Thinks he’s the one who led them here so he could publicly out me as some sort of traitor.
Little does he know I planned the whole thing.
This is no courtesy call.
He has no idea just how big of a traitor I’ll turn out to be.
In the end, the beast may consume me, but not before I’ve defeated every last one of them.
“We need to talk.” I push away from my car and crick my neck toward the large adobe estate nestled behind the large wrought-iron gates.
“You? In my house?” He works his tongue against the side of his cheek and hocks a wad of spit that lands just shy of my shoe. A feeble attempt to intimidate I choose to ignore. “Hate to break it to you, bro, but this is the closest you’ll get. You’re not fit to enter. You’re not one of us. Never will be.”
“You sure about that?” I push my sunglasses high on my forehead and return his look with red glowing eyes.
He laughs. Does his best to appear jaded and unimpressed. But I can see beyond the façade and he’s even more shaken than I originally bargained for.
“That it? That all you got?” He shakes his head, swipes a hand through his hair. “Maybe you should do that again so Xotichl and Lita can see. Unlike me, they tend to scare easily.”
He jabs a thumb toward the girls, but I refuse to look. The mere sight of them is enough to conjure a thousand memories of Daire, and I can’t afford to be distracted by thoughts of a girl I can no longer have.
He places his other hand on the wheel, shifts into drive, but I can’t let him go, not until I get what I came for.
I step forward, moving to stop him as he cranks the wheel hard and noses the truck toward the gate. Sparing me a dismissive glance, he says, “It’s like I already said, you can’t come in. You can’t ever come in. If you were smart, which clearly you aren’t, but if you were, you would’ve known that. You wouldn’t have wasted your time coming here.”
The gates swing open as Cade eases onto the drive, but I won’t be daunted. I will chase him to the front door if that’s what it takes.
“I want my job back.” I move alongside him.
He brakes, peering at me with a sardonic grin that widens his cheeks. “Not a chance.”
“Fine.” I shrug, as though it’s no big deal either way. It isn’t. I have every intention of getting my way. “Just thought I’d appeal to you first, since I heard you were promoted to manager. But, I guess I’ll go straight to Leandro instead.”
“Feel free.” Cade laughs, starts to raise the window between us.
“Leandro won’t hesitate to reinstate me. Hell, he begged me to come back last time I spoke with him on New Year’s Eve. Might make you look even worse in his eyes when I tell him you rejected me. Surely he realizes it’s mostly your fault the Rabbit Hole blew. Phyre was just a normal girl, with no real powers to speak of, and still you couldn’t stop her from endangering your entire family. Just like you can’t seem to stop Daire from thwarting your every move.”
His features sharpen, his eyes darken, but he makes no further attempt to drive on.
“Something to think about.” I bump the driver’s side door and I start to turn away. Acting as though it’s an afterthought when I turn back to say, “Oh, and by the way, in case you’ve forgotten, you owe me your life.”
“Is that what you think?” He leans out the driver’s side window and frowns.
“That’s what I know, and you know it too.”
“You saved me to save yourself.” He narrows his gaze, tries to look menacing, but comes nowhere close to succeeding.
“Did I look like I needed saving?”
He looks me over. Works his jaw. The seconds tick past.
“Face it, Cade, you’re not what you used to be. Hell, you can’t even shift into your pathetic snake-tongued beast. You’re no threat to me.”
“What’re you after?” His voice is gruff, his features sharpen again, but it’s the most he’s capable of and I can’t help but snicker in the face of it.
“Ultimately—I’m after what’s rightfully mine. The house, the town, all of it—my legacy as Leandro’s son. But for now, I’ll start with my job. Tell Leandro you had to convince me if you want. Tell him it’s your way to keep an eye on me. I don’t care how you sell it, just sell it. Though you might have trouble convincing him of anything. I think we all know he’s beginning to doubt you. You two are on shaky ground, so here’s your chance to prove that you can handle the role of both manager and next in line for Leandro’s throne.”
“And Daire?”