“What is it?” Kaden asked, straightening up and going instantly into alpha mode. Clayton shook his head.
"Another package arrived," he said. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought you'd want to know.”
Kaden swore under his breath. "Where?"
"It's back at the hotel." Clayton swallowed. "It's...a big one."
"Show me."
The assembled crowd behind us began murmuring. The news was passed along, and the whispers became a discontented grumble. The festive mood was instantly gone, the poppy song a mockery more than anything else now. Kaden ordered everyone to carry on as we followed Clayton out of the clearing, but I had a feeling the celebration was already over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Back at the hotel, I didn't want to enter the room where the box was being held. Ethan stood outside of it, the door closed, his face resigned.
"You don't need to look at it," he told Kaden.
"I do." Kaden gestured for Ethan to step aside. "I have to know."
I supposed I had to know too, even though the dread made my footsteps slow as we stepped inside the room. The intense smell of death and decay hit me instantly, making me gag. The box was much bigger than any of the previous ones had been, and it reeked so badly I wanted to turn on my heel and run out of the room.
When Kaden touched the box, it fell open, as if it could barely contain the horrors inside of it. A dozen heads rolled out, and I covered my mouth to stop myself from throwing up at the sight. Old, young, and everything in between, all dead now. I wasn't sure, but I suspected it was every Ophiuchus member who'd left with Tanner. All our attempts to rescue them had been for nothing.
Kaden's face was grim as he picked out a card from the box and read out loud, "'You've ignored our warnings for far too long. Return Jordan now, or every single member of your pack will face the same fate.'"
"I'm sorry," Ethan said.
"Sorry?" Kaden trembled with rage, his fists clenching at his side. "If you'd let me go up against the Leos months ago when this started we wouldn't be in this position now!"
Ethan inclined his head but didn't have an answer to that.
"Fuck this," Kaden said, throwing the card down. "I'm done with this shit. It's time we sent them Jordan's head back in a box."
"No!" I called out, but it was too late, and Kaden was already gone.
I remembered all too well the last time he'd gone to Jordan and left him barely alive. Only my pleas had kept him from finishing the job, and Kaden hadn't been nearly as mad then. I clenched my jaw and considered my options. I'd only just tentatively reestablished the peace between us, and I knew that it wouldn't take much to shatter it. But I had to keep Jordan safe. He was family—and I still didn't know what would happen to the mate bond if he was killed.
I cast Ethan and Clayton a panicked look and then teleported into Jordan's room. It had been weeks since I'd seen him, and his hair had grown long and rugged, his face resigned as he looked over at me. Chains circled his wrists and ankles, tying him to the wall—a new addition I'd never have approved of. How long had we kept him in captivity now? Far longer than he'd once kept me.
"Ayla," he drawled from his spot on the bed. "Finally decided to come visit me again?"
"Get up," I said. "Kaden is coming and—"
Before I could finish my sentence, Kaden threw the door open. It thudded into the wall, cracking from the impact, as my alpha stormed inside. He picked Jordan up with both his hands and tossed him across the room.
Jordan shook himself but managed to stand slowly, rising to his full height. He grinned at Kaden, his eyes wild. "It's about time we fought again."
“For once we're on the same page,” Kaden snarled back.
Jordan looked Kaden dead in the eye as he flexed his arms, breaking the chains around his wrists easily. He broke the chains around his ankles next, as if they were made of paper instead of metal, and faced Kaden down like a wild animal who'd finally broken free of his cage.
Shit. Was Jordan really that strong? If so, he'd been able to get free this whole time, but he hadn't. Why?
Before I could contemplate the meaning of that, Kaden lunged at Jordan, and the two alphas collided. Jordan smacked back into the wall, but then flipped Kaden over onto it, pummeling him into the stone.
The two shifters snarled and snapped at each other, fighting for dominance. I didn't think I'd ever seen Kaden act so brutal, so utterly unhinged. There was nothing human in the way he was fighting. This was pure shifter, and one aiming to kill. But Jordan was no better.
“Stop!” I shouted. Neither of them listened to me. I stepped closer as Kaden pushed Jordan into the kitchenette area. It toppled, the countertops breaking, the contents of the bar spilling from the wall. I flinched at the loud sound, as Kaden tried to bite down on Jordan's arm, who in turn rammed Kaden's head so hard into the wall it made a dull thud. I winced. If either of them came out alive after this, I'd be surprised.
“Please,” I begged. "This isn't the answer! Have you ever stopped to think that this is exactly what the Sun Witches want?"
Still, they didn't listen. Jordan opened his mouth to let out a Leo roar, but Kaden punched him in the face, stopping the sound before we all began to flee in terror. They both grappled on the floor after that, somewhere between human and wolf, claws and fangs snapping at each other. It would only be a matter of time before someone got seriously injured. And then, death.
I couldn't stand to see either of them die. I needed to make a decision fast, but I wasn't strong enough to physically make them stop. Not with shifter might, anyway. But I had other gifts.
I gathered moonlight inside me and then unleashed it at the men, blasting them away from each other and halfway across the room. They fell back and I waited to see what would happen as they lay on the ground, panting and bleeding. Neither of them seemed interested in stopping. Jordan groaned and started pushing himself to his feet. Kaden got there first and lunged toward Jordan.
I didn't think, I just acted. There was no way that Kaden wasn't going to take advantage of Jordan being vulnerable. I threw myself in front of Jordan, arms held wide. Kaden stopped, his clawed hand outstretched. His face was drawn into a terrible snarl, so deep and twisted that I hardly recognized him—but I knew he wouldn't hurt me.
“Move,” he spat at me. “I don't care if he's your brother. I'm going to rip his fucking head off and send it back to his pack in a nice little box."
“No,” I said, shaking my head furiously. “We need to talk this out.”
“You've tried that,” Kaden said. “It didn't work. Now it's time for you to choose.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“Choose." Kaden snarled at me, lips drawing back further. “Me or him. You can't play both sides forever, not when we're at war with each other."
"Please don't make me choose,” I said, my heart breaking in two. “I love you, but Jordan is my brother, and no matter how much I hate it, the mate bond still hums between us. I can't let you kill him.”