He still wasn’t exactly clear on how long this house deal she created would last. There was no doubt the woman was stubborn and wanted her space and all that was fine, even understandable. The thing was, Evanthe’s home was not vacant.
King doubted Reveca would have an issue with any haunt, considering how well versed she was with the dead. But this wasn’t a normal haunt. There was life in the soul. King was almost positive it was Evanthe, but it had been a long time since he had been in her presence. What he did know was the energy signature he was feeling was awful close to Zale’s.
If it was Zale in this house, King didn’t care what Reveca said, this damn thing was going back where it came from just so King could burn the fucker down.
Zale was not evil in King’s mind; he was the slime that lingered on evil, the lowest of all lows. He hated him more than Crass and Revelin combined which said a lot.
Zale had orchestrated too much drama across Reveca’s life. Apparently, the drama began days before King lost his life on the battlefield, when he was a mortal known as Kenson.
Windsome was full of fun facts when King had approached her weeks ago in the Veil to ask her why the fuck she was putting wacked out ideas in Reveca’s head.
She’d told King the bullet that took his life was friendly fire, and who aimed the weapon: Zale.
As things stood now, Zale had to make his way to Crass’s prison eventually, for if he didn’t Reveca would never be free of the barters she set in place for the sake of King’s freedom. That infuriated King. He didn’t want to give over the soul that had made it possible for Revelin to take him in the first place—he wanted to torture that fuck until the end of days.
In one of King and Reveca’s many arguments since the showdown he had gotten her to admit exactly what price she paid that day. So far, beyond Cashton, he was the only one that knew how high, how dangerous, that barter was.
King knew a deal like that would stretch across far too much time, and as it did Crass was sure to alter the barter even more. Crass wanted Reveca—thought if he had her he could rule the Edge, take all the souls before any Lord of Death had the chance to claim them.
That was one of many warnings Windsome had given King when he found her in the Veil.
Cashton was the one that listed as many names as he could for King, and King took the list to Talon. King was vague with Talon about the names, stating only that they were involved with making the drug Black, and they were souls that would appease Crass. King told Talon they needed to organize—that if he told him where those souls were the Helco Faction could deliver the souls.
Talon was less than agreeable. He didn’t want anyone doing a job he felt was his, protecting his Club by protecting Reveca. But King knew all those long rides of Talon’s had just as much to do with the hunt of those souls as it did with putting space between him and Reveca.
King wasn’t going to wait for Talon to get over his broken ego to end this barter—his Faction was out looking. They were scatted across this dimension. It was harder for them to locate these souls because for one, they were still fighting their own addictions, trying to break the curse of it, which took a lot of focus, and also because they had never crossed these souls, making it all the harder for them to track.
It would be done, one way or another. King was going to end this bullshit, and be damn sure that he figured out a way to read Reveca well enough to know what she was plotting in the future so he could stop any more headaches from encroaching.
Their last sexual encounter helped him with that, each time she reached her energy out for him, it weaved into his, before long, he’d be able to see into her soul. Adversely, she would also be able to read his. That was the tricky part; she had to fall for him before then, before she decided to commit to him out of duty. Because beyond Crass, Revelin was the real threat, Reveca’s life, the life of the Sons, still hinged on King’s survival.
King was determined to track the spirit in Evanthe’s home down. He had lived long enough to know life was all building blocks and him solving the ghost issue would more than likely lead him to Zale, and then forward.
Then of course there was this shit Reveca stirred up today. Apparently there was an all out hunt going on to find Reveca—no one was taking the lock down message of hers lightly.
Earlier Star had been looking for Reveca in the other house, and found King in her room instead. He simply told her she was in Zen, not why, which earned him a quizzical look from the mortal before she pulled out her phone and called Taurus then ran down the stairs.
He was sure he’d find Star in the new house trying to wake Reveca but he was wrong. She was still alone and in Zen when he manifested with her things.
Right then he was standing near the edge of the bed in nothing more than his jeans which were not fastened. He was sensing the energy in the house, how close the haunt was, and was doing his best to give Reveca every second of Zen he could.
She clearly sensed the unrest at the Boneyard. She was moving erratically, and frustrated moans were coming from her. The towel he had on her had lost the tight hold he had cocooned her in, now it was sliding down her chest, revealing far too much temptation for him to bear.
All at once he sensed the haunt and went to chase it, moving through the home just as fast as it was. He was sure if he touched it he could make it manifest into a tangible source so he could identify it.
His race led him all the way to a hidden library he found behind a fireplace in the study. The room was three stories high, just as high as the home, and it was in the core of it, sealed with spells. King knew this room was built where it was for a reason.
In most cases, when witches moved their homes they stored all they deemed precious in the basement. In this land, though, they didn’t have such things. They couldn’t because the water table was too high. Instead, the room was at the core of the home and all around it, in the walls, the earth was packed, herbs, and dirt, all things nature surrounding what Evanthe surely thought was a treasure.
One single page floated down from the top level. When King reached out for it he found it blank, which only ticked him off.
“Show yourself,” he demanded.
Nothing.
“I will destroy this house, and everything in it—if this is you Zale. You understand?”
Right then a book fell down, which was not blank.
It was written in the old language, the one Reveca’s people used in the homeland he had first met her in. It was the book of Phoenix, predicting their creation.
Before he could read one word of it he sensed the most dominant phoenix in the MC storming through the home, and had no choice but to move to defend Reveca.
Chapter Three
A fucking lock down, Talon’s thoughts raged as he dismounted his bike and charged toward Evanthe’s home, now Reveca’s. It had been years since they had taken such an extreme. Years since they had pulled every mortal soul under their watch behind the walls of the Boneyard.
The act drew too much attention, caused the unrest and negative energy to linger. Which is why these days all of the Sons’ wars were silent, it was why their enemies didn’t know they were on to them, that they were going to strike until it was too late, until the point they didn’t have the strength to retaliate.
Reveca sent the text then refused to answer her phone. Every horrid vision that could be had raced through Talon’s mind as he searched for her. He was a fraction of a second away from storming his way into the lawmen’s offices and finding that Mathis fucker and demanding he tell him exactly what he and Reveca discussed hours before. Then Taurus called, told him where Reveca was.
At the fucking Boneyard.
She had put that house of hers in the perfect spot, front row seats. From her room she could see it all. She knew they were rushing in every direction, surely knew he would have lost his shit when he saw her text.
When he got back to the Boneyard her bike still wasn’t there but Star was adamant about saying Rev
eca was in the house. When he reached the front porch and passed Taurus who was starting to unload a van full of shit into the front foyer, he was sure they were right, and that pissed him off all the more.
It let him know his and Reveca’s connection was so weak that he couldn’t even recognize her on the same property. It also pointed out how drained he was, how right then he barely had the strength to hold his beast in, much less maintain his sanity, not when all that he cared about was clearly threatened.
Talon charged up the stairs, locked in on her scent at that point; he knew exactly where she was. And what did he find when opened the door? Fucking King.
The asshole had no shirt on, his jeans weren’t even buttoned, and Reveca, she was as naked as the day she was born with nothing more than a towel barely hanging on as she laid across the bed like some fucking empress with her long hair drying in waves as it haloed around her.
She opened her eyes when he stormed in, bothered to look ashamed for a split second.
Talon stood there with a pissed expression strapped across his face before a manic laugh came to him, and he reached to run his hand down his face. “This is fucking rich, Reveca.”
“Get out,” she snapped as she pulled her towel up as if he hadn’t seen every inch of her body a million times over, as if he didn’t know what her flesh tasted like, felt like when he was deep inside and she was screaming his name.
“Why? Need another fuck? Can he not satisfy you the way I can?”
King charged Talon, a fight that Talon welcomed, and promptly lost as King slung him into the wall then charged forward bracing his arm across his chest. “Breathe in.”
“Fuck off,” Talon said with a roar.
Both of them were ignoring Reveca as she screamed their names and used her energy to toss everything in her reach at them.
“You smell that,” King seethed.
Talon may be weak but his senses were on high alert right then, and yes he smelled sex permeating the air and that was exactly what was fucking pissing him off.
It didn’t matter that he had pushed Reveca into this, that he knew the two of them had to be together—assuming something was going to happened and knowing it fucking did was two different things.
As it stood right then, the only breathing souls on the planet that had been inside Reveca were him and King, and Talon was determined to slice the number in half.
He was wrong. He couldn’t survive this. It was killing him slowly and it may be arrogant of him but he sure as hell thought after all he had done in his life at the very least he deserved a swift death. He couldn’t watch this, her fall for King, look at that fucker and know why he had a satisfied smirk on his face.
In all truth Talon was dumbfounded that it only took Reveca a few weeks to make this move. She was still mad at him for Tisk, which meant she still gave a damn.
“Blood,” King spat, when he sensed that Talon’s anger was going in the wrong direction.
“Stop it! Do you fucking hear me?” Reveca yelled again.
She had dropped her towel in the madness, was nude standing feet behind them, assaulting King’s back with vim. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, she was trying to stop him from killing Talon, which would destroy her and her Club, in more than one way.
King backed off the second he saw that Talon had picked up the heavy scent of blood, one that clearly stated it wasn’t a flesh wound that poured the scent out.
Whether Talon wanted to or not, he had to consider the fact that Reveca’s absence was needed over the last few hours. The Sons didn’t need to see her like this. Seeing her in pain would send them all into rage and they would act out without a plan in place.
They would still be furious when they understood what happened, but seeing Reveca strong and standing before them would empower them, encourage them to plot before they attacked.
Both King and Talon’s gazes landed on Reveca’s nude body at once. She felt wide open, vulnerable. She went for her towel but then saw her dresser and moved there, pulling on her clothes as fast as she could.
“What the fuck, Vec?” Talon asked, not backing out of his pissed mood, it was just aimed in more directions now, at her and whoever made her bleed.
“Latour,” she said, looking up at Talon, seeing that he looked like shit, worse than he did that morning.
“What about that inbreed fuck?” Talon growled. He had been aching to kill that fuck for years and knew if he didn’t get a piece of him soon his old ass would up and die of natural causes.
Reveca turned her back as she fastened her bra then pulled on a tank. “I handled it.”
“The hell you did. How much blood did you spill?” Talon demanded. As pissed as he was he was still clear on Reveca’s rule of balance, he had to know how she was hurt so he could deliver the same pain.
“Four bullets center mass, one in the chest,” King supplied. He wasn’t taking sides but he wasn’t about to let Reveca think he was cool with this situation.
“What?” Talon roared. She’d never once been hit that many times.
Reveca turned around and glared at them both. She didn’t care to tell them a child would have died if she moved. Defending her actions was not her strong suit; at best she stood by them then proceeded forward. “Talley went there first,” she said, finally.
Talon furrowed his brow and jerked his head back in shock. As far as he knew Talley was hunting Finley and that was the last fucking place she’d be.
“Mathis said a truck that was registered to Latour was not far from Adair’s shop, and it had been shot up, covered in mud, mud that lead to her.”
“And this isn’t something you thought should be heard in Church? Your grand plan was to ride out there and become target practice?”
“Maybe if all of you were not game for putting all this to bed nice and quiet I would’ve.”
“Why would we not do that?” Talon snapped, taking all of her in. He had seen her drunk on power before. He knew that when she felt the rush in the past she had lead each of them into a massive war, which in hindsight could have been handled differently. They didn’t have time for those mistakes right now, not with this deal King had laid on their backs.
“Adair is mine,” Reveca yelled back.
Her saying so had King lifting a brow in shock, wondering if she truly meant it, if she had figured out the girl was an Escort rising, or if this was just her protective nature.
Talon’s fury faded a bit. He felt a numb feeling wash over him, which was quickly followed by a sick sensation. In all these years it was the first time Reveca had declared such a thing. She was always nice to Adair, respected what she saw in her, wanted her safe—but that was about it. Right then he had to wonder why she had the change of heart—and no matter what he came up with, it wasn’t awesome.
“Mine,” he said, in a hoarse rasp. He cleared his throat. “This Club’s. You want her back fine by me, but you’re not fixing Talley.”
“And who says you have that say?”
“I do. You’re not that fucking cruel, Reveca.”
“What’s cruel about saving him?”
A pissed, sharp grin emerged on Talon’s stoic image. “No fucking body wants to live in a world where their woman is gone.”
Reveca read between his words, and knew Talon was aching for death, relief from the pain he brought on himself, and she wasn’t going to let it happen. The boys needed him. In some way she did, too. No one understood this Club, the path they had taken that made them who they were more so than him.
“It can be done.”
Talon shook his head—he was in Talley’s debt and he would not let Reveca take the honor of a swift death from him, no matter what he had to do. When the time came he’d deal with Reveca, stop her.
“Why did Talley go there? Why did they fire on you?” King asked as evenly as he could, needing to get the facts right then, so he knew how to engage his own men.
Reveca breathed in, pulling back the details and doing her best to fo
cus. The encounter felt like it was a lifetime ago. Since then King had taken her to a world of their own and she had fallen into a state of Zen.
“I insulted Chalice,” she answered, staring at Talon.
Talon rocked back on his heels trying to understand why hell was raining down on his boy Judge.
He was sure Judge could find a way to balance Adair or finding his family’s assassin if either happened on their own. If they occurred together—chances were Judge would end up in a far worse situation than Talon was currently in. All the Sons were dropping one by one with this drama bullshit and Talon had no idea how to stop it.
“What’s he doing here?”
“Apparently saving the Devil’s Den from sin,” Reveca said, glancing to King whose stare was making her uneasy. His stare said he knew something she didn’t and that could not be good. “They denied raising Talley, but I know he was there.”
“So all you got out of your stubborn rebellion was five bullet holes and the knowledge that Chalice was here?” Talon asked, with a hard stare aimed at her.
No, she got more than that but she wasn’t going to say so to either one of them. Apparently one of the three she sent to Crass already knew exactly what was up with this mess. She was going to have to go to Crass and ask to see Holden, Tisk, and Blackwater to unravel this.
“Four souls that I needed to give to Crass were there, I got them, too.”
“Latour is dead?” Talon seethed, pissed that it wasn’t him that delivered the justice.
“No,” Reveca said with a hard glance to King. If he had not showed up the scales would have been more closely matched, assuming she did manage to leave there on her own.
The Devil’s Den would have kicked up dust, she was sure of it, but now that King had tried to kill their ‘angel’ and tossed their leader in the side of his home, then killed the other men who had attacked—they were sure to do more.
“He’s alive but short several men. He will retaliate. Even before I went there Mathis alleged that he was aiming to do so. We’ve taken out too many of his kin recently.