“Also, reinstate the History Channel,” Wolfe groaned. “Jessie will be pleased.”
“He is!” Jessie confirmed. “Tell Daph, we love her,” he added from the back of the room before Wolfe smiled and ended the call.
Before I could react, scream, or die on my bed… Thay shifted his weight like an anchor.
“Wait,” his hand went over my mouth as he rolled onto me, pinning me to the mattress. I stared up at him, examining his calm in a dead panic. “Because this is the part where binding your soul to the bad guy becomes real.”
I blinked, metallic fury and guilt surging through my veins.
There was no world where I did not love Threx, Thay, or his beast. There, I said it. You don’t have to like it, or even understand it, but it was true. However, it didn’t mean that Lyla had to die.
“Lyla snapped a picture of us fucking in the alley at the naked party,” Wolfe began, playing with the end of his cigarette. “Which she later sold to the exchange. Little did she know, earlier that day, Karsten’s son got shot in the ankle during crossfire on a recovery job. So naturally, killing my queen was the answer because the Underworld is run by fucking idiots.” Wolfe rolled his eyes. “Not that Lyla knew, because she was too busy breaking our contract and playing her own game. One that ended with you dead.”
I swallowed, not trusting my voice yet. Not that it mattered, because Thay’s hand sat still on my mouth.
“Karsten bought the info and put a hit on Wolfe’s new queen. 50k for your pretty head.”
My heart pounded, sending black and pink splotches into my lungs.
“But Wolfe and I intercepted,” Thay explained, “before they had time to figure out it was you, and redirected their attention to the correct queen before anyone linked a name to your face.”
“You used her as a pawn?” I mouthed between his fingers. “You put the hit on her to get it off of me?”
“Shhh,” Thay whispered into my ear to keep me from dying.
“No,hedidn’t,” Wolfe turned to his side, sweeping the hair from my cheek. “I did. They were already hunting my queen; I just made sure they knew who that was.”
I killed her. She begged me to stay, and I said yes. This was my fault. I fucking killed her!
“And I am not sorry. She sold us out to my enemy, and I couldn’t give a fuck. Traitors don’t get to live in our world, and she was the worst kind.”
“Wolfe!” I gulped, attempting to breathe through the sensation of my head exploding. Lyla was a sad, discarded, lonely woman who grew up in the Underworld, without so much as a pot to piss in. Then, suddenly, she had a home, a man, and something to hold on to. That wasn’t treacherous behavior. That was desperation.
“She was scared,” I screamed into Thay’s fingers, catching my taste on his skin. “She didn’t want to lose you.”
“You can’t do that,” Thay warned, lowering his lips against the cage that held me. “Because down here, we all live and die by the same rules, and they do not give a fuck about your backstory. Or messy emotions. And neither can you. Traitors die. And she knew better.”
I winced, letting my tears fall.
“You didn’t kill her!” he said, in a small attempt to calm me down.
“Yes, I did!” I cried out.
“No. Daph, she did that to herself,” Thay breathed, holding me at his center. “But there is no end to what we would do to keep you safe, Daphne. And that truthisone you have to learn to swallow.”
I stilled, closing my eyes to shut off the pain.
“Also, as far as the club is concerned, Lyla wasn’t a traitor. Karsten’s men took her out on a revenge hit. Is that clear?” Wolfe asked, searching my face to see if it dimmed. “They can’t know the truth. Everyone’s life in this room depends on it.”
Because if they did, they would know that Wolfe chose a betrayer for a queen, which was reason enough to call for mutiny.
In a slow, compliant gasp, I nodded.
“Good,” Wolfe cleared his throat.
Never in my existence did I imagine a time when he would have to use that voice on me, and here I was, peering up at him, naked, Thay’s, but also his.
I took a breath when Thay removed his hand, the edge of his smile twitching against mine, waiting to see if this broke me. Because of course it fucking did. I didn’t want to be the reason Lyla was dead, or anyone else, for that matter.