Page 15

James

T he door closed softly behind Willow, but I didn’t stop glaring daggersat my father and Elijah. The two of them smirked back at me, proud of their accomplishment of belittling my wife.

Images of the scars on Willow’s back circled in my mind, along withthe memory of her rough skin against the tips of my fingertips whenever I stroked my hand over her back.

As she regaled how the injuries were caused, a memory danced inmy head of her telling me about it before, and I suddenly remembered why I’d thrown the glass against the wall a few nights ago. The same murderous rage that had swept through me that night atlearning she was whipped gripped me in its vices as she answered my father’s question, and the impulse to protect her from his viciousness was stronger than ever.

When he demanded she show him her scars, I couldn’t contain myfury any longer.

“Sit down, James. You’re embarrassing yourself,”my father saidstoically, smoothing a hand down his tie.

“You had no right to treat my wife that way,”I growled, refusing hisorder to sit.

“Your wife,”he chuckled humorlessly.“Who are you trying to kid,James? She’s a whore from Peartree House, she’s probably had more cocks in her than a prostitute out on the streets.”

I slammed my hand down on the table, making the glasses shake.“Do not call her a whore! Willow was unbroken when I claimed her, she’s only had one cock in her, and she’ll only ever have one cock in her for the rest of her life. Mine! And all the time she wears my ring on her finger, you will damn well respect her!”

White hot anger vibrated through my entire body, my hands beginningto tremble with the need to throw my fists into something.

Or someone.

“Elijah, leave. I want to speak to my son alone,”my father ordered.

The smug grin faltered briefly on my cousin’s lips before he stood andgrabbed the bottle of wine and his glass.“Careful, James. It sounds to me like you’re beginning to develop feelings for the girl,”he said over his shoulder, giving me a wink before leaving us alone.

I took a breath, and straightened my jacket, giving myself a momentto calm the raging storm.“Willow means nothing to me,”I said, the words tasting bitter as they left my mouth.“She’s a means to an end, an end you forced on me-”

“You had other options.”

“Yeah, marry someone from within Legion like you’ve wantedfor my entire life,”I sighed, slumping in my seat.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to limit the amount of peoplewho have knowledge of Legion. Every time a member marries someone outside of the society, there is a risk of our secrets being shared.”

I rolled my eyes. For as long as I could remember, my father hadbeen petitioning for a new rule, one where Legion members only marry other members within the society.

He’d put it to the board on a number of occasions, but each time hismotion was denied. For any new rule that was passed, three of the four board members had to agree. Like me, Harrison Stone, Ethan Rivers, and Gabriel Evans, the other three board members, felt that my father’s suggestion was archaic.

“Does she know about Legion?”he asked, tilting his head to one side,a habit I’d picked up from him.

“No. Until this dinner, she didn’t even know about Smarttech. Shewas trained to not ask questions, and I certainly haven’t volunteered any information about myself. I plan on keeping it that way.”

Excluding the information I disclosed to her on the way here aboutKiera and Billie, of course. Why I had told her about my family history, I didn’t know, but something about talking to her helped distract me from the anxiety that had been building within me on our way to see my father.

He placed his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together,falling silent as he thought.“Are you developing feelings for her?”he asked after a tense pause.

“No,”I replied, a little too quickly, earning a raised brow from him.“You and I both know I said I would never fall for someone after Shona. Like I said, Willow is a means to an end. Once she gives me an heir, I couldn’t give a fuck what happens to her.”

Pain speared my chest as I said the words, regret sweepingthrough me as I spewed them.

“You know what you’re saying, don’t you James? You chose to marrysomeone who doesn’t fall within Legion’s rules. She’s unprotected should someone decide they don’t want her around anymore.”

“I’m aware,”I snapped, ignoring every ounce of me that wanted towarn my father that if anyone dared hurt Willow, I’d end their miserable existence in the most painful way imaginable.

He fell quiet for a minute, rubbing his lip in thought.“Very well. Theterms of our agreement remain though. She needs to be pregnant within three months, or-”

“Or you hand my legacy to Elijah? Yeah, I get it,”I replied, standingfrom my seat and needing to get the fuck away from him before I pummelled his face.“Are we done here?”

His lips pursed at my disrespect, but he nodded his head, excusingme from the conversation.

Not hanging around to hear any more of his bullshit, I stormed fromthe room and headed straight up the stairs, intent on finding Willow and making her spread her legs as determination to get her pregnant streaked through me.

But I didn’t get far when I heard squeaks coming from the hallway.Squeaks that sounded like my mouse was in pain. With my heart pounding, I hurried in the direction the noise was coming from and turned a corner, only to freeze on the spot at the sight before me.

Willow’s face was twisted in pure terror as she tried to placate thecrazed woman who had pinned her against the wall, muffled sounds coming from the woman’s mouth.

The woman I hadn’t seen in over six months.

My mom.

“Mom, what are you doing?”I said, launching myself toward them,and pulling my mom’s surprisingly strong fingers from Willow’s arms.

My mom blinked at me, a hint of recognition floating into herbloodshot eyes before they glazed over again, but incoherent sounds continued to fall from her mouth.

“What did you do to her?”I hissed, looking over my shoulder at acowering Willow.

What the fuck was she even doing down this hallway anyway?

“No…nothing. I got confused, I thought your room was down here.She…she came out of a room and started trying to say something, and…and then she grabbed me,”Willow said, her voice shaky as tears welled in her eyes.

I looked down at my mom, finding that in the six months since I’d lastseen her, she’d lost weight, and had become more frail. Her long hair, once the same color as mine was now almost gray, and wrinkles marred her face, making her appear older than her sixty-five years.

“What’s wrong with her?”Willow asked on a broken whisper.

A wave of anger rolled through me at her question. I pulled my mominto my arms and glared at Willow as a tremor took hold of my mom’s body.“Get the fuck out of here, Willow, my room is back the other way.”

Dutifully, she turned, her head bowed as she scarpered back downthe hallway, and disappeared around the corner. Once she was gone, I pulled my mom out of my arms, anger turning to frustration at finding her eyes still glazed over from whatever drugs my father had given her earlier.

“Come on, mom, let’s get you back to bed,”I said, lifting her into myarms.

Even in her dazed state, she must have recognized me as she laidher head against my chest and murmured what sounded like my name. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. I hadn’t heard my mom say my name for over ten years.

I hadn’t heard my mom say anyone’s name for over ten years.

Not after my father cut her tongue off.

She’d tried to convince him to let Kiera come home, and despite hiswarnings to leave the matter alone, my mom had continued to pester him, resulting in her tongue being removed.

Ironically, despite my father’s insistence that Legion members onlymarry other Legion members, my mom wasn’t part of the society, and therefore not protected by the rule.

She’d almost died. It was a miracle she didn’t with the amount ofblood she lost. But that day, she didn’t just lose her voice, she lost her mind. She wasn’t the happy, carefree mom I’d grown up with, turning into a woman who tried to hurt herself more often than not and could only be calmed with strong pills.

I wanted to kill my father for what he’d done to her that day, evenapproaching the three other members of the board to ask permission to end my father’s life.

Of course, they denied my request.

Carrying my mom into her bedroom, I laid her gently onto her bedand pulled the covers up over her. She’d managed to calm herself down, and as she settled in her bed, her eyes found mine, recognition once again shining in them.

“Mom? What is it?”I said.

She made her usual muffled noise, trying to tell me something butfinding it impossible due to the missing muscle in her mouth. I grabbed her pen and paper from her bedside table, the only way anyone could communicate with her, and shoved the pen into her hand while I held the paper.“Write it, mom. What are you trying to tell me?”

Her hand moved, the pen scratching the paper several times beforeher hand fell, and her eyes once again glazed over. I pulled the paper away to see what she’d written, frowning at the gibberish words.

Hel So.

A sad smile tugged on my lips, figuring she’d tried to write,‘Helloson’. I needed to get my ass up to the house more frequently, but even as I thought it, I knew I wouldn’t.

I hated the ghost my mom had become.

I sat with my mom for a few hours, long after night had fallen, and thebright moon was high in the dark sky. My mom didn’t wake again, and as I watched her chest rise and fall, my head churned with thoughts of Willow.

Something which had become a regular occurrence.

After I’d kissed her in the car a few nights ago, I’d stayed at Jackson’sapartment, hoping to figure out why the fuck I couldn’t get the mouse out of my head.

But after the first day, I was slowly driving myself insane. EvenJackson threatened to kick me out if I didn’t sort my shit out.

Fortunately, a contract came in, and for the next few days, I focusedon killing my latest target, all thoughts of Willow put to the back of my head, even if I knew they were still there, waiting for a moment’s peace to annoy me again.

Staring at my mom, I sighed, feeling like the walls around me wereclosing in, and I was struggling to breathe.

I was no closer to resolving my confused feelings for Willow, and nowmy father had acknowledged she wasn’t under Legion’s protection, I knew her days were numbered.

Which was what I wanted, so why the fuck wasn’t I happy about it?

Giving up on my mom waking, I kissed her head and tiptoed out ofher room. Not ready to face going to my bedroom, knowing Willow would be waiting in my bed, I crept through the quiet hallways until I reached the game room where my father kept a fully stocked bar.

Pouring myself a generous helping of whiskey, I took a mouthful,relishing the burn in my throat as it slid down to my stomach.

“Didn’t expect you to be up this time of night, James. Thought you’dbe balls deep in your wife,”Elijah said from behind me, amusement clear in his voice.

I spun, finding him sitting in my father’s favorite leather chair with awhiskey in one hand, and a cigar in the other. Fucking moron was acting as if he’d already claimed the number one seat on the board.

“Why is it that wherever I go, you’re there?”I huffed, glowering at him.

Elijah was like one of those irritating flies, always buzzing around, butno matter how hard you tried to shoo them away, they always came back.

He’d come to live with us when I turned nine, and he was eight. Hisfather, my uncle, had passed away from a brain tumor, and in his will, he’d specified that he wanted Elijah to live with us instead of his mom.

Knowing she wouldn’t win against Legion, his mom hadn’t put up any fight to keep her son, and had left the country within hours of Elijah turning up on our doorstep.

Growing up, I’d tried to get along with him, but he was an asshole. Hebullied Kiera, tried manipulating my mom, lied, and cheated his way through school and college, leading him to where he was now; a stockbroker who was fucking clueless and lost more money than he made.

But my father adored the prick. They were both as arrogant as eachother and shared the same antiquated values. Elijah had promised my father that if he ever took his seat on the board, he’d continue pushing for all the new rules my father had been trying to implement, whereas I was vehemently against them.

The problem was, while my father was arrogant and had someridiculous views of the world, he was smart. Elijah, on the other hand, was a dumb fuck, and I wasn’t the only person who was concerned for Legion’s future if Elijah gained the lead seat on the board.

Which was why I couldn’t let it happen.

“Oh come on, James. Don’t be like that,”Elijah said, stubbing hiscigar out and standing. In several strides, he’d crossed the room to stand next to me before topping up his whiskey.“Isn’t it time we put our past behind us, and tried to be amenable with each other?”I gritted my teeth, his voice grating on me like nails down a chalkboard.“Especially when I take my seat on the board, you’re going to want me to be on your side.”

At the smug smirk that pulled on his lips, my hand curled around myglass so tightly it was a miracle it didn’t crack.

“You know,”he continued, tapping his lips. The fucker knew he waspressing my buttons and wanted a reaction from me. He was shit out of luck though, I wasn’t going to give him one.“When I take the seat, maybe I should claim Willow. I like my women submissive, and she seems very well trained.”

My jaw clenched, and I bit my tongue to the point I tasted blood tostop myself from retaliating. As much as I wanted to knock the cunt out, I was beholden to the rule of not injuring another Legion member.

“Let me ask you something, cousin to cousin,”he said, leaning intome.“What does her cunt taste like? I bet she tastes sweet like candy. And what about when she comes? It’s always the quiet ones that end up being screamers.”

Before I could stop myself, my hand whipped out and wrappedaround his throat, rules be fucking damned.“My wife is none of your goddamn business,”I growled, my voice low and deadly as my hands ached to snap his neck.

Elijah’s brows rose as he chuckled, adding to the fury rampagingthrough me.“Oh, James. You’ve never made her come, have you? You’ve got no idea what her tight little pussy tastes like, or if she grunts like a pig when she comes.”

He ripped my hand from around his throat, wisely taking a step back.With the way the whirlwind of anger was tearing through my body, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from plucking his eyeballs out, rules be damned.

Don’t react.

Don’t react.

That was the mantra that played in my head as I desperately tried tocalm myself, not helped when Elijah put his hand on my shoulder.“Don’t worry, cousin. When I’m head of Legion, I’ll take Willow as well. I’ll show her what it’s like to be with a man who knows how to make her squeal.”

His booming laugh echoed around the room as I shrugged his armoff my shoulder, downing the remainder of my drink and slamming my glass down on the bar. Elijah’s dark chuckles followed me as I stormed from the room and headed upstairs, ready to unleash my rage on the only person who could take it.