Blackthorn [3] Blood Torn by Lindsay J Pryor

to get that reaction evoked a sense of vulnerability in him that he despised.
    ‘I was perfectly in control.’
    ‘She’s poison, Jask. It’s true what they say. If you were a vampire, you’d be dead now.’
    ‘But I’m not a vampire, am I?’
    ‘No. You’re the leader of this pack and we need you. She pushed your buttons out there. You know how dangerous that is. I saw the way you looked at her. Worse still, I saw the way she looked at you. If this becomes about you and her and not her and this pack, you’re heading for trouble.’
    ‘She called me the TSCD’s bitch, Corbin. Kane’s bitch. She looked me in the eye and told me giving evidence in that courtroom made me a coward.’
    Corbin exhaled tersely. ‘If that’s what’s got you so riled, you know better. She’s screwing with your head. It’s what they do – vampire or not.’
    ‘Is she? Or is she saying what everyone out there is thinking – that I can’t protect my own?’
    ‘See – that’s what I mean. No one believes that.’ Corbin stepped closer. ‘Everyone knows you did what you had to, to free Tyler and Malachi. And being a part of exposing the TSCD’s corruption showed you’re not scared of anything. It showed that we look after our own and that we won’t be pushed around. She’s jibing where it hurts, that’s all. She’s testing for weaknesses and you’re letting her. What she thinks doesn’t matter and you know it.’
    He stared down at the dark water. But it did. What that serryn thought did matter. Reputation was everything in Blackthorn and if she believed it, others did too. And if others believed it, he needed more than ever to show he could protect what was his. He had to do his job. He had to protect his pack. And she was not going to be the one to change that focus.
    ‘Jask,’ Corbin said. ‘Reassure me again that there’s not another motive underlying bringing her here.’
    ‘And like I said last time you asked – as if I’d be that obvious.’
    ‘Really? Only your reaction to what she said proves just how much it’s been eating away at you this past two weeks since Kane disappeared. This whole collaboration between you and him was supposed to be about preventing a civil war, not instigating one. So if he has gone soft on Caitlin Parish, you don’t want to cross that line. If she’s told him you threatened her outside that courtroom, he could already be baying for your blood.’
    ‘Then he can come and face me. Because what we’re dealing with now does not change the fact that he allowed those responsible to go to trial instead of killing them as we agreed. It makes us look like we have a chink in our armour. It makes it look like I can’t protect this pack. It’s bad enough that I owe Tyler and Malachi fourteen years of their lives whilst waiting, trusting , that Kane would see our plan through, but his letting us down at the last minute has put us at serious risk.’
    ‘ If he has let us down – we still don’t know that.’
    ‘But we do know our survival depends on us not being seen as an easy target in this district, Corbin, and that vampire has undone everything we have worked for to keep our pack safe. I wasted fourteen years of not enacting my own vengeance only because I trusted Kane when he said he had a better way. So Kane and I are far from over. But if it makes you feel better, I can assure you I’ll deal with Kane only when I have time to deal with Kane. For now, he’s the least of my concerns if I can’t get that serryn to do what we need.’
    Because as much as the prospect of sending the serryn after Kane had crossed his mind on seeing her, this was about farmore than that, especially as his attention reverted to what he’d almost missed – something that was either paradoxically a ray of light or a pending disaster.
    ‘You saw those tears, right?’ Jask asked.
    ‘And?’
    ‘They weren’t fake.’
    ‘So?’
    He rested his hands on his hips. ‘Serryns don’t cry, Corbin.