Free Twilight War by Storm Savage Page B

sense of justice.
Everything I told you about creepers and the Satellite, I learned
from Coop.”
    Flame pretended
not to know anything. She simply scowled at him in heated silence,
furious over his deception. Whatever reason Ian had for coming to
her, she forced herself to endure yet another round from the evil
realm if only to uncover the truth.
    “What about
your first wife? Did you make that up, too?”
    “No! Hell no.
They took her, too, just like they took my Cassie. They used my
first wife as an example, to show me what they were capable
of.”
    “I’m sorry.”
She stared warily at him. “Why are you here?”
    “I miss my
friend. Raef didn’t deserve to die. I’ve come to tell you the
truth. Raef would want me to.”
    Flame eased to
a sitting position on the edge of the bed. “About what?”
    “Coop was
ordered to take over Von’s biker group then kill Von. He was slated
as the next Satellite. When Von returned in his immortal form, he
didn’t rejoin the Soldiers as they belonged to Coop by then. The
animosity between him and Coop, well, I’m sure you can imagine what
being dead does to someone. Von was beyond pissed off. He started
the Black Pythons to build a new following.”
    “Why did Coop
take over the Soldiers if Von was out of the way?”
    Ian arched one
brow. “Oh…I see Von hasn’t spilled his guts. I’m impressed.”
    “Von and I
aren’t exactly friends.” She wasn’t about to reveal anything she’d
heard.
    “Every
Satellite needs a pack of creepers. They serve as eyes and ears to
their leader. Coop failed but since he was the first, the master
sentenced him to a life of misery on earth instead of the burning
sulfur pits. He believed that Coop would be more useful as a
recruiter and he was right. Coop is ruthless.”
    “Coop was the
first Satellite?” She controlled her rage and feigned a shocked
expression. She even added a gasp of dismay for effect, to keep
Von’s confidence.
    “Yeah and he
does not have a soft spot for you as Von does.”
    “Great, now
there are two Satellites. Thanks for the warning.”
    “I’m not
done.”
    Flame sighed.
“Of course not.”
    “There are more
people involved than you think. The whole thing was a setup, Flame.
I was instructed to lure you out to LA, play on your sympathy, and
persuade you to help me go after the Satellite. Nobody considered
the possibility that you might win.”
    “You lied to
me…a lot. What about Raef? Was he in on it, too?”
    “No, Raef is
innocent. He truly loved you.”
    “Why, Ian, why
did you set me up?”
    “I had no
choice. Coop told me what to do and how to run the show. They
threatened to use Cassie as a backup surrogate if I didn’t
cooperate. I knew they’d do it if I failed, after seeing what they
did to my first wife. As you can see, it didn’t work out very well
for me the second time around either.”
    “How did you
get hooked into the evil realm?”
    “I married the
wrong woman. She was an ancient. They killed her as a warning to
me.”
    “Why didn’t you
contact me privately? Maybe I could’ve helped.”
    “I couldn’t
risk it. Cassie was supposed to betray the realm and get me out.” A
distant look filled his colorless dark eyes. He was clearly
drifting. “Your ex-husband spread word that Hatch was going to hurt
you.”
    “Yeah that
seems to be the story. Von tried to convince me that Aiden
kidnapped me because he thought I was in danger.”
    Ian spoke in a
flat tone, no emotion at all. “That story is unclear. I am not able
to sort the facts. Nobody has ever broken free of Twilight.”
    “Now why would
Hatch want to hurt me?”
    “I wouldn’t
know. But that’s what your ex told Von.”
    “Von was telling the truth,” she muttered in disbelief. She thought about
what Von had told her on the night he almost won. She hadn’t
believed him and accused him of trying to manipulate her with the
story about Aiden and his crazy ideas.
    “They weren’t
supposed to hurt you,” Ian