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Cato opens his mouth when Kieran cuts him off by saying, “I understand the hurry to get married then.”

The threat is veiled but just as real as a missile hitting the intended target.

“So your revenge was what exactly?” Cameron asks while Cato glares at me. I half expect him to teleport himself here and slice my neck.

“None of your business.”

“What are you hoping to gain with this revelation of yours?” asks Hayden in business mode. This guy keeps me guessing and I don’t fucking like that.

“I wanted to inform you,” I say matter-of-factly.

“Send Luciana to us and we’ll forget about your indiscretion,” Kieran demands.

He values our friendship and our alliance by giving me a way out. My power is unparalleled on the West Coast. Losing me would hinder their chances of having their fingers on it.

I crack my neck. The thought alone unleashes a wave of fury. Inhaling deeply, I grasp for control, trying to salvage the precarious situation.

“I won’t do that.”

“You staged a coup and pushed us out. What do you think we should do about not one but two betrayals?” Cameron asks, the monster slowly rising. While he appears to be the more levelheaded among them, something tells me it’s the other three who hold him at bay.

“The Council was never yours to begin with. I simply took back what was mine.”

Kieran’s jaw clenches so hard it’s obvious he fights to keep his composure. “You used us to get what you wanted.”

“In exchange, I gave you what you wanted. I don’t seek war, but if that’s the only way to solve our issue, so be it.”

Three of them are married. I know from recent experience that you want to postpone this type of war that ends up with too much loss and blood on both sides.

“That is up to us,” says Cato low enough the connection might freeze.

Right then, Calla enters and her radiant smile falters when she hears his voice. All I can think of is seeing her in white, walking down the aisle to me. If we have a long or short life, it’s secondary. All that matters is being with her—experiencing it all together. That doesn’t mean I won’t fight for even a second longer with her.

She has an unsure look on her face. My woman is a fucking queen and if the men in our world have a problem with that, they can go fuck themselves.

I gesture for her to approach, and she drops into my lap, immediately putting on a mask. “Hello, Cato. I see you’re well.”

He shoots up and slams both fists on the table.

She glances at her manicured fingers before giving him an annoyed look. “No need for that overreaction. You’re alive.”

“And you’ll be fucking dead.”

“Don’t fucking threaten my woman,” I snap.

She places the hand wearing the engagement ring on my chest, giving me a warm gaze before she turns her icy glare to him. “Your wife did what no one in our world could. Put a bullet through me. When I aim to kill, I don’t miss. I don’t hesitate. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

Cato’s face reddens with fury.

“You call shooting him three fucking times is you not wanting to kill him?” Kieran asks, incredulity thick in his voice, anger stretching in the corner of his eyes.

The tension escalates with every second.

“I gave you a fair shot at surviving. My other targets didn’t have that luxury,” she says in a neutral voice, shrugging.

“Luciana, blood is paid in blood in our world,” Hayden says matter-of-factly.

“I go by Calla now. I am not that woman anymore. And I paid in blood and I paid in years of my life. Some wounds are less obvious than others.”