Broken Pieces Read online

  “They don’t know he failed. They asked where he was,” Rebekah announces, and we all turn to her in surprise. “They are looking for him.”

  I nod, turning to JJ. “We need to keep it that way. No one can know we have him, and if anyone asks, Samuel fired him, and we haven’t seen him.”

  Everyone nods minus Rebekah; her eyes are wide with disbelief. I can’t deal with her right now, though. I’ll explain later.

  Jonas clears his throat as he asks, “When is the meeting?”

  “Monday,” I say, assuming he is talking about the meeting with the clans.

  “Meeting for what?” Rebekah inquires.

  “Nothing,” JJ replies quickly, but she doesn’t like that.

  “JJ, I just single-handedly took someone down, ready to kick ass until you stopped me, yet you still can’t tell me anything?”

  Everyone looks at each other and then back to her. “Nope. Nothing.”

  With that, JJ turns to leave, and we all go to follow him. We have to. We have to report back to Father and see how he wants to proceed with this.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Rebekah hollers, and I pause. I can’t help it. I can’t leave her in the dark. She just kicked ass, and I owe her that.

  “We are meeting with each leader to make sure loyalties are still intact. Father thinks Killian came on his own, not sent by the Kelleys. But now, with this, that may be different. We just aren’t sure.”

  Her little face scrunches up, and I know she is confused. “So he doesn’t suspect the vampires are working with the Kelleys?”

  Biting my lip, I slowly shake my head. “Killian isn’t a vampire.”

  Her eyes widen more. “What?”

  “He’s a shifter.”

  That stuns her. Without saying anything else, I grab her hand and take her with me out of the Clandestine. I can’t leave her there, not when people are looking for Killian. I expect her to say more, but she doesn’t, and I’m thankful for that because I don’t know what else to say. I’m at a loss for words. Not only for the situation but because I just realized there is no way I can run. This war with the Kelleys, worrying about my family, it’s taking its toll.

  I couldn’t bear a war with the wolves. I’d be terrified for Taegan, for my life, for everything.

  I’d rather she be safe and alive.

  Even if that means she’s not married to me.

  Nuzzling my nose against Taegan’s chest, I close my eyes and exhale loudly.

  “I would say my excellent lovemaking has worn ya out, but I know that isn’t the case,” she jokes, moving my hair out of my eyes then behind my ears. “A penny for your thoughts.”

  “Hope you have a lot,” I scoff, nuzzling closer. “And while your lovemaking was enough to kill me, you’re right. It’s just some stuff with Rebekah.”

  She pauses her stroking of my hair and looks down at me as I look up. “Is she okay?”

  The concern is apparent. She cares for my sister as much as I do. “Yeah,” I say with a laugh. “She actually took out a guy, not that I ever doubted her strength, but she did it. The Kelleys are out for us, my love, I just know it. They’ve sent in an assassin, but he couldn’t succeed.”

  “How do you know he is an assassin?”

  “He’s a shifter posing as a vampire. You know the guy behind the bar, Killian?”

  She nods. “Oh, okay. Wow, so he’s a Kelley?”

  “We don’t know, he won’t change back. Irvina says he is, but she says he is of Conner blood too,” I say, and then I sit up, looking at her. “Father questioned your family.”

  She seems a little taken aback, but then she nods. “With good reason, I’m sure. But we are loyal. Me more so than anyone else,” she says, kissing my nose, but then she pauses. “He has Conner blood?”

  “Yeah, do your parents have other kids, ones who were made with the Kelleys?”

  Taegan shakes her head quickly. “God, no,” she says, horrified by the thought. “Ma would kill my da.”

  I smile. “Yeah, she is crazy. You must get that from her,” I tease, and she pushes me back into the sheets before covering my body with hers.

  “You love this crazy.”

  “I do, very much so,” I agree, kissing her jaw and then exhaling loudly, everything still weighing very heavily on my heart. “She makes me nervous.”

  “Rebekah?”

  “Yeah, she’s so damn stubborn. She knows what she wants, and it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. I’m scared out my mind that she’ll go after this guy. Though she knows it would be a bad idea, she’s just so naïve, wanting to save everyone, even people who are out to kill her.”

  “She’s a good person, a sweet girl,” Taegan says, leaning her forehead to mine. “I think she’s been locked up for so long that she zones in on a problem and wants to fix it because she can’t fix her life.”

  “You’re on to something, for sure,” I agree with a nod. “But I don’t know what to do. I want to protect her. I want to kill them, all of them, for coming after my sister and putting us in this predicament. We are supposed to be a peaceful clan. Why all this fighting? Over a fucking formula for eternal life? What’s the point of it when it’s not even a good life?”

  Holding my gaze, she smiles before moving herself against me. “Not a good life?”

  I reach up, taking her face in my hands. “You won’t be mine in a matter of weeks, Taegan, so, yeah, it’s about to be a horrible life.”

  She leans into my hand, and her eyes flicker with sadness as she nods. “I know.”

  “It sucks, and I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to fight the Kelleys, and I sure as hell don’t want anyone trying to kill my sister.”

  She lays her head on my chest. “I wish I could make it better.”

  “Me too.” I close my eyes, but then she starts kissing down my chest. Opening my eyes again, I meet hers as she takes me into her hands, her mouth hovering only inches from me.

  “Maybe I can?”

  A smile pulls at my lips as I thread my fingers into her hair. “For now.”

  Kissing the tip of my quickly growing cock, she grins back up at me. “A distraction, maybe?”

  “A very welcome one,” I agree right as her mouth takes me.

  And while it is welcomed, wanted, needed, soon it will be missed.

  More than she’ll ever realize.

  Fighting with Rebekah is not what I wanted this morning.

  It’s the last thing I want, actually.

  It’s been two days since the person was sent here inquiring about Killian. And in those two days, Rebekah has been begging and pestering me for information, but I don’t know what to tell her. A part of me might be trying to protect her too, but mostly it’s because I have no clue what is going on. Which is why Father is having this meeting. We are thinking of what to do next, and truth is, I don’t think anyone knows what we are supposed to do.

  But before we can make any decisions, the door flies open, and there stands my very angry sister.

  And when I say angry, she’s shaking, and the poor guard behind her looks terrified.

  She probably threatened to kill him.

  “Rebekah, what are you doing here? You’re to be sleeping, my dear,” my father says, but even I know that’s pointless. She’s out for blood.

  Glaring, she shakes her head hard as she says, “No, I need to know what is going on.”

  She then drops into the seat at the end of the table, steam basically coming out of her ears as my father asks, “My love, what are you speaking of?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Father. I’m talking about this whole Killian thing,” she says sharply, leaning on her elbows. Man, this isn’t going to go well.

  But I understand her frustration. She wants to know what’s going on. She cares about the guy, and while I hate that, she has a right to know. I don’t think she really understands that we are doing our best to protect her. It may not seem that way to her, but we are.