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CHAPTER FOUR

TITAN

T itan took the stairs out of the basement two at a time and headed to the first floor behind Vanessa.

Inside the kitchen, he locked the door behind himself before heading down the hall.

Half a dozen rogues sat at the expansive kitchen table, eating.

Another dozen ate in the dining room. He nodded to them as he passed, and they bowed their heads.

In the living room, other rogues assembled guns and categorized their most recent shipment of weapons, preparing them for distribution.

He didn't like the people he had to deal with to procure the weapons.

Scum, all of them, but he couldn't deny that the money he received for the merchandise was more than enough to keep his plans rolling forward.

In a couple more years, he'd have as much money as the twins, maybe more.

Titan strode past the rogues, scrutinizing their work as he went.

His wolf relished the aroma of fear and respected that wafted off them, but Titan couldn't care less.

He didn't want their fear or their respect.

He only wanted two things. The crown, and River.

Nothing else mattered. Not anymore. Before River, he'd wanted to make a new world for them.

Gather them all together and bring them out of the shadows- now he couldn't care less about them.

They were a means to an end and nothing more.

And when he took the crown, he would be the king, and they would be the army he used to keep all the others in line. Nothing more.

As he reached for the door handle to his study, Vanessa stopped and flirted with one of the newer guys.

Vanessa had come to him desperate and begging for help a month ago.

But within a week, she'd started acting like the lady of the manor- something he would not tolerate.

And now that River was with him, he needed to figure out a way to get her out, especially after her most recent stunt.

He'd had a fling with her about six or seven years prior, but had thought nothing of it because so had most Lycans.

But somehow, with age had come desperation.

A desperation he recognized. The same desperation his mother had shown when his father had found his fated mate, and she knew she would be sent away.

Titan's gut twisted, and he shook his head at the memory of his mother. Now was not the time for memories. He had to talk to the most recent returning rogue and find out what was going on with Ares and Apollo.

Titan opened the door. Vince lay on his leather couch, appearing to be already dead. His Beta turned from the window.

"Kane."

Kane nodded. "Brother."

Kane had been the first rogue Titan met after his father had sent him and his mother away.

He'd found Kane when his mom had taken him to the park.

Kane was a good ten years older than Titan, and his Alpha had kicked him out because Kane had been the fated mate of one of the Alpha's daughters.

With no remaining family in the pack and no rank, the Alpha had forced his daughter to reject Kane and kicked him out.

With nowhere to go and no family or pack, Titan's mom had taken Kane in and adopted him.

From that day forward, Kane never left Titan's side.

Several of Titan's men had similarly come to him.

Titan's mom had spread the word that her home was open to any werewolf or Lycan who had no pack.

By the time she'd died, ten of them had formed their own pack, and over a dozen more called them family at one point or another before moving on to find their way in the world.

But all of that had changed when Titan had found River. Every one of his adopted brothers had come back, and many of them brought friends or mates. Now, Titan took care of fifty-plus rogues across Montreal. That didn't even include the hundred more he had searching the world for more like them.

His father may have disowned him, but at least the substantial payout he'd paid his mom off with had allowed Titan to help rogues and start several businesses under the table. One of which was gun running.

"Vince?" Titan walked to the couch and touched his friend's arm.

Vince sucked in a shuddered breath and groaned as he opened his one remaining eye.

"What can I get you?" Titan asked.

Vince shook his head. "Nothing, Highness. I'll be fine."

The bruises that marred Vince's face looked like he'd gone ten rounds with Conor McGregor. His arm was out of its socket, and he had a compound fracture of the leg. That didn't even count the cuts, scrapes, and burns that covered his body.

Titan's wolf snapped his jaws.

"Who did this?" Titan growled.

He shook his head. "Ares' and Apollo's men."

"What about Ares and Apollo?"

Again, he shook his head. "Maybe… I don't remember all of it."

Titan nodded. "How did you get back?"

Vince sucked in a breath.

Titan patted his arm. "It doesn't matter. You rest. We'll talk tomorrow." He turned to Kane. "Get Doc. Then take Vince to his old bedroom."

"That's Vanessa's room now," said Kane.

Titan snorted. "No. It's not. It's Vince's. Move her into the guest house. Or she can pick one of the other houses. I don't care, move her out of his room."

Kane stared at Titan. "She won't like that."

"Do you think I give a shit what she likes?"

Kane shook his head. "I simply meant that her loyalties switch as quickly as her bed partners."

"One more reason to move her out of here."

"What if she goes back to Ares and tells him where we are?"

"She won't. She can't. She helped us. She's the one who got us on the grounds. And she's the one who knocked River out. Ares would decapitate her before she got out a word. We are her last choice, and she knows it."

"I still suggest we tread carefully."

"I tread carefully with no one but my mate. Put her in the guest house. Tell her it's so she can have the whole place to herself. It's a gift."

Kane nodded, but didn't move.

"What?"

Kane clenched his jaw several times before speaking. "I don't understand why we don't attack them now when they're weak. Take the estate. Take the throne."

"I need her to accept me first."

"What if she won't?"

"She will."

Kane shook his head. "We've worked too hard to throw it all away over a girl who doesn't even want you."

"I worked this hard for her. She is the reason I did all this, you know that."

Kane growled. "She isn't the reason we started this. Why your mother started this."

"She is now."

"She's not worth it. You should cut her loose. Attack the twins. Take the crown."

Titan bit his tongue. They'd had this conversation so many times over the last four years it irritated Titan like a thousand bug bites.

Titan understood that the need for revenge powered Kane.

It was why Kane had stuck by Titan. Supported Titan.

Did… everything he did. But Titan didn't only want revenge anymore.

He wanted what he was owed as the firstborn of the Lycan King.

His crown and his Omega. But not necessarily in that order.

"I don't want the crown if I can't have her."

Kane shook his head. "This obsession with that female is going to get you killed. Going to get all of us killed."

"You can't tell me that if you had a choice to go back and get Alyssa from her father and mate her today, that you wouldn't do it."

The look on Kane's face told Titan he'd hit a nerve. Kane hadn't talked about Alyssa in over five years. But Kane still wanted her. And he wanted her father dead for kicking him out and making her reject him.

Without a word, Kane stormed out of the room.

Titan's gut twisted. Kane was the truest brother he'd ever had.

Kane had been pivotal in Titan's planning of taking the throne.

He'd been essential in getting the rogues organized.

Without Kane, he was nothing. At the same time, Kane had to understand that River was no whim.

Wasn't an obsession, or a weakness. She was everything.