Page 22 of Haunted Nightmares
Lydia is out, Declan would know if she were the double agent and sharing blood or not, he’d kill her himself for betraying me.
I don’t imagine Orion or Aries would defect. They were rather excited to participate in my cause as soon as they learned of it but they’ve had more than enough opportunities to show their arse since then. If they truly wanted me out in favor of the Counsel or complete anarchy, I suspect they would have made a play after killing their cousin. Not to mention, those two as well as most of my supporters don’t know how to shield their thoughts from me completely, and I would have heard or felt something by now.
Then again…
“You were consumed by your mate.”
I frown as Zenlothanai says exactly what I was thinking.
“You were fixated on her, obsessed from the moment you saw her. Lust, love. Claiming what was yours. You were so blinded by her light you couldn’t see the filth. You didn’t see how dirty they all are, didn’t see how unclean everyone around you was as they conspired behind your back.”
I shake my head, my fingers drumming harder against the table.“No. No, I refuse to believe it. The traitor wasn’t always such, hadn’t always been plotting against me. If it was all of them or anyone close I would have?—“
“Known?”They laugh, a sense of dread rushing through me at the sound.“When would you have seen the change? Whilefinally, after years of hiding in your father’s shadow, you set a ridiculous plan into motion? During the months spent collecting drugs and humans for that silly orgy?”
My jaw clenches as my nails scrape against the oak beneath them.
“Or perhaps when you were stalking Zephyr? Following her all over New Orleans like a pathetic little puppy? No, not then. It was when you forced her to mate you. When you violated her purity and took what you wanted with no regard for her at all.”
“Stop.”
Zenlothanai begins to laugh harder, the multiple tones slicing through every inch of my body, cutting to the quick before dragging the razor sharp sound over my nerves.“Surely you would have noticed during the farce you calledmated bliss, all the pretending there was nothing to worry about as you fucked your thoughts of taking the throne from both of your heads.”
“Shut up, you vile, worthless?—“
“Ah, we know. You figured out there was a spy amongst your ranks when you stopped using your vast power and allowed the Counsel to forcefully remove both you and your mate from your home then murder your belovedgentle breezeright before your eyes. That must be it.”They grin wide as they appear directly in my mind’s eye, their ever-swirling and shifting form nearly vibrating with glee.“You call everyone else stupid, daft and moronic for their behavior but what about you, our king?Youwere the one completely oblivious to what was going on around you and now your mate is dead, and everyone you trusted has participated in the conspiracy to have you eliminated.”
Growling in warning, my heart begins to race as my stomach rolls, twisting into knots while the darkness spreads beneath my skin.
Theseare the thoughts that play on repeat, the regrets and paranoia that have spun on a loop.
My shortcomings, my ignorance. The things I was far too stupid to see for myself, and my inability to balance all facets of my life as well as the consequences that followed.
This is how I’ve been torturing myself, and why killing everyone involved has become my only means to an end.
“Yes,”Zenlothanai hisses.“It is the only way, the only way to make it all stop. Cleanse them, clean up the race you were once proud to be a part of. You can start again. Start with your circle then hunt down the others, kill them all, feed your hunger. It is the only way for you to be free. It is?—“
“Sorry about your wait.”
My gaze snaps toward the door of the conference room as it opens, another growl rumbling up from my chest as it does. The raven quickly leaves its place in the corner to perch on my shoulder, its talons and overall presence immediately grounding me enough to realize I’ve broken the corner off the blasted table.
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to relax, leaning back in my chair, propping my weight on one arm before spreading my thighs and cocking my head to one side.
I watch as the human president walks nonchalantly to the opposite end of the long table between us, the berk looking every bit the arrogant and entitled man he is.
Deveroux is only in his sixties but his career choice has aged him terribly.
The darkly dyed combover held firmly in place with so much grease there’s a glare off his incredibly round head, his bushy eyebrows and droopy lids hiding what I know to be shrewd and beady eyes. The jowls do nothing to hide a shitty bone structure—not that he’s using them for that—covered in so many wrinkles he looks a bit like one of those ridiculous dogs my bitch mother kept when we finally settled here.
Bloodhounds? Bulldogs?
No… Shar-Pei, that was it.
This slimy prick looks like a goddamn Shar-Pei, and it’s hard to believe Deveroux was ever a man to be feared because of it.
“Got caught up downtown,” he says as he sets a briefcase on the table. “Ribbon cutting ceremony. It’s a small potato kind of thing, not something for the president to do.” Deveroux lies poorly—it’s almost ten o’clock at night—chuckling to himself as he unbuttons his coat and sits, several Secret Service men surrounding him as he scoots in his chair. “But I was mayor for a long time, a senator after that and it only seems right to try to stay… connected to my…”
His words trail off as Deverouxfinallylooks at me, and I can’t help but smirk at the look of shock that quickly passes over his face.
