by Ann Aguirre
After clinking glasses with the other two, Dom drank up. The liquor burned pleasantly on the way down. Another glass tempted him, but he’d only just climbed out of a bottle, so he covered the top of his when Raff tried to pour more. Between Beren and Raff, they emptied the decanter, and both of them were steady as rocks when they left the conference room.
Though he wanted to head home, work still beckoned. Mentally grumbling, Dom found Magda poring over surveillance footage. He hadn’t even known they had cameras near the retreat. Due to an old seer’s edict, the lodge itself was off-limits, but the approach and surrounding terrain had hunting cameras posted, and from her cranky face, Magda had been watching the feeds for a while.
“Anything?” he asked.
“Shadows. Wildlife. The Noxblades are good, so it was a longshot that I’d find actual evidence this way.”
“What about the bodies?”
“I sent a team to investigate this afternoon, and the place has been sanitized. We found broken furniture, but the corpses are gone, along with all trace evidence.”
Dom swore. “If I’d acted sooner…”
“I won’t say you handled things right. You made my life harder, no exaggeration. But I’m willing to cut you some slack. You’re rusty as hell, and at least you kept yourself safe.” Magda gave his shoulder a bracing pat. “Along with Pru.”
“Yeah, but now we can’t lodge a formal complaint about the attack. If I hadn’t dropped the ball, we’d have two dead Eldritch on ice, and I’d get to see Talfayen’s face when I confronted him.”
Losing that opportunity pissed him off. The Eldritch leader couldn’t control all his physiological reactions, but it would be an empty accusation without proof to back it up. Talfayen could even allege that Dom was lying to gain traction in negotiation.
“Crying, spilled milk,” Magda said with a dismissive shrug. “If you feel bad, do better.”
“It’s taking me longer to remember how to lead the pride than I’d like to admit.”
Magda turned from scrutinizing the three screens before her. “Never thought I’d hear you say that. But… in my book it’s enough that you’re aware. The rest of us will pitch in until you’re completely back to your old self.”
Is that possible? Or wise?
Dom figured he’d shown enough weakness for one day. “Status on the assassin?”
“He went into his room an hour ago. Still there, according to the guards.” She flicked a few switches, transferring focus to the external corridor in the guest wing.
Courtesy prohibited monitoring equipment in private areas, but Dom wished he had access to the room the red-eyed Noxblade was using. As he watched, the footage flickered. Puzzled, he leaned in at the same time as Magda. On the surface, it could be nothing, but then precisely thirty seconds later, it flickered again.
“Something’s not right,” he said.
“I’m on it.”
The security chief tapped at the keys. A moment later, Magda snarled a curse. “It’s looping. Someone’s tampered with our equipment.”
His first impulse was to sound the alarm and alert all personnel. There could be no good reason for a Noxblade who had already tried to kill him once concealing his movements. Magda sat rigid, awaiting orders.
“We can’t let this blow up, can we?”
She shook her head. “Definitely not. Even worse, there’s no evidence the Eldritch did this. They’ll argue it could’ve been our own people or a traitor in the Pine Ridge or Burnt Amber camps. In this scenario, there are so many ways an angry accusation breaks bad.”
“Then I’ll hold it in until we know more. Find out what you can. Quietly. Talk to the guards assigned to that corridor personally, and report back here.”
“On it.”
Magda raced out of the control room, leaving him to scrutinize the footage. He didn’t have her way with tech, so Dom didn’t learn anything new. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since lunch, and then, not much. He went back to the records his security chief had been inspecting and found where Pru arrived at the base of the mountain.
On screen she hesitated and then started the long climb, a small woman in a puffy jacket, her head bowed against the wintry wind. She couldn’t have had any clue how things would turn out—that she’d learn to shift and swap her love for Slay for the good of the pride. Wait, what was that? He paused the feed to be sure. An icy chill crawled up his spine when he realized he was looking at two shadows on the stone steps.
Two shadows?
Pru… and a Noxblade nearby, maybe. So they were watching? She could have died on the way to me, and I wouldn’t have known. Dom clenched the edge of the table until his composure returned. Checking various camera angles, he couldn’t see much of the retreat and the range didn’t extend to the clearing where she’d left the Rover. Hunting cameras weren’t meant to provide high levels of surveillance, but he swore regardless.
When the door banged open, he expected Magda with an urgent report.
But it was Slay, wild as Dom had ever seen, too winded to breathe properly. Somehow he got the words out. “Pru… Pru…”
Fear went needle sharp inside him, and he grabbed his second. “Speak. Now.”
That touch seemed to take Slay’s knees out from under him. “She’s missing.”
11.
“Wake up.”
The lilting accent in conjunction with an acrid snap catapulted Pru back to consciousness. Someone waved the stink beneath her nose, and a deep inhalation stung her sinuses. As her eyes watered, she struggled to make sense of her surroundings—rough walls and a dirt floor. This seemed to be an outbuilding, nowhere she’d ever been before. The place smelled of moldy grain, spider webs big as a bed canopy overhead.
At some point after passing out, she’d reverted to human form, and someone had wrapped her in a man’s overcoat. Fear spiked when a shadowy figure resolved into the sharp features of the red-eyed Noxblade that had tried—and failed—to kill Pru before. Crouched before her and clad in black, he was the stuff of nightmares, the goblin king from an illustrated storybook that gave Animari children delicious shivers. Pru fought to keep her breathing steady. Whatever torture he intended, she wouldn’t crack.
“You must be wondering why I’ve taken you, if I plan to play.”
She swallowed and tried not to show her fear. “No.”
“My name is Gavriel. Not so vicious now, hm?”
“I…what?” If she thought it would work, she’d go cat and try to escape, but in the gloom, she couldn’t find any gaps that she could slink through, even as an ocelot.
He ignored the question. “Listen carefully, we don’t have much time.”
“Is my murder on a tight schedule?” She didn’t mean to respond at all; the words just burst out.
“If I wanted you dead, little cat, you would be.”
It was hard to argue that. In fact, Pru didn’t understand any of this. “Then…?”
“I bear a message for your mate. You will reveal it only to the master of Ash Valley, or the consequences could be unthinkable. To the rest of the pride, you will apologize for getting lost on your first patrol. Do you understand?”
“You expect me to pretend that I’ve been wandering aimlessly for this long?”
“If you don’t agree, I’ll end you and find another way. Butcher.”
Provoked, she curled her hand into a fist. “You invaded our sanctuary and nearly opened my throat. Trust me, you don’t occupy the moral high ground here.”
“Think twice about our first meeting. If I meant to kill you, how did you get past me? Do you truly believe that your pathetic reflexes bested me?”
Pru froze, trying to remember. He’d lashed out, clipping a lock of her hair, and then she made it all the way downstairs on human feet, at human speed. How? Now that he’d spat words limned in mockery, underscored with grief, she couldn’t get it straight in her head.
“If you have any doubts, try now.” He stepped ba
ck so they were equidistant to the door.
Though she knew it must be a trap, she threw herself toward the exit, and he was there, so swift she sensed rather than saw his movement. Shaking, she dropped into a crouch. Close up, he smelled of cinnamon, cloves, and blood. His skin gleamed pale as a pearl, and his lashes were white, so they disappeared into his skin, leaving only the crimson of his gaze.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered.
“We weren’t there to kill the master of Ash Valley. In fact, we were sent to warn him that an attack was eminent, but our rescue went wrong. Probably because you were there, he didn’t seem to hear us, only fought harder, and the sleep serum on our weapons didn’t function as predicted. He shook it off and then you… you murdered my brother. I watched you tear his throat out with your teeth.”
No, this isn’t true. It can’t be.
“Why would Talfayen send Noxblades to save Dom? And from what? This is insane.”
“He didn’t. This is the warning you must carry—at cost of your life, if necessary. Talfayen has turned traitor, and he is working with the Golgoth. There will be blood spilled at the conclave. Now it is only a question of how much.”
“Why didn’t you just pull me aside? This is absurd for a simple meeting.”
“The hold is full of eyes and ears, you stupid cat. But please, test that privacy. You’ll be stunned at what you discover. This way, if Talfayen learns of our meeting, if you betray me, I will know precisely who to blame. And can act accordingly.”
“I don’t believe you.” But it was a rote objection as grains of the explanation accrued, coalescing into an undeniable truth like a picture layered in colored sand.
The assassin clenched his jaw. “That’s your choice. Trust me, I long to kill you myself. Because of you, I will never see my brother Oriel again, never drink with him or share a laugh, or…” Gavriel’s voice broke.
Suddenly, she had no doubt he was telling the truth. “I’m sorry. But… they had Dom cornered. He was bleeding.”
“That didn’t strike you as odd? Why would two fully trained Noxblades have difficulty dispatching one weakened Animari? If they had come at him with full skill, you would have found his corpse. Yet he suffered only superficial wounds.”
Much as she hated to admit it, his words rang true. Dom had predicted he would fall sick soon after the attack as a result of poison blades, but that never happened. In retrospect, she should have noticed the inconsistencies. Guilt settled in her stomach like a heavy meal.
“But you didn’t say a single word, only hunted me down.”
“I was trying to subdue you. I had no orders where you were concerned,” the Noxblade bit out. “Prior intel reported that he was alone. We were to extract the master of Ash Valley and bring him to this location for a private meeting.”
“With who?”
“Suffice to say, we are working to unseat Talfayen and restore peace to my people.”
Desperately she sorted the influx of information, still sifting for inconsistency. “If Dom was in danger, why did you sabotage the Rover?”
“The brakes were already disabled,” Gavriel snapped. “I only made sure you couldn’t careen into a tree. You really should thank me. By that point, I wanted both of you dead myself.” His calm tone sent a shiver down her spine. “I still do. Without my current instructions, this story would have a much different ending.”
“Your orders… who gave them?” Pru didn’t know enough about Eldritch affairs to speculate who might be acting in opposition to Talfayen, assuming he truly had turned traitor. What that meant for the conclave, she couldn’t fathom yet, but the idea of all the accords dissolving and returning to chaotic days of constant war—
No, I can’t let that happen.
“You must earn more information.”
“Do you think we’d side with Talfayen and the Golgoth?” Pru asked, horrified.
“I have no idea about your pride’s politics. The important issue here is that your mate is still in danger, and his second’s temper is well-known.”
Her whole body iced over. “You have a deal. I’ll repeat what you’ve said—only to Dom—and let the rest of the pride think I’m incompetent. If you’re telling the truth, let me go. I’ll need to run for a while in ocelot form to purge your scent.”
To her surprise, Gavriel nodded. “We can’t let anyone connect me to your absence. I risked much joining Talfayen’s entourage and stand to lose more than my life if I’m unmasked.”
She didn’t ask what he meant by that; presumably he had loved ones who would suffer. “I’m so sorry about your brother. If I’d known…”
“I carry my share of the blame. I misjudged your ferocity. If I had called out to you instead of giving chase, Oriel might be alive. Yet we are shadow warriors, not diplomats. It would have been better to send emissaries versed in such, but they would’ve lacked the skills to remain hidden and could not have fought if we arrived late. Thus, it was judged best to extricate the pride master first and explain the particulars later. That miscalculation proved… costly.”
“So if the sleep serum had worked properly, you’d have removed Dom from the retreat and had this talk with him instead?”
“Precisely. But you thought we were the assailants and responded accordingly.”
“You are assassins,” she muttered.
“You dare? You?” The Noxblade leveled on her a look so full of anguished rage that her heart crumpled. For a moment, Pru suspected she might die anyway and damn his orders. Then he let out a long breath. “Get out before I change my mind about killing you.” Gavriel moved away from the exit.
Pru didn’t ask him to avert his eyes when she dropped the overcoat. He did so naturally as she shifted. When he opened the door, she raced into the night.
Slay is my friend. I will not kill him.
But with each passing hour, the urge to choke the life out of his second increased until Dom could hardly contain it. Multiple patrols searched for Pru quietly, and each time they reported nothing, he fought panic that made it hard to breathe, let alone think. This can’t be happening. Not again.
But I can’t let on. If Raff and Beren find out, they’ll blame the Eldritch. He’d already hunted down that damned red-eyed assassin, who’d turned up in one of the lounges. The bastard claimed no clue as to the video tampering, and Pru—
Pru is still missing.
His chest ached. “Tell me again how you lost her.”
Before Slay could reply, the radio crackled. Dom grabbed it with desperate speed. “Give me some good news.”
Magda’s relief came through bright as sunrise. “We’ve got visual on her. She’s approaching the side gate. All ocelot, all healthy from what I can see.”
“I’ll be right there.”
He ran through the rush of relief, despite weak knees and the echo of fear that tasted like copper in the back of his throat. When Dom arrived, Pru was getting dressed. She didn’t seem worried or shaken, and she kept apologizing for getting separated from the group. With obvious skepticism, Magda eyed him above Pru’s head, and Dom shrugged. For this moment, he only cared that she was back.
She’s home. She’s safe.
Ignoring the cluster of security personnel, he scooped Pru into his arms and headed for their quarters. He drew a few eyes that way, and at first she struggled. “I need to tell you something. It’s urgent.”
Dom didn’t hesitate or put her down, despite the shiver her breath against his ear roused. “I don’t care.”
That startled her to silence long enough for him to get inside the apartment that already felt like home. Her father wasn’t around, just as well, given Dom’s current mood.
“Seriously, this is—”
He interrupted her with a ferocious kiss. Pleasure surged like a night-kissed ocean around the iceberg of terror his heart had become when she parted her lips and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Really important,” she said against his mouth.
&nb
sp; “Still don’t care. Give me an hour. Right now, let me be your man. Do you understand that I need you?” The admission hurt, but it got easier when her body softened against his.
“All right. You have me.”
“Good.”
Finally, Dom could breathe again, and he put his face in her hair to savor the sweet essence of her: crisp wind and balsam wood, an echo of cinnamon. Raw longing boiled over as he swept a hand down to the flare of her hip. Watching Pru’s eyes go smoky-hot was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen. Instinctively, he pulled her arms up and pinned her wrists overhead with one hand. Her back arched to hold the pose, and suddenly he wanted her naked, exactly like this, up against the door.
“Can we go to the bedroom…?”
“No. Take your clothes off.”
Pru started to protest; he clicked the manual override on the lock. “Anyone could hear us, passing by.”
“Maybe that’s the point. Maybe I want everyone to know I’m fucking your brains out. Maybe I want them to hear you come.”
Her cheeks flushed prettily, and she didn’t argue further as she pulled the shirt over her head. Though her movements were quick, each article of clothing she dropped got him harder, until the press of his cock against his pants felt like torture. Worth it. Especially when he put her back in position against the door.
“I want to touch you too.” She squirmed a little against his hold, so he tightened it.
“Not now. You’re being punished.”
The spike in her breathing turned him on even more. “I am?”
“Definitely. The penalty for dereliction of duty and worrying me is…” He set his mouth on her neck and bit until she moaned. Her skin filled with heat, her pulse racing beneath his tongue. Afterward, he licked the spot tenderly, feeling the shivers that worked through her. Her nipples puckered when he kissed her shoulders, rubbing his open mouth over her collarbone. Testing his hold, Pru squirmed, but he held her still, completely open to him. Dom teased her with his lips and fingertips, so that she shifted against him feverishly. Her heat might burn him alive before he gave her more.