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Oh God.
A horrified gasp left me, and instantly Cian had me in his arms, my face to his chest, his hand curled around the back of my head as he shielded me from the gore that was Matteo’s face. But it was already done. I’d already seen the damage to the vampire's face, and it was horrendous.
I hated acting weak, seeming like I couldn’t handle the realities of the world.
Matteo’s eyes had been gouged out, his mouth so bruised, so swollen and bloody, that it didn’t even look like what it was supposed to anymore.
“I already know the answer, but I want you to tell me,” Adryan said in a still conversational voice. “You do that, James?” Despite his calm voice and demeanor, I could tell it was deceptive. There was this underlying warning in his voice, as if he was pissed James had taken the liberties of dishing out vengeance before getting permission.
“I was going to leave the traitor intact for you, but then I snapped when I heard him talking about the location of the wolf's female and how the human was telling Matteo to warn the others at the warehouse.” James shrugged. “Needless to say”—he glanced at Cian and then back at Adryan—“I was pretty pissed, and before I could stop myself…” He gestured to Matteo. “Well, you can see what happened. I roughed him up a little.”
Matteo started groaning, but James gave a brutal kick to his ribs.
I turned my head from the scene once again, disgusted and shocked that James would think what he’d done to Matteo was just “roughing him up a little.”
I had to assume vampires were insanely strong, just like a Lycan. But Matteo lay on the ground barely breathing, a few low moans coming from his battered mouth as if he hardly had the strength to do even that. The kind of violence that had been brought on him was so horrendous that it would have been more than just a fit of rage. It felt like payback, revenge. It felt as if James had been personally affronted and harmed.
“He’ll survive,” James said. “Give him a few days to heal, and he’ll be good as new, and then you can do what you want with him.” James gave a sadistic smile toward Adryan, but the vampire leader didn’t crack, kept his composure hard and closed off as he stared at James.
After a long second he finally tipped his chin to someone across the room. One of his soldiers came and hoisted Matteo off the ground, carting him out of the room.
I wanted to ask what was going to happen to Matteo, although I wasn’t a fool and could assume. My imagination was pretty damn vivid.
“Well, wolf,” Adryan addressed Odhran. “Looks like it’s your extra-lucky day. If Matteo is the traitor, I’ll let you go at him hard-core to find out any information you can about his involvement with the Assembly and if he knows anything about your woman.”
Odhran didn’t speak, but I could feel the ripple of pent-up aggression and vengeance pouring off him. I chanced a look at Odhran and saw him staring so darkly at Matteo that I shivered in fear. Cian’s arms tightened around me before he kissed the top of my head.
“No worries,” he murmured so only I heard. “Ye’re safe.” I knew I was, but the absolute murderous gaze on Odhran’s face and the violent energy moving around him could have made the dead fearful.
After a long moment of tense silence, Odhran ran a hand through his blond hair, and then he was walking past us, not saying anything to anyone. The sound of the front door opening and closing came after his footsteps, and now it was my turn to exhale shakily. The tension in the room was considerable, but still no one spoke.
The vampires were looking at each other before their gazes landed on Adryan, as if they were looking for their leader to tell them what to do.
Adryan shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “Odhran’s on a mission,” he said matter-of-factly. “Can’t blame him. I’ll help all I can, give him whatever resources he needs. And if he wants me on his side to get his female back, then I’m there.” He was silent for a moment before continuing.
“What’s in it for ye?” Cian asked, the suspicion in his voice. “Because ye and I both kno’ ye don’t do shite for free.”
Adryan grinned, just a flash of straight white teeth and barely held-in menace. “Being the boss has its pros and cons, wolf. You think I enjoy delegating violence, when I’d much rather dole it out myself?” He cracked his knuckles as if thinking about all the violence he could deliver. “And these Assembly fuckers need to be taken down, so that’s what we’re going to do.” A heartbeat of silence passed. “And it’d be the most glorious fucking display of blood and body parts. The next greatest fucking art show.”
He started laughing in that sadistic, maniacal way of his that confirmed he wasn’t sane. Not in the least.
“But I can see he wants to do this on his own,” Adryan said after he stopped laughing.
I nodded slowly, although Adryan wasn’t speaking to me, and it wasn’t as if I truly knew about any of this, about journeys and adventures, about mates and wanting that lifelong connection. I didn’t know about losing someone for decades, only to be so close they could be in your life once more.
“Aye,” Cian said almost raggedly. “He will no’ take help easily.” He ran a hand over his short hair. “He’s stubborn and prideful, and he feels like when he lost her, it was his fault. He wants tae do this on his own, because he feels like it’s the only way he can be forgiven for letting her be ripped from his life.”
As I looked up at Cian, my heart swelled, because I knew that even though I hadn’t been taken from him, he’d still been looking for me. He’d do that for the rest of his life if it came down to it. He’ll always come for me.
I knew that so deeply that it sucked the air from my lungs.
And it was at that moment that I realized how hard I’d fallen for him. Hopelessly, irrevocably… painfully in love with my Lycan.
28
Evelyn
After we left Adryan’s house, we’d driven for over an hour and a half to the hotel we were currently in. Cian wanted to stop at a rinky-dink little motel we passed much earlier on in the trip, but with the memories of all the shit that had happened the last time I’d been at a motel off the highway, I told him to keep going.
