Born of Shadows (The League Gen 1 #3)(37)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

“I focus on other things.”

“Such as?”

He dipped his gaze to her br**sts that he was dying to sample again.

Heat stung her cheeks. “You’re awful.”

Like he regretted telling her the truth. “You’re the one who asked.”

She growled at him in the back of her throat. “Why is it I don’t think it’s quite so simple?

Shrugging, he decided to give her a reprieve from his lecherous tendencies. “Because it’s not. You want the truth?”

“Always.”

Caillen swallowed as old memories haunted him. He wasn’t much into sharing with anyone, but for some reason he never minded allowing Desideria inside him. Not even something as personal as the unspoken past that always hovered right on the edges of his conscious thought. “What keeps me going is this image I have in my head of my adoptive father dying alone in the gutter. I was there that day, hiding and watching him through a small crack as his enemy rolled him over and ended his life with one cold, brutal shot. It was the second worst day of my life.” Shahara’s rape had the designation of being in first place.

Desideria choked on the sympathetic grief that swelled up inside her. She heard the pain in his voice as he spoke of something she knew had to give him nightmares to this day. “Caillen, I’m so sorry. Why were you there?”

There was no missing the agony and torment in his eyes as he looked down at the ground. “It was Kasen’s birthday and my father had sold his wedding ring so that we could buy her something special since she’d been really sick that year. We’d just picked up her present when my father noticed we were being followed. I’d never in my life seen him afraid until then. He forced me to rush ahead and then he ordered me to run home. I hid instead, thinking… I don’t even remembshe kne was too terrified to think straight. But what haunts me every night when I close my eyes is the image of my father on the street, bleeding and hurt. The sound of the final blast that killed him and the faces of the people who did that to him. I wish to the gods, just once, to be able to give to them what they gave to him.”

She wished he could too. It was what they deserved. “Maybe you will one day.”

He shook his head. “No. Even if I kill them, nothing will ever make amends for me staying there in that hole, scared and traumatized, and then having to tell my sisters that we were orphans.”

She covered his hand with hers. “I wish I could take that memory from you.”

“Yeah… it blows, right? And now you know why I hate birthdays so much. Nothing good has ever happened on one. They always end up just a big kick in my teeth. And that’s my secret. Whenever I feel physical pain, I remember the day the life drained out of my father and I hold on to that. So long as I feel pain, I know I’m alive and life, even when it sucks sideways, is so much better than death, that I embrace even the agony of it.”

How different his view was from what she’d been taught. Her people embraced death. There was nothing more glorious than to die in battle. “Do you not believe in an afterlife?”

“I do. But I’m a pragmatist. This life I know is real. The other… I’m gambling on. So for the time being, I’ll take what I know even when it hurts.”

How was it that he always surprised and amazed her? Just when she thought she knew him, he exposed a depth and strength that she hadn’t even guessed existed. At first glance, Caillen seemed like a simple hedonist. But there was nothing simple about him.

And while he was definitely hedonistic, he wasn’t selfish or sociopathic.

She squeezed his hand. “I like your logic.”

“Hey, Dagan,” Chayden’s voice came through the intercom, interrupting them. “We’re approaching the Exeterian port in Mykonia. Stay low and we’ll let you know when we’re scanned and docked. So long as you stay put, they won’t be able to pick up any residuals from you.”

That was the beauty about pirates she was learning. Their ships had all manner of interesting jammers and devices that helped them to elude authorities and their equipment.

For once, they landed without incident.

Chayden and Fain came to collect them while Hauk stayed on board as a guard for their ship.

Both men had their Tavali pirate garb on, including the mask over their faces so that all anyone could see was their eyes. It gave them a feral, intimidating appearance, especially Chayden’s mask which was made of a brushed silver-colored metal. No wonder they wore them. Well that and it kept people from seeing their faces and identifying them on wanted posters.

Chayden passed them both masks that included eye shields. “So long as we’re together, they’ll think wrushed sire here for a shipment and that you two are part of my crew.”

“You’re not wanted here, are you?” Caillen asked before he pulled the mask over his face.

Chayden snorted. “Like that would be a concern given the fact that the two of you are plastered all over the media right now? Please. Don’t insult me.” Then his eyes turned a bit sheepish. “But to answer your question, there is a reason I’m wearing the mask.” And he quickly lifted his cowl to cover his head.

Caillen laughed. “Looking real brave there, pun’kin.”

Chayden made an obscene gesture at him before he led the way off the ship. Desideria kept her head covered as she traveled behind Caillen and in front of Fain. The men walked with that predatorial grace that was unique to soldiers and assassins. The gait of someone who had no doubt they could win any battle or fight.

The collective power sent a shiver over her.

Since it was well after dark, the street traffic was relatively light. Still, every transport gave her pause as she waited for the authorities to be notified and for someone to try and arrest them.

Their luck held as they approached the royal palace. Caillen pulled them to a stop in an alley across the street. Keeping to the shadows, he made sure they were out of sight for the cameras and guards.

“There’s a back way in through the servant entrance.”

Fain arched a brow at Caillen’s words. “You know this how?”

“I crawled through their security while I lived there. I had my father plug most of it, but his head a**hole thought he knew better than me, so he left a few holes intact. That one happens to be large enough for me to sneak through.”

Desideria shook her head. “Not without me.”

Caillen paused at her determined tone. “It’ll be faster if I go in alone.”

“You’re wounded and I’ve got as much at stake in this as you do. There’s—”

“Children, rest it,” Chayden snapped. “All of our necks are in the gallows on this one. Caillen, lead. We follow.”

“Yeah, but don’t get used to it,” Fain muttered.

Caillen started to argue, but realized every delay was costing them. “Fine. But keep up and follow exactly in my steps. Otherwise we’ll be seen and I really don’t feel like running away right now.”

He crept along the wall, into the back gardens. There were several dark zones in the surveillance. Part of him was disgusted that they were there after the attempt had been made in this very place on his father’s life, but the other part was grateful since it allowed them to slip inside and make their way to his father’s office.

Caillen paused at the door he’d entered dozens of times to meet withr.

Not wanting to think about it, he cracked it open and slipped inside. Completely dark and empty, it looked just as it had when they’d left for the Arimanda. Any minute, he expected to see his dad walk in.

Clenching his teeth against the agony of that thought, he went to the monitors and pulled up the surveillance for the palace. His father had everything wired to this room so that he could monitor it and see what was going on.

It only took a few seconds to locate his father’s advisor. Ironically, he was in the war room and appeared to be reading over some reports. Good. There was very little surveillance there since it was where his father met with military commanders.

Without a word, he led his small group through the servant halls that were hidden. These should be monitored too, but Bogimir and the others had thought it rude and unnecessary.

We have never in our history monitored them. Why should we start doing so now?

Yeah…

Caillen paused outside the hidden war room door to meet Desideria’s gaze. He had no plan on what he was going to say or do once he confronted the advisor. Oh hell, just wing it. That was how he flew through his life and he was too old to change his ways now.

He opened the door and snuck inside. His anger rising, he crossed the room silently and nudged the chair. The instant he touched it, the advisor fell out of it and went sprawling into the floor where he landed with a thud.

What the…?

“He’s dead,” Desideria breathed.

Caillen’s gaze narrowed on the trail of blood near the chair. A trail that led to the next room. Instinctively, he moved his hand to his blaster as he followed it.

On the other side he found his uncle.

Equally dead.

Shit. It’s a setup. No sooner had that thought gone through his mind than an alarm blared.

Fain cursed as he pulled his own weapon out to cover them. “Move it!”

They could hear guards coming from every direction. Caillen pulled out a blaster for each hand, preparing to make them regret their decision to come after them.

“Meet up back at my ship,” Chayden said before he ran down the hallway alone.

Caillen inclined his head before he grabbed Desideria by the arm and dragged her behind him.

She frowned. “This isn’t splitting up.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know where you are or how to speak or read the language. Do you really want me to leave you to your own means?”

He did have a point. “Fine.”

Caillen led her to the guard station where there were several transports parked. Bypassing the guards who were patrolling the area, he quickly commandeered one, then wired it so that he could “borrow” it to get them back to the hangar. The moment he started the engine, the guards scrambled, shooting at them.

Desideria held her breath as Caillen careened out of the lot and then eluded them. A few minutes later, they were the first ones to reach Chayden’s ship.

Notifying Hauk who was manning the guns about what was happening, Caillen rushed to fire the engines and do the prelim checks as he waited for Fain and Chayden to join them.

She went to eye the hatch so that she could allow Fain and Chayden inside. Glancing back at Caillen, she saw he’d frozen in place as he stared at the small monitor in front of him.

“Desideria?”

“Yes?”

He enhanced what he was looking at and put it up on the main display. “Any idea why Chayden has an entire file on you and your mother? One that dates back decades?”

21

Desideria was so stunned that she didn’t move even to blink until Chayden and Fain had run onto the bridge.

Chayden came to a hesitant stop as he saw what had her transfixed. Even with the mask in place, it was obvious the color drained from his face and panic filled his dark eyes.

Rising to his feet, Caillen drew his blaster and aimed it straight at Chayden’s head.

Fain skidded to a halt as he scowled at them both. “What’s going on?”

Ignoring the question, Chayden held his hands up. “Whoa, buddy. It’s not what you think.”

Caillen moved the setting on his blaster from stun to kill with his thumb. The targeting laser never wavered from Chayden’s forehead.

Never in her life had she seen anyone with a steadier hand. Caillen cut a sexy, fearsome pose as he glared in angry retribution over Chayden’s invasion of her privacy. “It better not be.”

Desideria dragged her gaze away from the screen that held every tiny detail of her life and her mother’s as well as her sisters’ to Chayden. “Why do you have all of that?”

Chayden lowered his cowl and the mask over his face so that she could see the sincerity in his expression. “You’re not going to believe me, I know you won’t, but I swear to the gods I worship that it’s the truth. She’s my mother too.” He gestured toward the files. “Obviously, I’ve been collecting all of—”

“Why?” she asked, interrupting him. “Why would you spy on us like this?”

He didn’t answer until Caillen tightened his grip on the trigger, pulling it back to let him know that he had no qualms about taking his friend’s life if Chayden had betrayed her. “You need to answer, Chay. Now. No lies.”

A tic started in Chayden’s jaw. “I wanted to feel connected to my family even if it was only from a distance. It was stupid, I know. But when you’re alone in the universe, you reach out even when it doesn’t make sense to do it.”

Turmoil filled his eyes as he stared at her. “You have no idea how isolated you feel when your own mother hates you for something you couldn’t help and wants nothing to do with you. You don’t want to crave her or the rest of your family because you know they’ll never accept you, so you stay at a distance and imagine what it would be like if your family could just be normal, even for one nanosecond.” He glanced up at the photo of her mother. “Once I heard she was dead and I realized you weren’t the one who killed her, I pulled the files I had so that I could put together a suspect list. Unfortunately, it’s long—no one should have that many enemies. But knowing our mother, I’m really not surprised.”

Desideria couldn’t breathe as all of those unexpected words slammed into her like fists. That was the absolute last thing she’d expected to hear from him.

There was no way he was her brother…

Was there?

“Bullshit,” Caillen blurted out. “I don’t believe a word of it.”