Lucan didn’t question that backstory. Then again, he really didn’t give a fuck.
“You rang,” he said as he looked at her.
“I see you’ve done some redecorating.” She walked forward, her body shifting lithely under the armored plates she wore on the front and back of her torso, as well as down her legs. “Proud of yourself?”
He had to give her credit for all that gear under her weapons. A lot of males who were all about the engagement and the militia shit were too proud, too overconfident, to protect themselves. What they saw as an admission of weakness, she saw as preservation.
She was smart like that.
Which was how she’d managed to quietly gather power, first under the Command, then under the Executioner. And now, it didn’t take a genius to figure out she was going to make her big move.
But he couldn’t let her do that, although not because he wanted to play king himself.
“It was about time to change things around here,” Lucan announced. “A new set of rules. So I’m taking over—”
“Are you.” The smile on the female’s face was about as warm as a winter squall. “You’re underpowered for a coup on the wall, just the three of you.”
He nodded over his shoulder at the body on the wall. “We’re doing okay so far.”
“Just because you killed him, you think you’re in charge.”
Raising his voice, he said, “It’s time to end this whole fucking thing. Centuries of people falsely imprisoned, working in deplorable conditions, suffering so a series of despots can pocket the money—”
“Okay, we’re done with your sermon, wolf. Step aside now and I’ll thank you for your service to me—and there will be no repercussion. Argue even one word and I have fourteen other guards in the wings—and another twenty-five I can call in. You’re not going to win this fight, wolf. You’re going to wake up dead.”
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
“No, I’m originally from Boston. It only makes sense to people from the six-one-seven. But I digress.” She smiled again, her eyes slicing into him, through him. “You three have few weapons, little ammo, and no cover. As I said, if you have a death wish, I’ll indulge it now, and then hang you and your accomplices up next to the Executioner. Or you can stand down, let me into the private quarters, and do your fucking job on the Caldwell streets.”
Lucan shook his head—and prayed Rio had done what she needed to do to save herself. “Not the way it’s going to happen.”
The head of the guards looked at the door. And smiled again, in that carnivore kind of way.
Under different circumstances, he would’ve gotten along with her better.
“Is there someone in there?” The female stepped in more closely. “Someone you’re protecting. Somebody that you have to hide because she’s not supposed to be here?”
“You’ve got it all wrong. But it’s a nice thought.”
“So you just love reeking of incense, then?” The female slashed a hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. What does, is the fact that this isn’t a game, wolf. I’m not going to let you take over this whole operation with a human just because you’re greedy.”
“I don’t give a shit about money—”
“I know the dealer you’ve been negotiating with is here. I’ve scented her in the stairwells, and she’s under that stench you’ve doused yourself in. I think you’re looking to cut everyone out, and make a fortune for yourself—and it’s not that I can’t respect the goal, but I’m not going to allow you to take control.”
“You should write fiction, you’ve got a knack for it.”
“I’m done talking. Let me into those quarters. Or I’m going to pave the way in over a bleeding corpse.”
Rio stayed frozen where she was for—oh, maybe a second and a half. Then she frantically patted her pockets. The phone. Where was that phone.
Had he taken it, too?
Glancing around the floor, she didn’t see the thing anywhere, so she dove for the messy blankets of the bed, shoving the covers out of the way, splaying her hands wide, searching for that glossy little screen—
“Thank God,” she muttered as she found it trapped at the foot of the mattress, in the one corner of the sheets that was still tucked in.
Her hands were shaking so badly she nearly dropped the cell, and she looked to the door. Tightening her hands around the key fob, she closed her eyes and told herself she had to go.