Beast

Chapter Twenty

“It’s official.” Dante’s father laid his tablet down with an audible thud. The silence in the room was utterly oppressive.

Dante looked between his cousins as they stood in his father’s office.

Beck paled at the news. “We’re renegades?”

Dante forced himself to speak. His cousins needed to understand how deeply fucked they were. “Every mercenary on the plane will be after you.”

Dante’s own heart seized even though he’d been expecting the news since Julian had told him what was going on only hours before. Dante knew he should be in bed, holding his wife while she recovered, but this couldn’t wait.

His family surrounded him. His mother and sister were crying. Colin looked grim, but kept holding Susan’s hand. Kaja placed a hand on Meg’s shoulder. Kaja looked tired, but resolute.

Beck and Cian were silent for a long moment, something unspoken passing between them. Meg sat beside Kaja, her eyes tearing up, but her chin had settled into a stubborn lift. She wore casual clothes, but there was no mistaking who Megan Finn was. She was a queen.

“Can you get Meggie off this plane and back to the Earth plane?” Beck asked, his shoulders squaring as though he knew he was in for a fight.

Meg appeared ready to give him one. She stood and went toe to toe with her warrior husband. “I’m not going anywhere, Beckett Finn. Do you hear me?”

Cian got up and lent his strength to Beck. “Meggie, you can’t stay.”

“Try to get rid of me, Cian. I know the way home. You can dump me somewhere, but I’ll be back.” Meg’s hands separated and grabbed a fistful of both her husbands’ shirts. “I won’t stop. I’ll fight. I’ll fight to my dying breath.”

Beck’s face was a mask of pain. It was mirrored by his brother’s own face. “That’s what we’re afraid of, love. We can’t lose you.”

“Well, man up, Beck. This is war, and I won’t be left behind.” Meg let go, her hands shaking.

His father stepped in. “None of you can stay. The Council voted twenty minutes ago. The Vampire plane has aligned with Torin. I have guards at every access point, but by morning they will have warrants to extradite you both to the Seelie plane. We have very little time to get you out of here.”

Beck shook his head. “You can’t get us out. They’ll be on us the minute we leave the Dellacourt building. You can’t save us, Uncle Alex. It’s fate that we came back here just as this happened.”

Cian’s mouth turned down. “Save Meg. Beck and I will find a way. Torin will wait to kill us. He’ll want to make it public.”

Dante’s mother stood and grasped his father’s hand. “Please, Alex. You have to help them. We can’t turn them over. They’re all I have left of my sister.”

His father looked down at his mother, love shining in his eyes. Gods, he loved his parents. Dante turned to Kaja and sent out his own love. His parents had taught him how to love. He’d always thought their wealth and position was the greatest gift they had given him, but now he could see. His parents’ passion had informed his own. Kaja was a song in his soul.

“I would never turn them over, wife. They’re my blood, too. Dante and I have a plan.” Alexander waved to the servants. They opened the door.

Vampire Meg walked in, and all eyes shifted her way.

“Holy shit, that’s me.” Meg stepped up and looked at the mirrorlike version of herself.

“That’s so cool,” they both said in unison.

“There are two of them,” Cian breathed as he and Beck stepped up. “Will you look at that, brother? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Beck slapped at his brother’s chest. “No. I know what you’re thinking. And you’re crazy if you think she’s going to do that. I’m thinking that’s twice the trouble.”

Real Meg turned, her face in a perfectly outraged mask. “Cian Finn. That is not happening.”

Vampire Meg smiled at the brothers. “I don’t know. That might be fun.”

Meg’s eyes narrowed.

Vampire Meg paled. “Or not.”

“And they call you the smart one,” Beck huffed under his breath.

Kaja had come to Dante’s side, and she slipped her hand into his. Just touching her brought him a feeling of peace. He kissed her hair and prayed he never ran into her twin. One Kaja was all he could handle. “Vampire Meg has agreed to pose as the queen. We found a set of vampire twins with the proper coloring. In thirty minutes, they are going to flee the building. Shortly after that, Beck, Cian, and Meg will leave very quietly from the ground. We have a hovercar and a group of soldiers waiting to take us to the west door. It will be guarded, but Simon Roan assures me he’ll kill anyone who tries to stop us.”

Beck turned to him. “It sounds dangerous.”

“Everything is dangerous from here on out, cos. You know the way this will go.” Dante squeezed Kaja’s hand.

Cian put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Yes. There is no other path, brother. I know you wanted to live peacefully, but Torin won’t allow it. And you know what he’s doing. If he has his way, he’ll purge the Seelie plane of undesirables, and then he will go after the other planes. We can’t duck this fight anymore. It’s time to stand. It’s time to claim what is ours.”

Beck seemed to grow taller. He took his place at Meg’s side, the three connected in ways Dante knew most people couldn’t dream of. “Then we’ll go. We’ll meet with Fergus and see what happens.”

His mother hugged all three of them. “We’ll work from here. We’ll do everything we can.”

Cian shook his head. “You have to be careful, Aunt Alana. You can’t let them know you’re helping. If it comes to it, you have to renounce us.”

His father took his mother’s hand and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Susan and Colin stood.

“It won’t come to that,” Susan said. “We have power, Ci. Once the Council realizes what our sunscreen can do, they will back off. We won’t be able to openly defy them, but we’ll have their balls in our hands, if you know what I mean.”

That was his sister, a ballbuster to the end.

He was going to miss her.

“We need to leave soon. I want to be on our way right as the decoys leave.” Dante had a bag packed for both him and Kaja, but they wouldn’t be taking much. He would have to learn to travel light.

The room erupted into chaos as his parents and sister began to argue. Dante listened to all the reasons he shouldn’t go with a patient ear. This was why he hadn’t mentioned this part of the plan until now. Meg started in on how it was too dangerous, and Cian told him to stay behind as well.

“Stop!” Beck’s command had everyone taking a step back. The room quieted. The warrior king of the Seelie Fae looked at Dante. “You know what you’re giving up, cos?”

Everything. And nothing. He was giving up everything he knew—money, power, luxury. It was nothing compared to what he gained. A cause worth fighting for. A real place for Kaja.

“I know.”

Kaja’s hand found his chest, and those brilliant blue eyes stared up at him. “Dante, you cannot leave your home. I know why you’re doing this. Please. I will fit in. I will adjust.”

He didn’t want her to adjust. He wanted his wolf. And she was wholly mistaken. “This is what I need, Kaja. I didn’t understand it before. I’m a warrior. I’m a beast, and this is my cause. Come with me. Fight with me. And this isn’t my home, Kaja. You are my home.”

She wrapped her arms around him, her answer rolling across his brain.

Yes.

Beck nodded. “You are more than welcome, cos. You are needed.”

Dante was surrounded by his family. They formed a tight circle.

“I love you, brother,” Susan said. “You come home to us someday.”

“My baby.” His mother wept unashamedly. “I’m so proud of you.”

They walked away one by one, each doing his or her part to get ready. Dante’s father looked at him.

“Do you understand what you’re doing?”

“I’m fighting for what’s right.” He waited for his father’s lecture on how naïve he was being.

His father’s strong jaw trembled. “I raised you right, son. I always knew it. You make me proud. Anything you need, you call your family. And Kaja, thank you. You’re my daughter. Dante’s told me a bit about your plane. Forget them. This is your pack. You are always welcome here, daughter.”

Kaja held on to Dante, her chest shaking with emotion. He felt her great love for his family, but he was doing the right thing. She would never belong here, and he would never be happy without her.

Four hours later, Roan proved true to his word. The guards lay unconscious, and the door to the Refugee plane opened before them.

“Your Highnesses.” Roan gestured to the doorway. “It will be a day’s journey to the Unseelie plane. The decoys have not been caught yet. We will be safe. It is my great honor to serve you.”

Beck thanked him, his face grim. He showed his wife and brother through the door.

They were on the run. They would win their throne or be buried under it.

Kaja smiled at Dante as she walked through the door.

He followed. He left his plane behind because his whole world was wrapped in one small woman. She held his heart, his future.

He would have it no other way.

The door closed behind Dante, and he faced his destiny.