For the Good of All (Law of the Lycans Book 7) Read Free Page A

behind. The point is I did this for you. For us. So you’d have a job, a place to come home to. So we could keep the land this house is built on.”
    “I don’t want it.”
    “What? But this,” she swept her hand out encompassing the room, “is your heritage!”
    “No. It’s yours. It might have been left to me but I never wanted any of it.”
    “You want to save the world. Well, let me tell you something Elijah, saving the world doesn’t pay the bills.”
    “And you’re paying the bills at whose expense?”
    “Small players. People who don’t matter.”
    People who don’t matter. In his mind’s eye, he could see the helpless victims, the crying children, the beaten women. Old men too frail to defend themselves or their families from the fanatical hoards. They mattered and he’d damn to Hell anyone who tried to say otherwise.
    Before he could stop himself, he’d reached out and grabbed her arm, his fingers biting into her flesh. Idly, he noted that his skin was dark from years in the sun, his knuckles scarred. Quite a contrast to Deirdre’s. “The small players matter to someone. They have lives, hopes—”
    She snorted. “Drivel spouted by bleeding hearts.”
    He yanked her close, twisting her arm behind her back. They were so close now he could stare down into her eyes. “How would you feel if the positions were reversed? Maybe you’re the bit player whose life is expendable.” Coldness crept into his heart, into his soul as he contemplated the deaths she’d orchestrated. “An eye for an eye, a life for a life. Justice in its most basic form.”
    He watched her throat move as she swallowed hard but there was no fear in her voice when she spoke. “What do you plan to do? Kill me for not living up to your high expectations?”
    “I should.” He squeezed her arm even harder and her eyes briefly flared before the calm mask fell over her features again. “You’ve committed crimes against our people.”
    “I’ve done nothing illegal.”
    “Nothing that can be directly connected to you, you mean. But you’ve coordinated the work, matched mercenaries to jobs. Jobs that have taken lives, broken our laws.”
    “And you’ve never killed? Never disobeyed the Book of the Law?” A sneer curled her lip. “We’re not so different, Eli.”
    His jaw tightened. “Only if the cause was just.”
    “And of course your view of what is just has to be right. You know, the people I’ve worked with all believed their causes were just as well. It’s simply a matter of perspective.”
    She had a point. The evilest of men might very well believe their actions were morally right. But at some point there had to be boundaries. Laws that couldn’t be broken or argued into ineffectual legislation by some smooth-tongued lawyer or rationalized away by some ranting radical. Basic laws existed in the universe. Breaking them had to be punished.
    “The world isn’t black and white, Eli.” Deirdre took advantage of his hesitation and pulled out of his grip. She walked over to the dresser and leaned her hip against it. “Why are you here? To preach about what a bad little girl I’ve been in your absence? It isn’t to kill me or you would have done it the minute I pulled that knife on you.”
    “I might still change my mind.”
    “But you won’t. We’re family.”
    He hesitated, ancient instincts, memories from his youth, warring with his sense of justice. Dee had been—still was—his baby sister. His wolf whined in confusion; at one time they’d been pack. When did that relationship cease to matter? Slowly he nodded. “Not tonight. But this will be your only reprieve.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.” She inclined her head. “Now, what do you want?”
    “Dismantle this organization you’ve built.”
    “And if I don’t?” She casually reached down and adjusted a diamond bracelet that lay on the dresser.
    “I won’t be happy.” A threat rumbled in his voice. “This stops here and