me, keeping his eyes on the road.
“It doesn’t matter,” I answered.
I wasn’t worried about finding Kali. If I didn’t have a way to locate her, I never would have left her.
Viggo glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “She isn’t wearing your necklace anymore.”
“The Clovers used up their hawthorn,” I said, remembering the conversation I’d heard at the house. “Most of it was used in our city against the vampires. The rest was used on me to keep me weak. Most of the men wear it on them like Warner did since they don’t have enough to ingest every day. That made it easy.”
“Interesting,” Viggo muttered. “Let me guess, you entranced one of them before you got away?”
I smirked. “Two of them. One of them close to one of the bosses in the Clovers. Any information he hears, he’ll relay back to me. Including where Kali went.”
“She’s going to be on edge,” Pax piped up from the back seat. “And she probably won’t be alone. We need to go in prepared.”
“I hope she’s not alone,” I said in a low voice. “I have a list of names to cross off. Garrett is at the top.”
“Gia will keep watch on the city while we deal with all that.” Viggo sighed. “I still think it’s a bad idea. Kali is human. What are you going to do? Keep her locked up until you grow bored of her?”
I gritted my teeth, not responding. I didn’t know what I was going to do yet. But she wasn’t staying away from me any longer than necessary.
“You’ll have to turn her,” Viggo continued. “Or kill her. But I have a feeling you don’t want to do that. You’re even worse than Pax now. She hates vampires. Doesn’t want to be with you. It’s going to be a fucking problem.”
I scrubbed my hand down my face. “I’ll figure it out.”
Viggo let it go, focusing on driving while I leaned the back of my head against the seat. I wanted everything ready once I found out where she was. Because I wasn’t leaving her behind a second time.
Chapter40
Kali
Ishifted on the thin cushion of the couch, staring at the same page I’d been trying to read for the last hour. We’d been at this cabin for four days, and I was bored out of my damn mind. And jumpy. Zan warned he’d come after me, and I had a feeling that it wasn’t an empty threat. There was no way he’d be able to find me at this isolated cabin, but I still couldn’t get his words out of my head.
With a sigh, I tossed the book onto the couch next to me and glanced at Warner, who was sitting at the small wooden table, snacking on some berries we’d picked earlier. Paul was sitting in a chair near the front door, using his knife to make more stakes. He lifted his head and smirked when he saw me looking at him. I let my gaze turn cold as I kept his stare. He was as bad as Garrett, leering at me like he knew my secret. I had a feeling Garrett had told him about the bite mark from Zan. But he’d left me alone—mostly because Warner had made it clear early on that I was with him when Paul made a comment about the hickeys the first night we got here.
This cabin was tiny. The living room and kitchen were in the main space, with one bedroom in the back and a small bathroom. The entire structure was made of logs, and there was no electricity. We used gas lamps and candles, although we usually tried to keep lights to a minimum at night.