Broken Pieces Read online

  “Why won’t you say?” I ask, and Killian’s eyes cut to my own.

  “I have to protect my family,” he mutters, but I don’t think he wanted to be heard.

  “Who is your family?” I ask, and he rolls his eyes.

  “He won’t tell you,” JJ says as I stand up, coming toward him.

  “Were you here to kill my sister?”

  “Yes,” he says simply, and I inhale sharply.

  Something is bothering me, though. “You’ve had plenty of opportunities to do so. Why haven’t you?” When he doesn’t answer me, only looks away, my brows pull together in confusion. “Did you not have the chance I assume you did?”

  “I did,” he barks at me, glaring, and I eye him.

  “So why didn’t you?”

  Shaking his head, he yells, “Why don’t you just kill me? Get it over with!”

  “That seems like a good idea. Let’s do that,” Jonas says, but I shake my head.

  “No, we need to find out who he is,” I say, turning my back to him and looking to my father. “Can we call on the witches? Surely they have some spell or something that can ascertain who he really is.”

  JJ nods in agreement as my father taps his chin. “Yes. Let me call her,” he says, speaking of the high witch, but when he turns, Killian looks right up at me.

  “It won’t work.”

  I eye him. “No?”

  “Nope,” he says smugly. “I’m not what you think I am.”

  “I think you’re a shifter.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Then what are you?”

  “Something that your father has tried to prevent,” he says matter-of-factly, and with that, my father looks over at us, an expression of panic in his eyes before he turns, speaking to whoever is on the phone.

  A chill runs down my spine as I watch Killian. As I really look into his eyes, trying to figure out what he is, I start to notice something. His wounds are slowly but surely disappearing, and soon all he has is blood on his face, but no wounds.

  “JJ, what creature do you know that can heal like that?”

  Coming up beside me, he glares. “Only one I know,” he says before looking over at me. “And that’s a wolf.”

  Yeah, I was afraid of that.

  “If he isn’t a shifter, does that mean he’s a wolf? Did we lose our loyalties from the Conners?” Jonas asks, his eyes a little crazy. But Killian, or whoever the hell is he, is just laughing. He finds this mighty comical. “Or did the Kelleys hire from another clan? I thought we were good with everyone. Who else did we lose?”

  Shaking my head in annoyance, I look to my brother. “Don’t go jumping to conclusions. I’m sure we haven’t lost anything.”

  “Yeah, surely the wolves wouldn’t betray you, Anus. Why would they when you’re screwing their princess?” Killian says, and I whip around, my eyes going dark as anger floods my whole body.

  “Watch your fucking mouth,” I warn, and he grins.

  “Aw, don’t like when I speak of your precious wolf? Heard she’s marrying another. Wouldn’t it be something if the Kerrigan family were the ones who hired me? Trying to kill off everyone you love before their heir marries your bitch.”

  My body roars with anger, but just as quickly as I was ready to rip his head off, I swallow it back. He’s trying to piss me off; he’s trying to put incorrect assumptions in my head. My family is fine with the Kerrigans. Even if that dog is marrying my love. “They didn’t send you.”

  “No?”

  “No, they wouldn’t. But we’ll find out who.”

  He nods very condescendingly. “Sure you will, Anus.”

  Irritated, I look back at my brother, only to find that he is laughing. “He called you anus. You know, ’cause your name is Oceanus.”

  “Are you done?” I ask, and Jonas grins.

  “What? It’s funny!”

  “Dumbass,” I mutter before looking to my father, who is approaching us. “Any word?”

  “She’s on her way,” he says, glancing to Killian. “I want to know more about what you assume I’ve tried to prevent in my community.”

  Killian shrugs. “Think real hard and maybe you’ll figure it out.”

  Father looks to me as I look to him. “Mixing of the clans?”

  “A hybrid, then?” he asks, and I shrug.

  “But don’t you kill all of them?”

  He nods. “I do. I don’t understand.”

  Before I can say anything more, something along the lines of maybe Killian was made in secret, I hear Rebekah in the hall.

  “And I ignored you. Let me go!”

  “Someone deal with that,” Father says dismissively, and I roll my eyes. Not because I know it will be me to take care of it but because he never wants to do anything that involves dealing with Rebekah. Opening the door, I find Rebekah and Cyrus struggling with each other against the wall. They don’t see me or hear me as they argue.

  “Now, brother, we both know I’m stronger than you,” she yells before slamming his face into the wall, her elbow digging into the back of his skull.

  That’s when Cyrus sees me. Reaching for Rebekah, I take her by the back of her arms, threading my arms through hers and holding her back as she yells out in frustration

  Laughing, Cyrus says, “Yeah, but you aren’t stronger than Oceanus.”

  With displeasure in my voice, I ask, “Rebekah, why are you assaulting our brother?”

  She tries to shake me, but I’m not letting go. With a sigh, she says, “He won’t tell me where you went or what happened to Killian.”

  I don’t want to lie to my sister. It’s the last thing I want to do. It will make me like everyone else in our family who treats her as a child, but I know if she finds out he is behind the door we are standing in front of, she’ll lose her shit. She’s all about saving people. Fool girl will go after him, and I’m not sure what my father will do if that happens.

  “I had to meet Father, and Killian left before we did,” I say, and she struggles against me.

  “Can you let me up?”

  “Are you going to attack Cyrus again?”

  “Not at this moment.” I nod and let her go. She turns, stretching her arms out. “Did Killian say where he went?”

  I shake my head, looking to Cyrus, hoping he can tell that we are hiding everything about Killian. “Nope, he said he had to go. I said, whatever, and then Father called for us.”

  She looks at me like I’m lying, like she can see right through me, but I stand tall, sticking to my guns. That is, until I see Irvina Kovalchik, the Grand High Witch of the Works. I haven’t seen her in years, and I expected her to be old and scary by now, but I was so wrong. Irvina is breathtaking. Like a beautiful sprite, with white skin, long black hair, and catlike green eyes. No one would expect her to be a day over thirty, but she is actually a hundred and thirty.

  Also, she’s the second most powerful person in the Works.

  She scares the shit out of me, but she is our only hope right now. We need her to tell us what Killian is. Without even looking at us, though, she walks into my father’s office.

  I look back to Rebekah, and our gazes meet as she asks, “What in the world is Irvina doing here?”

  More lies. “I don’t know, Rebekah. Go on to bed.”

  “No! I want to know what is going on.”

  Holding on to her, I urge her with my eyes as my fingers bite into her arms. “Please go to bed. Don’t fight me on this. Tomorrow, we’ll talk.”

  She doesn’t seem convinced, and she glares at me. Trying to come off as unfazed, I smile as I say, “It’s no big deal. Just some witchy shit.”

  Holding my gaze, she asks, “Does it have to do with Killian?”

  Swallowing hard, I shake my head once more. “No, Rebekah, he left. Seriously.”

  When she turns without saying more, I know she is pissed, but I can’t deal with that right now. I have to know what Killian is. I need to know more, but before I can enter my father’s office, m