Page 209 of Cruelly Bitten

I repeated his words, my voice devoid of emotion.

Cane’s lips curled, his eyes finally opening as he released the woman’s hair, her body crumpling into a dead heap on the floor. “I look forward to it.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

SILAS

Chaos.

Complete and utter fucking chaos.

I stood in the corner of the club—or what I assumed was a club, anyway. The couches and the stage were similar to those of a lounge, but the darkened walls reminded me of the ritzy nightclub featured in a movie Rae had made me watch last month. It’d been from a time I didn’t know, one she’d been learning more about from Kylan.

All the atmosphere needed was some soft red lighting, and it would match perfectly.

Alas, the only red here seemed to be in some of the lycans’ faces, their anger a virile scent that called to my inner wolf.

“Do you think he’s been brainwashed?” Jace was asking nearby. “Similar to what Lilith attempted to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” Cam replied. “And the only way I’m going to find out is by getting on that jet with Damien.”

Darius put a hand on Cam’s shoulder, holding the man back before he could finish his step away from the group. “You’re missing history, something I think you need before you face him.”

“I can hear all of Ismerelda’s memories, Darius. I’m up to date.”

“With all due respect, you’re not. You haveherpoint of view, not mine. And I suspect I know a great deal more about the real Cane than she does.”

Silence fell, the two vampires locked in some sort of silent conversation. From what I’d learned, Cam was Darius’s Sire, making him the dominant of the pair.

But they both exuded alpha energy, enough so that the hairs along my arms danced in warning.

“This is insane,” Rae breathed as she joined me in the corner.

“Madness,” Willow echoed, the two of them having wandered over to me together.

It said a lot that no one even looked our way, those two comments lost to the ongoing debates around the room.

“Do you even remember Aurelia?” Darius demanded. “Or what she did to your brother?”

“I don’t remember her, but Ismerelda filled in the gaps,” Cam replied. “The incident with Aurelia led to Cane’s immortal sleep.”

Darius smiled, but it lacked humor. “Aurelia was far more than an inciting incident, Cam. Her betrayal changed your brother. Rid him of his humanity. Made him want to enslave the human race, just like Lilith has done.”

“I can’t believe we didn’t consider him,” Jace said, pacing. “He’s her bloody maker.”

“Who was supposed to be asleep,” Darius pointed out. “He wasn’t even on our radar. And we all assumed some rest would cure his humanity problem.”

“Yes, I find a nap often cures me of my hatred for others,” Ryder deadpanned. “Honestly, how did any of you expect to lead with notions like this guiding your principles?”

Rae and Willow shared a look, only to be distracted by a growl coming from the lycan circle. They appeared to be posturing with one another, something that was leaving my mates—who were taking part in that conversation—uncomfortable.

“It’s an ancient custom that has been used for millennia by the Blessed Ones,” Jace countered, grabbing my attention once more. “It has been shown to help their sense of humanity thrive.”

Kylan snorted. “It’s a glorified excuse to avoidliving.”

“Exactly,” Ryder echoed. “It accomplishes nothing.”

Kylan nodded. “My maker, or I suppose you would call him myfather, chose eternal rest shortly after my immortal rebirth or whatever the fuck you want to call it when we stopped aging. Regardless of the term, Kratos escaped reality and left me to fend for myself for centuries before waking once more. And you know what happened next?”