CHAPTER 3

RONAN

I’m going to fucking kill him.

Damon Cardenas knows exactly what he’s doing. He has so much to gain from messing with me that he’s going after the one thing I can’t help orbiting around.

“Ronan.”

Tae’s breathy call pulls my attention away from Damon's smug grin. Somehow, Damon has gotten to Tae before me. It’s what we planned – the entire court of the western territory chiefs – but still. Having Damon get a piece of Tae before I’ve wrapped my head around what I’m to do isn’t as ‘nonchalant' as I’d expected my feelings to be.

“Get out of my office, Blackwood.”

“So you can continue pawing your student.” I step into the office, shutting the door. The sound causes Tae to jerk, pulling away from Damon.

“I don’t think the board would like hearing that their forty year old appointed president got together with his student who clearly doesn’t know better.”

Damon bristles at my threat. It’s an empty threat – he knows it, but he’s also aware that this would derail his plans with Tae.

“You can leave, Tae Yung.”

Tae doesn’t let Damon repeat his order again, giving me a wide berth as he heads for the door. His eyes rest on me a bit, a sort of pleading look in them, just as he shuts the door.

“Your father would be disappointed.”

Damon walks to his side desk and pulls out a tumbler, pouring a finger for the both of us. I’m not going to touch it, too aware of Damon’s mind games to be mentally unarmed around him.

“He would be, if he could stay awake for more than a minute without feeling faint.” I love my father, but I despised the lengths he made me go through to be the heir he desperately needs. I was still this weak boy to him, who cried after his mother died and who shamed him in front of his court of chiefs.

“I’m assuming I can put a call across to him, let him know you’re stalling and have become infatuated with your mark.”

“Then you’ll be accused of killing your Alpha with the news, and you’re too politically greedy to allow such a stain on your image.” If there was anything of substance that I could hold over Damon, it was this – his need to become alpha of the Legend pack.

Being the illegitimate second child – first son – of the Legend pack wasn’t as easy as some would think. His father had hated him, and made sure that Damon knew so as well. Now, Damon coveted his sister’s place as the Alpha and has been working with my father for over a decade to bring her down.

This little side plan he and my father had cooked up for Tae, had to be for his benefit alone. It went against the years of planning the Blackwood pack had put in place to get Tae here, and to ensnare him.

“He’ll never accept you once he sees what you are, once he knows what you plan to do to him.”

My chest burns as the words land. I think Damon has always been able to read me, to read just how much of a fraud I am. My father has pushed me for years to get rid of any form of warmth or emotional ties in my life. And I thought I’d succeeded in doing both, until I met Tae, and was looped into my pack's plans to alter his fate. Our fate.

“I don’t care about his acceptance. I care about seeing this through with as little casualties as possible. I doubt your sister would want to know why people are dropping like flies in her pack. And that’s bound to happen if you can’t pace yourself.”

Tae's Uncle, Hyun, is one of the most highly coveted assassins in the entire world. He’d abandoned that life to raise Tae after the eastern territory had been wiped. The only reason Hyun was alive was because he was on a mission. No one knows how Tae survived that attack.

“I don’t have to like you, Ronan, but if your father believes you’re more than capable to do this, I’ll just have to trust him. After all, he’s the reason I’m where I am.”

My eyes drop to Damon’s index running across his bottom lip and I’m reminded of the kiss. A swell of rage rises up inside me and I can barely hold back my reaction. It should’ve been me. I should’ve been the one kissing Tae, embracing this bond. But, I had my pack’s oath to fulfil.

Damon heads to his desk, swiping his phone off his table and thumbing at it, a smirk on his face. If I didn’t know better I’ll think he did all these – cornering Tae when he’d invited me to his office, just to get a reaction out of me.

“Stick to the fucking plan, Cardenas, then maybe we can all get what we want.”

I don’t wait for him to reply and walk out, my mind stuck on the scene I’d walked into earlier. My fist tightens, my thoughts a swirling mess of vengeful images. Things I should’ve done to Damon for touching him. For kissing Tae. Mine.

My phone chimes and I look down to see a photo message from Zeke. Clicking in to it, I take in the sight of Tae standing outside my room, his hand squeezing his nape as he stares at the closed door. Surely, he knows that I’m with Cardenas and not there, so why is he there?

Another file comes through the chat and I click play on the video. After staring at my closed door for Goddess knows how long, Tae finally punches in my lock code and soon, he’s shutting himself in my space.

A smile splays across my lips as I take it in, pleased that he caught the bait. I knew he was aware of my code – I purposely made it known. It was only a matter of time till he’ll fess up and go hunting for clues in my space.

No one knows how Tae survived the attack on his pack, and I’m about to find out .