“THEY’RE COMING?” MY eyes popped wide as instant terror iced my veins. “What do you mean they’re coming?”

Elder tossed the unwanted cell phone at Selix and marched/hopped directly toward me. The torment swirling in his gaze shuttered, blocking me from reading him. His jaw tight and unyielding, a master of the situation with all the answers and no uncertainty. “I mean, I need to get you out of here. Right now.”

“But—”

A black blur charged, bowling into Elder, wrapping furious fingers around his throat and slamming him against the wall. Elder groaned as his body suffered yet another attack.

Q panted in rage, his hand white from squeezing as he repeated my question with venom. “What the fuck do you mean they’re coming?”

He lost all hint of being generous and friendly, showing just how nightmarish he could be. The blackness on his face reminded me all too well of the men I’d been sold to and the life I’d once led.

I wanted to save Elder, but I couldn’t stop the self-preservation in my blood. Falling backward, I bumped into Tess who grabbed my hand. “It’s okay. He’ll calm down in a—”

Q roared, shaking Elder who chopped both his hands on the grip Q had around his throat. With a twist and skill gained from years of fighting, he dislodged Q and stood braced like a predator about to attack. “They looked up my browser history. The last thing I searched was you, asshole.”

“And you didn’t fucking wipe it? You didn’t encrypt it?” Q dragged hands through his hair. “For fuck’s sake!” He launched into a tirade of French, growing louder and harsher with every syllable.

Tess stayed beside me, knowing not to interrupt anything—human or beast—when their temper was this unravelled.

“I can’t believe this!” Q snarled, switching back to thick English. “I can’t believe you’ve brought danger to my family. To my wife. To my son! How the fuck could you?” His eyes turned wild, nostrils wide, skin white with fury. “I failed my esclave once. I let her be taken because I was a goddamn idiot and didn’t cover my tracks. And now you’ve gone and done the same fucking thing!”

He whirled on Elder, slamming his arm against Elder’s collarbone, pinning him once again to the wall. “This is your fault. This is your mess. Get the fuck out.” Grabbing Elder by the scruff of his t-shirt, he yanked him toward the door. “Get out. Now!”

Elder tripped and whatever decorum he clung to shattered as his ankle bent and pain drenched. He matched Q’s anger lash for lash.

Tearing Q’s hold off him, he shoved the Frenchman and stalked him. “Don’t lay another fucking finger on me.” He pointed at me. “She is the only thing I care about, and believe me, we’re leaving. I’m not staying here for those assassins to take her from me.”

“So you’d let those assassins take my family instead?” Q laughed bitterly. “What a fucking cunt.” Another stream of French fell from his lips as Tess stepped toward him and laid a gentle hand on his heaving chest.

He breathed hard as Tess murmured things I couldn’t hear. Her gaze fixed on her husband, imploring him to calm down and listen.

Slowly, breath by breath, Q blinked away his bloodlust and focused on whatever his wife said.

Elder spied his opportunity. “Come on, Pim. We’re leaving.”

I froze to the spot.

I’d only ever known Elder to be selfless and hold family—any family—in the highest regard. The fact he wanted to leave Q and Tess alone to face the Chinmoku, knowing how deadly and ruthless there were with no support——wasn’t right.

It went against everything I knew about Elder.

It made me wonder if he wasn’t as pure hearted as I thought.

Shaking my head, I crossed my arms, rubbing at a sudden awful chill. “We can’t go.”

Elder hobbled toward me and grabbed my bicep. “We can, and we are.” Dragging me toward the front door, he muttered, “The sooner we leave, the sooner we can intercept the Chinmoku.”

My heart kick-started again with a flash of understanding. He wanted to leave, not to avoid whatever battle was about to happen, but do his damnedest to prevent it from happening here—where innocent babies and a marriage that had no right to be caught up in Elder’s ancient war existed.

I fell into even deeper love with him, willingly moving toward the exit.

Selix pulled his gun from his waistband, clicking open the chamber and counting whatever bullets he’d stocked it with. “If we’re going to do this, we need more ammo, Prest. I’m with you one hundred percent, but we don’t know how many there will be and—” He looked Elder up and down. “You’re not exactly a weapon yourself right now.”

Elder brushed past him, jumping on one leg down the steps to the driveway. “I know how many there will be. Thirteen.”

“How do you know that?” Selix trailed after us.

“I know because that’s how many the leader takes with him to exterminate those he’s lost patience with.” Elder smiled tightly. “Men like me.” His fingers bit into my arm as he guided me across the lawn to the awaiting helicopter.

Selix’s eyebrow rose. “If we’re intercepting them, why are we going in the helicopter? It will be too hard to spot them. We won’t be able to land. We’ll be stuck shooting the ten measly bullets I have from the air.”

Elder huffed as his body dared remind him it wasn’t up for a trek so soon after being injured. “You’re going in the helicopter with Pim. You’re going to take her somewhere safe.”

“Oh, hell fucking no.” Selix slammed to a stop. “I suppose you think you’re going to fight them on your own, right?”

Elder didn’t answer, but the set of his body and steely glint in his ebony eyes said that was exactly his plan.

What?

No, no, no…

Selix laughed coldly, arguing before I could. “Be realistic, Prest. They’ll kill you the moment you find them.”

“Exactly,” I managed to puff. “It would be suicide—”

Elder’s fingers dug deeper into my arm, silencing me. “I know.”

“Then you can’t be serious—” Selix and I asked together with matching threads of horrified disbelief.

“I’m deadly serious.” Looking at me, Elder’s face melted with utmost love. “I’m so sorry, Pim.”

Tears instantly sprang to my eyes. Tears fashioned from understanding that he carried far too much responsibility and guilt and shame and knowledge that he’d caused this and it was time he finished it—even if it meant ending it in the way he’d tried to avoid all these years.

By dying.

“No, El.” I couldn’t stop my wet sob. “You can’t.”

“I can if it means you stay safe.” He stopped, dragging me close and cupping my cheek. “I love you, Pimlico, but I’m not being fair to you by dragging you around the world hoping to stay away from these men. These men I used to work for.” He bent his head and kissed me ever so softly. “These men I invited into my life and haven’t been brave enough to face ever since. This is my cross. Not yours.”

I cried out at the blistering, excruciating pain that this might be the last time I ever kissed him, the last time I ever saw him.

No!

He can’t do this.

Clinging to him, I cried, “This can’t happen. I won’t let it happen. We’ll come with you. We’ll help you fight.” Even as I promised such things, I knew I would never be able to keep them. I was utterly useless when it came to war. I would be nothing more than a hindrance, a shackle.

If only he was healed. If only he was capable of taking on thirteen highly-skilled fighters and winning.

“Please, Elder.” I clutched his t-shirt, not caring if I prodded bruises or poked stitches. “You can’t do this. You can’t. Let us come with you.”

If only to let us die together.

Dying beside him was better than dying decades from now after a lifetime without him.

He chuckled sadly, kissing my forehead. “I have no doubt you would fight any manner of evil for me, Pim, but I can’t let you do that. I love you too much.” Kissing my mouth, he pushed me toward Selix. “Go. Before it’s too late.”

Selix crossed his arms, neither grabbing me nor fighting Elder’s stupidity on martyrdom. “Don’t do this, Prest. Like Pim said, it’s suicide.”

Elder’s eyes flashed. “If my death means they’ll leave the people I love the fuck alone, then is it really suicide?” He breathed hard with dreadful passion. “I’ve been living a lie, telling myself I would do anything to avenge Kade and Otōsan, when really, I’ve been running this entire time. All I need to do is let them kill me. Then this—this horrible, shitty mess—is over. I should’ve done it fucking years ago. I see that now.”

I bent over, hugging myself as another crash of sorrow and frustration battered.

How could he?

How could he talk about dying as if it was his choice whether to extinguish his life?

Don’t I have a say?

Don’t I have a right to disagree?

He shouldn’t have to die. None of this was normal or acceptable. There had to be another way.

Anger devoured my panic, snapping my back straight and balling my hands. “I won’t let you do this.” I wanted to jump on him and tell him what an idiot he was being. I wanted to waste every breath and pay every tear if it meant I could somehow change his mind. “You can’t.”

Even as I shouted in his face, I knew it was pointless.

I knew Elder.

I knew he was stubborn.

And I knew he was proud and loyal and old fashioned in his role as protector. My and Selix’s arguments would fall on already decided ears. Elder wouldn’t listen. He’d stay steadfast to the plan he believed benefited everyone.

“Elder…please, please don’t do this,” I begged quietly, relinquishing my anger as quickly as it’d arrived.

He flinched, swaying toward me as if every molecule and heartbeat demanded he obey and grab me. His fingers fluttered in my direction, his eyes turned glossy with bone-deep need, and he bit his lip so hard he drew blood, fighting the connection, the link, the emotional rope binding us together.

“I…I’m sorry.” With balled hands and stiff joints, he backed away from me instead of succumbing to the blistering bond between us. He back-stepped toward the black Town Car Q had pulled up in when I’d first seen him holding Lino. “I’m so sorry, little mouse.”

“No!” I dug my toes into the grass to run after him, to glue myself to his side if need be, but a booming French voice silenced the night-time chorus of cicadas, freezing all of us. “Arrêtez. Stop. For fuck’s sake.”

Leaping down the front steps, Q kept his hands balled as Tess trailed after him, her blonde hair the only thing light in the black night.

Stalking to Elder, he growled. “I hate you for this. I hate that you’ve brought death and decay straight to my door.”

Elder vibrated with hostility. “I know.”

“What will happen to my family?” Q paced in front of him. “What will happen if they come and you’re not here?”

“I’ll cut them off before they arrive. They won’t—”

“But if you don’t.” Q slipped into dangerous darkness. “If you’re not here? If you don’t find them in time?”

Elder stood taller, accepting blame but unwilling to buckle beneath his enemy. “They will kill everyone. As a message…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, visualising the carnage. “Fuck.”

“Exactly.” Q dragged fingers through his hair as if trying to keep his hands busy so they didn’t punch Elder in the face. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Elder’s head snapped up. “I don’t bow to you, asshole. This isn’t your fight. It’s mine.” Stalking toward Q, he shoved him back. Rage cloaked him, overflowing from the well of emotional pain he always carried. “I ought to have killed them fucking years ago. I know that. I blame myself every goddamn day that I still haven’t faced what I should’ve faced the day they made me into what I am.”

His features turned brittle and black. “They took from me and I still haven’t taken from them. Don’t you know the fucking guilt I carry? Don’t you get the depth of shame that I haven’t fucking fixed this? That I continue to put those I love in danger? That I haven’t delivered the revenge I swore I would deliver?”

He pointed at me with a shaking hand. “Don’t you think I’d rather stand and slaughter every bastard in order to deserve her? I’ve failed her time and time again and it fucking rips me to shreds that even now—even now, on the eve of finally ending a lifetime of regret and misery, I can’t do anything to save her.”

Silence fell as Elder stormed away, masking his limp with sheer temper. Whirling around, he snarled, “You might not get honour, Mercer, but I’ve lived a lifetime being cast from it. Dishonour is the only thing I know anymore and if it means I have to leave the one thing I love most in the world to finally earn a smidgen of self-fucking-respect. Then, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it goddamn takes to fix this. To end this.”

Q didn’t speak.

No one did.

Elder’s outburst faded from shout to soul.

Breathing hard, Elder shrugged as if he had nothing left—no other way to prove his dedication to this disaster. “I’ll find them before they come here. I’ll stop them before they kill anymore—”

“You’ll die so others might live.” Q backed down, his fury beaten into submission by Elder’s.

Elder stiffened with loathing. “Exactly. It’s the only thing I can give and I’m willing to give it. I’m willing to die…for her.”

“Fuck.” Q looked at the ground, laughing sickly as if he couldn’t quite believe the offer he was about to extend. “I hate you, Prest, and I’ll never fucking forgive you for putting my family in danger but…merde, I can’t let you die for your stupidity.”

He looked up, eyes on fire and reluctance in every vowel. “I made my own mistakes by shooting you and bringing you here. My wife kindly reminded me that I played a role in this catastrophe, and you just reminded me that honour separates man from monster. I can’t kick you out when you most need my help.”

“I don’t need your help, Mercer,” Elder snapped. “This was never about you. This is about me protecting what I love.”

“Yes, and this is me protecting those I love. You leave, you die. You stay, you might live. We all might live.” Glancing at Selix then back at Elder, Q grunted, “Hatred can blind us, but for now, I can see. And the only scenario I can see is the one where you stay.”

“If I stay, they’ll—”

“They’ll come.” Q shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ll stay. They’ll come. But that’s the last thing they’ll ever do. We’ll fucking kill them and be done with this.” He smirked coldly. “At least then I can go back to hating you with a clear conscience.”

There had been another way.

Elder didn’t have to die, but the stubborn ass didn’t move or accept the truce. He studied Q as if he hadn’t spoken English—as if his offer was riddled with booby-traps.

And perhaps it was, but for now…Elder doesn’t have to die.

Q sniffed and muttered a French slur.

Yanking his hand from his pocket, he held it out spear-straight, poised for Elder to accept. “What are you waiting for, Prest? We have a fucking war to win.”