by Bella Jacobs
“What about tonight?” Leda asks, tilting her head back to study an impressive display of explosives. “We’ve got a job that can’t wait.”
“Luke mentioned that to my lieutenant,” Nico says with a benign smile my way.
I nod, playing it cool, pretending I’m not sweating under my jacket. I think I hit the right notes with the Triad rep this morning, but he could have been leading me on. I know better than anyone how good people in organized crime can be at twisting the truth. He could have just wanted to sell some guns and been willing to say whatever it took to get us here, money in hand, ready to buy.
Except that we don’t have money in hand, of course. Though, I’m pretty sure I made that clear.
Another bead of sweat slithers down my spine, but my voice is cool as I say, “I know splitting the take isn’t usually your style, but it’s a big score. The safe is twice the size of this truck.”
Nico hums as he scrubs a hand across his jaw. “So I heard. Champ was a little vague about what was in it, however. Seemed to think maybe you didn’t know, either.” He arches a brow. “Just like you didn’t know certain…other things.”
“Like the fact that you’re all a bunch of vampires?” Leda claps me hard on the back, helping camouflage the involuntary flinch that hits me along with her words.
Vampires. Fuck.
“He’s vision-blind and getting over a pretty nasty head cold,” Leda says. “His sniffer isn’t what it usually is, but he’s got good instincts. Right?” She winks at Nico. “Because you’re going to play nice with us?”
“Vampire or human, doesn’t matter to me,” I add. “And whatever’s in the safe, you can have the entire score. All we want are our people.”
“You’re loyal. I like that.” Nico’s gaze touches on each of us as he adds, “We’re loyal, too. And we can be good friends to you. For the right price.” His tone makes it clear the contents of a mystery safe aren’t going to cut it.
“So what do you want?” Leda asks, crossing her arms over her chest. “Since we’re being up front, you might as well know we don’t have a lot.”
“More than you think.” Nico smiles behind his hand. “We share a mutual enemy, my people and yours.”
“Who’s that?” Dust asks.
“Atlas.” Nico’s fingers curl into a fist, revealing newly lengthened fangs behind his curved lips. “He doesn’t care for vampires. Sees us as a threat.” His grin widens. “Because we are.”
“You want his heart on a plate after we rip him open?” I ask.
Nico inclines his head. “Something like that. We’re primarily interested in replacing the reigning Fata Morgana with one who doesn’t have a taste for vampire blood. From what we’ve heard, this new challenger is a good kid. Green, but well-intentioned. You assure my people you’ll do whatever it takes to destroy Atlas, and leave us alone once you do, and I think we’ve got the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” He motions toward the weapons on the walls around him. “We’ll outfit you for battle at no charge and throw in a rescue mission while we’re at it. Sound good to you?”
“Sounds more than fair.” Dust extends a hand. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank us just yet,” Nico says, eyeing Dust’s fingers without reaching out. “There are a few caveats. We’ll need to keep your people for observation for at least twenty-four hours after extraction. There’s something growing in that place we’ve been trying to get our hands on for a while. I’ve promised our doctors and researchers samples and time with anyone who might possibly be infected.”
Kite makes a considering sound that’s easy to read, even for someone with no telepathic skills. He’s thinking that an infection might be the reason Wren and Cree aren’t doing so hot. But he’s also thinking he’d rather get our people to a doctor associated with the Resistance, where they can get trustworthy care, instead of handing them over as guinea pigs to a bunch of bloodsuckers we don’t know.
“As long as you promise they’ll receive quality care,” Dust says, arm still extended. He’s a practical one, Dust, and clearly knows what I do—that we have no options and not much in the way of bargaining power.
“The absolute best. Our physicians are second to none,” Nico says, still making no move to take Dust’s hand. “And then there’s the safe. We’ll take you up on the offer to take possession of all contents. We suspect relics that were stolen from our people are being stored there. We’ve been looking for a way in for a while.” He glances my way, eyes crinkling at the edges. “We almost had one, but you were too quick. My guy swears you were out of the hotel and picking clean the body of the guy you shot in less than ninety seconds.”
I try to control my surprise, but my brows inch up my forehead in spite of myself, and my system goes on alert, ready to fight like hell to get my people out of here if necessary. “So, you sent the sniper?”
Nico winces, but it almost immediately morphs into another smile as he presses a tattooed hand to his chest. “You wound me, Luke. Of course we didn’t send him. My people were simply following him, hoping to grab a few useful items off the man at the earliest opportunity. They didn’t know you were his target until it was too late to intervene.”
I narrow my eyes, not sure I buy his story, but I’m also a practical man. This vampire and his crew are our best shot, maybe our last shot, at getting to Wren and Creedence in time. I’m still willing to work with them, but I’ll be keeping a damned close eye on their trigger fingers while I do. “So you want the key, I’m assuming?” I ask, the connection not hard to make.
“It would be nice,” Nico says with a soft chuckle. “I mean, we could blast our way in, but why waste good explosives when we could just…punch a button? Right?”
I tip my head. “Agreed. I’ll bring the key to the party, you bring the guns and the backup, and we’ll have this taken care of before morning.”
“Good. That’s the way we prefer it,” he says, grinning at me as he reaches for Dust’s hand. “Vampire joke.”
“Hysterical,” Leda says dryly, making Nico laugh again.
“I like you,” he says, wagging two fingers her way as he releases Dust’s hand. “You remind me of a new friend of mine. She’s someone you’ll want to meet, I think.”
“Not in the market for any new friends at the moment,” Leda says, clearly not a fan of Nico or his jokes. “But thanks.”
“What about old friends, then?” The voice is so deep it rumbles through the weapons room, making the guns on the walls vibrate.
Unaccustomed to being taken by surprise, I spin to see who managed to sneak up on me and find a giant of a man with impossibly broad shoulders standing just outside. He’s the definition of imposing—closely shaved blond hair, a profile carved out of solid rock, and forearms almost cartoonishly ripped protruding from the rolled sleeves of his black button-up—but I don’t pick up any threatening energy.
I’m reasonably sure we’re safe even before Dust turns, his face lighting up as he sees the other man. “Bane. Goddess, how long has it been?” He starts forward, but before he takes more than a few steps, a woman appears behind the giant.
Her red hair is darker than I remember, and her shoulders broader—she looks like she’s built the muscle to handle the large sword hanging from the scabbard on her waist—but I recognize her immediately.
It’s the woman from the airfield, the one who told me there was an amazing girl waiting in my future.
Wren’s sister.
Chapter 19
Scarlett
The back of my nose begins to sting, but I refuse to show emotion in front of the vampire king.
Or mob boss. Or drug lord.
Whatever he is, he’s an asshole.
He sent his people to ambush us at our hotel, brought Bane here wrapped in chains, and refused to let either of us leave until his “friends” got here. The fact that his friends are my friends, and that the sight of Dust and Wren’s other mates fills my heart with hope unlike anything I’ve felt in a lo
ng time, doesn’t matter.
I still hate him and plan to give his fangs a haircut with Delirium as soon as I get the chance. Any man with that much swagger needs to be taken down a notch, and I’ve got a sword sharp enough to get the job done.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Dust closes the distance between us, drawing me into his arms. I hug him tight, the emotion surging in my chest growing even stronger as the hum of his connection to Wren merges with mine.
She’s okay. But she’s in so much trouble. There’s seriously not a minute to waste.
“We’re going to find her,” I say, pulling back to gaze up into Dust’s worried face. “And we’re going to bring her back to us.”
“She’s been found,” Nico says, in a smooth voice that sounds insufferably smug to my ears. “And we move tonight. You and your man are welcome to join in the strategy meeting. I’ll have my lieutenants mobilize their units, and we’ll meet in the war room in twenty minutes. Cash will show you the way.”
And then he breezes past us, big hands tucked casually into his pockets, as if he never held Bane and I against our will. As if a cheery round of teamwork was always on the agenda.
“I hate that guy,” I mutter beneath my breath. Bane grunts in agreement while Dust whispers, “Not a fan, either, but at this point, we don’t have a lot of options. We’ll just have to hope he’s a man of his word. Vampires usually are. At least the ones who rise to his level of power.” He curls his fingers around my arm, giving a squeeze. “It’s so good to see you, Scarlett. Wren’s going to be thrilled.”
If we get to her while she’s still alive. It lingers, unsaid, in the silence that follows. We all know the stakes. Now we just need to fight like we’ve never fought before. Wherever Atlas is keeping Wren, we can be damned sure it will be well defended.
“Introduce me to the rest of the boys?” I ask, forcing a smile. “I like to know the people I can trust by name.”
The next ten minutes pass with relative ease as I meet Wren’s bear, a big guy with gentle eyes and a hug that makes me feel like I’ve been wrapped up in a sunbeam, and his badass sister. Then Luke, the wolf I crossed paths with briefly on my way into hiding. He’s still the intense, dark-eyed bad boy I met, but with a softness to the set of his jaw that wasn’t there before. And when he shakes my hand, I can feel his love for Wren simmering in the air all around him.
All three of these men will fight to the death for my sister. As will Bane, Leda, and I. The last thing I want to do is die before I get to see Wren again, but her safety comes first. If she dies, then we’re all going down with her, sooner or later.
“We should make a plan for if we’re separated during the fighting,” Leda says, as we follow one of the underling vampires toward a glassed-in meeting room on the other side of the warehouse, where Nico and several other vampires have already gathered.
“We’ll meet back at our motel across town,” Dust says, giving brief directions to a place called the Sunny Side Inn. “Or in the gymnasium of the community center down the street if that location is compromised.”
“Sounds good.” I pull in a breath, letting it out slow as I add beneath my breath, for Dust’s ears only. “And if something happens to me, tell Wren I love her. Always and forever.”
“Ditto,” Dust says, making it clear I’m not the only one concerned that we won’t make it out alive.
But that doesn’t stop any of us from taking a seat at the table and leaning in to study the blow-up schematic of the building. We’re here to get our girl back. Full stop. And no risk is too great.
Chapter 20
Kite
There’s a bad energy in the air.
The vampires don’t trust us, we don’t trust the vampires, and Bane has made it clear we won’t get any backup from the Fey aside from his fists and Scarlett’s enchanted fairy sword.
After the attack on their queen, the Fey are in crisis-management mode. All their best men and women have been deployed to protect the queen, who’s fallen ill in the days since monsters from Atlas’s realm attacked her kingdom and her daughter, the last living heir to the throne.
There are no resources left to spare, not even for a quest to stop the end of the world as we know it.
But it’s the human world that’s at the greatest risk. The fairies can always retreat into their own realm and wait things out for a few millennia, until Atlas gets tired of destroying things or another champion comes along to challenge him. They’ve protected Scarlett for years, keeping her hidden away in their well-guarded castle, but the time when we can expect aid from the Fey has passed.
Seasons change, I get it. But I can’t help but wish spring had stuck around a little longer before holding our feet to the summer fire.
It’s a muggy night, thick and close, with low-lying clouds pressing down on the city and not a star in sight. As soon as I exit the air-conditioned van, I start to sweat beneath my long-sleeved black shirt. If Atlas’s soldiers have sensitive noses, they’re going to smell me coming, but nothing I can do about it but hope for the best.
Hope is in short supply, but I’m still carrying my share, along with a piece of paper with Wren’s name written on it a hundred times. A thousand.
It’s her name thrumming through my head as we file out in waves, each group of men and women following their unit commander. Luke is leading our group of ten, an unexpected development seeing as Dust is our first-in-command, but he didn’t hesitate to pass the reins to the wolf, which makes me worry he’s still feeling the effects of his injuries.
“Not too late to wait it out in the van,” I whisper to him as we crouch by a low wall behind the brick building, waiting for the go signal from the alpha team being dropped off on the roof as we speak. “If you’re not ready to fight, better to stay out of harm’s way.”
“Fuck you, Kite,” he says softly, bringing a hand to rest on my shoulder. “If you see her and I don’t, tell her she was worth it. All of it.”
I swallow past the tightness in my throat and nod.
“And convince her to find another ancient shifter to take my place as soon as possible,” he continues, his eyes fixed on the top floor of the four-story brick structure, waiting for the double flicker of a flashlight. “And then tighten the circle. We should have done it the morning Luke and Wren came back to the room after their mate-claiming, but I thought we had time to ease the rest of them into the idea.”
I nod again. “Will do. Though I guarantee Luke won’t be excited about getting naked with other dudes, even if we keep the attention focused on Wren.”
“He’ll come around,” Dust murmurs, breath rushing out as he adds, “There’s our signal. See you on the other side, brother.”
“On the other side,” I echo, holding tight to the vampire-provided semi-automatic weapon in my hands, hoping superior firepower will be enough to give us an upper hand.
We’re coming Wren, hold on.
We burst through the back door to the locked clothing store, moving fast. By the time I’m far enough inside to see the rows of plastic-covered clothing hanging on rods stacked all the way to the ceiling, the air is on fire. Gunshots, cries of pain, and shouted calls for cover vie for supremacy as we take aim at the guards spread out on a catwalk near the top of the room. There aren’t as many of them as there are of us, but they’ve got a superior position, with a clear view and a clear shot down on us.
But that won’t last for long. Lifting my weapon, I take aim at the support beams beneath the catwalk. A bullet whizzes by my head so close I can feel the trail of heat it leaves behind, but I don’t flinch. I fire. Again and again, until the bough breaks and the men crouched on the platform come toppling down.
Before they hit the floor, we’re already on the move. Two vampires peel off to make sure the shooters didn’t survive the fall. The rest of us follow Luke through heavy black curtains into the main part of the store, a large, open room filled with junk.
And dead bodies…
And bodies on the
verge of being dead.
There are still maybe a dozen soldiers in black armor battling the vampire fighter units streaming in from every entry point—including the ductwork overhead—but we clearly took them by surprise. Atlas didn’t know we were coming. Or if he did, he vastly underestimated the force we’d be bringing with us.
We’re going to do it—we’re going to take them out and get to Wren and Creedence. I keep my head in the fight, disabling a goon hiding behind a shoe display, cracking his neck with one swift jerk of my hands, eliminating the risk of my bullet going wild and hitting one of our own in the close-quarters fight. But a part of me is already celebrating.
I drop my guard. Not much—just enough that I’m not totally surprised when the bullet hits me in the back, making impact with enough force to knock me off my feet.
Chapter 21
Luke
Kite goes down. Hard.
I turn to find the woman who shot him in the back and take her out with two well-placed bullets—forehead and chest—and I’m by his side a heartbeat later, ready to slap a compression bandage on his wound and keep fighting.
But before I can reach for the storage pouch at the back of my belt, he rolls over, waving me away.
“I’m fine.” He grimaces, struggling for breath. “The body armor’s good. The bullet didn’t get through. Keep going. Take these fuckers down so we can get to Wren.”
I don’t need to be told twice. A gun in each hand, I rise to my feet, letting my instincts take over. I might not have a Kin Gift or be able to hear what other shifters are thinking, but I have my own special set of skills, forged by fire on the mean streets where I grew up. I can sense a threat coming a mile away, sort friend from foe in a heartbeat in a messy fight like this one, and take aim and fire without hesitation.
