by Love, Dianna
“This is why it’s hard to talk to you.”
“What do ya mean?”
“You expect me to accept anythin’ you say when you aren’t willin’ to hear me out.” Her fingers fisted, but she put her hand on the desk and forced her digits to open.
Daegan wanted whatever she knew about him and his Treoir family? She’d love to tell him she knew the stories of how his red dragon had murdered everyone long ago, plus how Herrick stepped in to save the Luigsech squire family.
Not happening.
That would require admitting she knew about the ice dragons and ... oh crap.
She froze at the rest of that thought.
Sitting before her might be the only person who knew where to find Skarde.
Chapter 2
Quinn blinked as the swirling colors and disorientation of teleporting from Ireland back to the United States subsided. Jet lag stressed a human body traveling four thousand miles by airplane from a country five hours ahead in time, but teleporting was no simple leap for a nonhuman either.
His head had to catch up. When his mind cleared, he stood in Piedmont Park just north of downtown Atlanta. Heat that had built up during a normal summer day assaulted him.
Right place.
He’d like to eat and grab a shower, but he needed to take care of business here as quickly as he could and return to Ireland to help Daegan find Tristan.
Plus, Daegan had no one watching his back, certainly not that Luigsech woman.
Glancing around to be sure his arrival had been viewed by no humans, he stepped out of the shadowy copse of trees Daegan used often for teleporting into the city. Threatening clouds offered some relief from the blazing sun for the few willing to brave a visit to the park.
Not surprising with preternaturals being spotted in Atlanta.
Quinn headed for the street bordering the park while sending a text for a driver to meet him immediately. With confirmation one would arrive in less than two minutes, he sent a brief message to Trey, letting him know he’d returned. Trey had been slammed with telepathic communication when Quinn left and would probably appreciate a text instead.
For a Tuesday afternoon, Piedmont Park hosted its usual diverse groups of people running, sitting on blankets with a bottle of wine and cheese, throwing frisbees for their dogs, and one couple pushed a double stroller with a dog in tow.
As a dark sedan approached, Quinn widened his stride to reach the car quickly. He waited for the window on the passenger side to lower and Quinn tossed Luigsech’s mobile phone on the seat. “Have the techs go through that to find everything they can. My first priority is for them to determine the location of a woman named Fenella Connell, who is associated with Casidhe Luigsech. I also want any additional information they can find.” Fenella’s last name had been on all of the paperwork at the centre.
“Yes, Maistir.” The car drove off.
Evalle’s voice came into his head. Quinn. Where are you? We need help.
Quinn had started to smile at the sound of her voice, but he quickly replied, Piedmont Park. Where are you and what’s happening?
Need you to get up to VIPER headquarters as soon as you can. This place is being overrun by demons and Imortiks!
I’m on the way, Quinn rushed to assure her.
Trey’s voice burst into his mind next. VIPER is being hit hard. Can you help?
Absolutely. Have Brina teleport me to the entrance of VIPER in fifteen seconds. That will give me time to find cover from humans here in Piedmont Park.
I’m on it, Maistir.
Quinn spun and headed for dark shadows in the trees. This new development just killed any hope he had for a quick visit to the Treoir realm to smooth over how he and Reese had parted ways in Ireland.
She might not be happy with him, but she was safe from Imortiks and demons. That mattered more at this minute than making her smile.
He’d have time for that and to discuss the baby once they found Tristan. As soon as Reese understood that he knew about her pregnancy and he accepted full responsibility, they could finally move forward.
Even more, he wanted her to know he cared deeply for her.
He barely made it out of view with a second to spare when his body got yanked into teleportation.
When he opened his eyes, he stood at the entrance of the mountain shielding the VIPER headquarters.
The entrance should be hidden by a sheer face of rock.
There should not be a wide open maw with screaming and yelling going on inside.
Quinn ran in to find Evalle, her mate Storm, four Beladors, and four bounty hunter contractors for VIPER in a battle with ten, maybe twelve, demons of all types and two Imortiks.
One demon also glowed yellow. Hell! Three Imortiks.
Quinn had to get his people working in teams. He shouted telepathically, Beladors, do not link, but team up in pairs. Storm can shift into a black jaguar. Do not attack his animal.
Evalle didn’t even look over her shoulder when she repeated Quinn’s order out loud to Storm.
Two sets of Beladors paired up, taking on three demons each.
Evalle hit the Imortik demon with repetitive kinetic blasts, knocking it back into two other demons. She couldn’t keep that up long, but her attack allowed Storm to shift into his massive jaguar.
Storm’s coal-black jaguar roared and rushed the Imortik Evalle fought. She pulled back her kinetics at the last second. The jaguar ripped into the Imortik that clawed the giant cat.
One of the bounty hunters screamed.
Jerking around, Quinn watched in horror as an Imortik dove into the body of a bounty hunter with a black mohawk. Quinn shouted, “Bounty hunters, pair up and protect your backs!”
They sort of followed his orders.
That was all he could do for them. As Maistir, Beladors were Quinn’s first concern.
Where was Sen, VIPER’s liaison and immortal guard over the headquarters?
Quinn jumped into the fray, slamming kinetics to knock aside a demon, aiding a pair of Beladors who quickly terminated the creature. It turned into gray dust and vanished.
He called telepathically, Sen, where are you? You’re being overrun at VIPER’s entrance.
Sen replied in a hoarse voice. Like I don’t fucking know that? I’m underground fighting my own battles.
Quinn moved with blinding speed to help his people. With the Beladors’ opponents under control and Storm’s jaguar backing up Evalle, Quinn turned to give the bounty hunters a hand.
The one that had screamed was now on the ground, writhing in pain. While the other three bounty hunters battled an Imortik and a demon, the one on the ground stopped shuddering, shook his head, and jumped up.
Now the black mohawk guy glowed bright yellow and went after his three human associates, who had their back to him. Quinn slammed that newly turned Imortik with a massive hit of kinetics, adrenaline driving his blast as much as Belador power.
The yellow bounty hunter had a body fit to compete in world wrestling. But when he banged into the rock wall Quinn drove him into, the new Imortik turned eyes wild with insanity on Quinn.
No one home there anymore.
But like Devon, one of their Beladors locked under this mountain who had not been turned long enough to become fully Imortik, this guy might be salvageable.
Quinn considered using mind lock, then tossed aside that idea. He’d already tried that move with an Imortik and the immediate backlash had taken him to his knees.
The mohawk guy came at him with needle-sharp teeth now in his wide mouth. His fingers grew dark claws the size of a grizzly’s.
Quinn swung one kinetic blast after another at his head, smacking the glowing bounty hunter back and forth. His plan had been working just fine until the mohawk guy dove preternaturally fast beneath Quinn’s blasts and lunged for his leg.
Quinn spun around.
Claws ripped his pants, barely missing his leg.
His heart pounded fast in his chest. Quinn could not allow an Imortik to tak
e him over.
Quinn used his fists to hammer kinetic blasts at the mohawk until the claws withdrew. The Imortik bounty hunter pushed up to jump Quinn.
Sen flashed into sight, took one look at them and pointed at the Imortik bounty hunter. In the next instant, the glowing yellow body flew up in the air and slammed the ground headfirst.
Blood splattered Quinn’s chest and face.
The other three bounty hunters had lopped the head off their Imortik.
Quinn sucked in air for three fast breaths. “Did you have to kill the bounty hunter, Sen?”
Two of them turned and stared at the bloody pile Sen had made of the Imortik bounty hunter and shrugged.
Evalle came rushing up to him with her ball cap knocked sideways. “You all right, Quinn?”
“I’m fine.”
Storm’s jaguar showed up right beside Evalle and cocked his head at Quinn as if wondering why Quinn had just lied.
Hands on hips, Sen stared at Quinn with disgust. “You wanted to keep that alive? I won’t waste my energy next time until after you lose your body to an Imortik.”
Quinn rebuked, “That bounty hunter had been human minutes ago before the Imortik jumping him. If it requires three weeks to completely take over a body, we might have saved him.”
“After this fiasco, the Tribunal will likely declare a kill-on-sight order. I’m just getting ahead of the curve by starting with him.” Sen issued that in a cold voice that said he wouldn’t lose sleep over one dead bounty hunter, but that same voice had come out raw as if he’d been yelling for an hour.
Quinn took a hard look at the VIPER liaison. Sen’s skin had been burnt in spots. A chunk of long blond hair was missing from the right side of his head, exposing a raw wound. Blood ran from slashes across his body and his face. The jeans he wore had not been ripped, which meant he’d just conjured them before appearing here. But bloody spots stained the front of his thighs.
Sen should be able to heal himself in seconds.
Why wasn’t that happening?
Quinn had never expected himself to feel any sympathy for this obnoxious jerk, but Sen looked as if he’d battled an army of Imortiks.
An Imortik had shoved venom in Daegan. Could those creatures do the same to Sen?
“Fuck!” Sen vanished.
Evalle looked around. “Wonder where he went?”
“If he needed help, he should have said so,” Quinn said, more concerned about his own people.
Straightening her ball cap, she looked around at the Beladors. “I think our people need a minute to heal and catch their breath.”
“Absolutely. We can’t go anywhere until Sen returns. I’d rather not have Brina teleport us to Atlanta after she just teleported me twice. I have a feeling we’re asking a lot of her at this point in her pregnancy.”
“You’re probably right.” Evalle looked around when her name was called. “Let me see what our guys need.” She and Storm walked off to join her team.
Quinn contacted Trey telepathically to inform him of what happened at VIPER and get an update on the rest of the teams. Based on everything Trey started unloading, Quinn had hours of meetings ahead of him, but he would never complain. Their Belador forces were running hard around the clock to save others.
With a little luck, he could visit Treoir later tonight and talk to Reese.
As Quinn finished up with Trey, Sen popped back into existence.
The last bounty hunter wiped his blade off on a dead Imortik and walked over. “What the hell happened to you, Sen?”
The VIPER liaison pointed at the crushed bounty hunter corpse on the ground. “Five of those did, plus a bunch of demons.” He slid a glare full of accusation at Quinn. “They were trying to get to the three Beladors we’ve been putting up with for you.”
“How did these demons and Imortiks get inside VIPER?” Quinn had never known anyone to gain entrance without Sen’s authorization.
Was that embarrassment on the liaison’s face?
Did Sen think stonewalling would work? Quinn spoke in a quiet voice his people knew meant he wanted answers and he wanted them now. “The more we know about these damn things, the better shot we have of getting rid of them. I find it hard to believe they danced past this opening and made it underground before anyone noticed, but I’m willing to ask the Tribunal for clarification.”
Sen snarled, “Someone called me to teleport in two demons who were supposedly contained. It wasn’t Trey, but I thought it was your people since I’m spending most of my time babysitting your peons. I decided, screw it. I’ll teleport the demons in and deal with the call not going through Trey later. I was in the holding area when I teleported the demons in. A small army of very much alive Imortiks and more demons arrived with them.”
Damn. Quinn hated the way Sen had treated his people, especially Evalle, for a long time, but no one would want to face that alone.
Wiping a hand over his face and back across the top of his head, Sen warned, “After this mess, the Tribunal might up the termination time for your Imortik-possessed Beladors to immediately.”
“No!” Evalle shouted. “They can’t do that.”
“The Tribunal can do anything they want.” Sen’s flat statement came with a smirk. “If they tell me to get rid of all three prisoners, I’ll happily comply.”
Quinn lifted a hand to stall Evalle speaking. Storm had moved over in front of her and turned a red demonic gaze on Sen.
Storm was no longer ruled by the demon blood he carried, but he had no off switch when it came to protecting his mate.
With tension bloating the air, one spark could set off the equivalent of a volcanic eruption.
Time to get his people out of this place.
“We’re solving nothing standing here,” Quinn said, changing the direction of the conversation. “My people need to be back in Atlanta so they can keep others safe from this threat in the city. You should inform the Tribunal that I am available for a discussion on our three Beladors locked up here. Speaking on behalf of our Treoir dragon king, to terminate Devon, or any of those three, prior to the deadline and without a meeting with me would be considered an attack on the Beladors. I strongly suggest we continue working together for the best of everyone and not become adversaries.”
Shrugging, Sen said, “What-the-hell-ever. I’ll pass along your concerns. I don’t make the laws, I just enforce them. If anything happens before Devon’s deadline, with or without a meeting, that’s between you and the Tribunal.”
Blood trickled from cuts on Sen’s body. His demigod healing sure was taking its time to slow the bleeding. The VIPER liaison had a kicked-in-the-nuts look Quinn had never witnessed on this being before. If an Imortik took over Sen’s body ... Quinn didn’t want to even consider that possibility.
Calling his people to him so they could teleport as a group, Quinn turned to Sen, determined to end on a professional note in spite of dealing with a jerk. “Thank you for protecting our imprisoned Beladors.”
“Don’t confuse my actions with giving a shit about you or those Beladors. I answer to the Tribunal only. No one was tricking me and getting away with it. Your people just happened to benefit.”
Quinn would overlook an antagonistic attitude on anyone else that battered and bleeding, but Sen’s viciousness came as part of his standard makeup. He ignored Sen slapping his thank-you back at him in favor of sending his people out of here immediately.
Once everyone had a hand on each other’s shoulder, Quinn told Sen, “I have a landing spot pictured in my mind. Teleport all of us and we’ll leave you to deliver your report to the Tribunal.”
A haunted look entered Sen’s eyes.
Did this demigod fear admitting the breach of VIPER security to Tribunal deities?
Sen snapped back to his sunny personality of a rabid demon. “The sooner the better.”
Quinn, his team, and Storm teleported to the basement area of a tall building he owned in downtown Atlanta. As they reappeared, someone shouted.
Turning to intercept a potential threat, Quinn paused and lowered his deadly hands.
Evalle waved. “Hi, Clyde.”
The balding fifty-two-year-old Belador in top shape and dressed as a security officer had jumped to his feet with hands raised to use his kinetics. Clyde dropped one hand and slapped the other one over his chest. “You about gave me a heart attack.”
Quinn walked over to him. “Sorry, Clyde. I had no chance to give you a heads-up before our arrival.”
“No problem, Maistir. That’s why I keep that spot clear at all times as you instructed.” He took in the group. “Looks like you just came from a war.” Clyde noticed the black jaguar and stepped back. “Shit.”
Evalle brushed her fingers over the jaguar’s coat. “You’re safe. This is my mate, Storm. We look like hell because we just fought Imortiks and demons at VIPER headquarters.”
Clyde gave her an embarrassed glance. “I’ll stop griping about being bored here. It’s ugly out on the streets.”
Quinn nodded. “Yes, it is. I want this team to clean up and get a meal before going back out on patrol. It may be boring here, but what you do is vital. I didn’t hesitate to teleport our people in. I fully trusted you to provide a safe landing place.”
The praise brought a smile of pride to Clyde’s lips. “Thank you, Maistir. I’ll alert the kitchen to prepare food for everyone.”
“Leave us out,” Evalle called over. “We’re not far from home. We’re leaving once Storm shifts and puts on clothes.” Then she turned to Quinn. “Before you bring it up, don’t fuss about the sunlight. Storm will cloak us to get home if we don’t walk out into a downpour based on that thunder I’m hearing. I need to talk to you before I leave.”
Nodding, Quinn ushered the rest of the team up three floors to a level available twenty-four-seven for Beladors in need. Clyde directed the management leader to provide everything necessary for the team.
With that handled and no one around to listen, Quinn told Evalle, “We have not found Tristan yet, but we have leads. I sent a mobile phone to our tech team. They’re currently going through it searching for something Daegan needs. He’s still in Ireland and I plan to return as quickly as I can. I may ask you to continue as an interim Maistir to free me up.”
