Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(15)

“If anybody’s going to kill him, it’s going to be me,” the king said.

“Oh, fuck no,” Zane said, moving closer to the bars. “He’s mine.”

Paxton knew he should be feeling fear right now. But truth be told, he just didn’t give a shit any longer. He’d broken Hope’s heart, and she would never forgive him. That was pretty much the end of him caring about anything. “How about you all have a go at me?” he offered, hoping he’d feel better if somebody knocked him out.

“You want that?” Zane muttered.

“Sure. You can go in alphabetical order. And, Zane, if you really are itching, then we can go in reverse alphabetical order. First names only, since you all have Ks for last names.” It was something that had always impressed Paxton. There were times, especially when he’d been younger, that he’d wished he could’ve been one of them. His father had hated his guts. So wearing Paelotin’s last name had never felt right to him.

It was Zane who spoke first. “You really don’t think I’ll take you apart?”

Paxton turned his focus entirely on Hope’s father. “I’m surprised you didn’t do it eons ago,” he admitted. “Do you know how many times I snuck into her room over the years?” Sure. It was mostly to hang out or for comfort when his father had beaten the crap out of him. But even when he’d gotten older, he’d snuck past the guards and the cameras to visit her.

“Of course I knew,” Zane exploded. “Do you honestly think I don’t know exactly who comes into my house?” The air grew hot and heavy with tension. “I knew you were there every time, Paxton. But you know what? Even when you were way too old to be sneaking into my girl’s room, I trusted you.”

It was like a blow to the solar plexus, and Paxton took it without wincing. Without even giving an indication of how squarely the punch had landed.

Dage studied him for a long time, silent, as Talen did the same, while Zane was so still it was difficult to determine if he was even breathing. But of course, he was. The guy probably didn’t even know that Paxton had learned all about the work he’d done as the Ghost, who most people thought was only a legend now. He wasn’t. Zane had been an assassin long ago.

The trio might be intimidating, but Paxton would never let any fear show. “How is Hope doing?”

“She’s doing better,” Zane said. “Emma has her hooked up to a bag of something, and she says the headache’s going away, although she has not been able to heal the fractured arm.”

Paxton barely hid his surprise that Zane had answered him finally.

“The twins told me how you stood in front of her and tried to save her,” Zane said. “Are you or are you not working with the Kurjans?”

“Not,” Pax said.

Zane’s gaze probed deep, and Paxton slapped shields into place over his mind. “Now would be a real good time for you to tell me what you’ve been up to,” Zane suggested, not so quietly. “Rumor has it you were able to fight way better than the twins expected.”

“I got lucky.” The urge to tell him everything nearly overwhelmed Paxton. But he’d been trained by the best. He knew how to kill, and hell, he pretty much knew how to die. Right now, he couldn’t tell them anything. “So long as Hope is safe, I don’t really care what you do with me,” he said honestly.

“Why’d you hack into my schedule?” Dage asked. “If you’d just called me, I would’ve given it to you.”

Paxton kept his lips tightly together. It had been so easy to hack into the system until Hope and Chalton had upgraded it. “I wasn’t going to kill you, King,” he admitted. “I just wanted to know where you were.”

Zane cocked his head to the side. “It’s almost like you want me to beat the crap out of you.”

If there was one thing in life Paxton knew, it was that he could take a punch. He’d spent the first half of his life taking them from his worthless father. Ironically, it was Zane who had rescued him. Zane and Talen, actually. “If that’s what you need to do, feel free,” Pax offered. He deserved it.

“It may come to that,” Zane said grimly. “First, we’re going to have a nice little chat with your uncle. The absent-minded professor has been your guardian this entire time—surely he can give me some answers.”

Paxton’s ears heated. “Why talk to him? He doesn’t know a thing.”

“Bullshit,” Zane countered. “We’re ripping apart your life right now, Phoenix. I’m going to know absolutely everything about you by tomorrow, and your uncle is right in the middle of your life. I took you to him, remember?”

Yeah. After Zane had saved Pax’s life. “Leave my uncle alone. He doesn’t know anything. He’s a guy who studies butterflies.”

“My ass,” Talen grumbled, finally speaking. “I say we see how he stands up to torture.”

For the first time, Paxton let anger sizzle in his eyes. “You touch my uncle, and we’re going to have a problem.”

Talen’s smile wasn’t nice. It wasn’t even fierce. It was cruel. “I’ll bring him to you in a box.” With that, he turned and strode away. The king gave Zane one long look and then followed his brother.

Zane remained on the other side of the bars. “Tell me your motivation for this fucked up mission was to keep Hope safe.”