by Lila Jean
“So, what’s next, Tina?” Rose asked, shoulders slouched a little as she sat up once more. “It’s been lovely spending time with you, but we know there’s still going to be a war.” She frowned, rubbing her finger along the rim of her wine glass absently. “We’ve heard the rumors.”
“Yeah,” Tina frowned and leaned her elbows on her knees. “I’m not really sure what we’re going to do next. The dragons are, well, not cooperating.” Tina lifted her eyebrows sarcastically to emphasize that it had been an understatement to say the least.
Truth be told, the boys were already in the thick of things, planning out ways they could replicate the dragons’ firepower without actual dragons, but thus far there didn’t seem to be a happy compromise. She stared off, lost in thought as she wondered what the plan would be and what ideas Zane would come up with by the time she got back to the palace.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Lillian asked, leaning forward. “Name it, and we’ll figure out how to get it done.”
“You’ve already done so much.” Tina gestured at the garden, at the beautiful day they’d had. “I needed this time away to clear my head. Getting to sit with some girlfriends and just chat, man, I haven’t done that in ages.” She smiled wistfully, thinking of Amy, missing her friend.
“Well, there’s always wine here,” Lillian said with a wink. Tina chuckled, not wanting to lose this moment, and lifted her glass for a refill. This was the last bit of peace she would have for a while, at least until this war was over, and she was going to make damn sure she enjoyed every minute of it.
28
Draven
As Tina lay in his arms, the moon streaming through the open balcony doors as a gentle breeze toyed with the curtains, Draven found himself watching his mate, just grateful to have her close. Her cool skin soothed the fires raging within him, calmed him, giving him joy and meaning he had never imagined would be important to him.
He loved her, deeply and with all his heart, and though he wasn’t a normally a fan of feelings, at least he could admit that much to himself.
On the nightstand, Tina’s phone beeped, the screen lighting up. She stirred and reached for it almost mechanically, and he leaned his head on hers to read over her shoulder. She chuckled. “Nosy much?”
“Duh.” He kissed the top of her head and noticed the text was from Amy. Tina must have seen that at the same moment he did, because they both sat up, a wild and almost nervous expression on Tina’s face as she read through the text.
Come to the Stratford Mansion. Get her now, or she dies.
“Shit,” Tina said under her breath, fumbling with the blankets as she tried to get out of bed. “Shit, Draven! This is bad!”
“Let me see,” Draven said, grabbing the phone as he re-read the message and the last few texts in the chain. It was a starkly different tone, and though there weren’t any specifics in the short message, he had a pretty good guess at who “she” was.
“Here.” Tina grabbed her phone back from him, her thumbs flying over the screen.
“Tina, don’t text back yet,” Draven said, trying to grab the phone back from her, but she waved her hand dismissively at the idea.
“I’m getting the guys,” she said. “Put on some pants.”
“So bossy.” He chuckled and clicked his tongue in mock disappointment as he tugged on a pair of sweatpants, preferring to go shirtless even as the brotherhood descended into his room. In moments, the guys arrived, each of them asking to see the message for themselves.
“This is what I was worried about from the start,” Tina said, pacing the length of the room with her hands on her head as Zane worked his magic on her phone. “That someone would use Amy as leverage against me.”
“But who?” Flynn asked, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall by the door, lost in thought.
Beside the demigod, Anthony stood still as a statue, glaring out the window with a look of sheer hatred, as though he were about to rip out a dozen throats, and it took a moment before Draven remembered the history Anthony and Amy shared. They were close, like family, and it was pretty obvious Anthony had killed before to protect her.
“Rein it in, wolfie,” Draven said quietly to his friend, more out of concern than jest. “We have work to do and a mate to protect.” He tapped his temple as Anthony caught his eye. “Stay focused.”
Anthony seemed to mull on the thought for a moment before finally nodding, relaxing only somewhat as he leaned against the wall beside Flynn with his hands in his pockets, that dark glare now turned to Tina as he waited for orders.
“I’m not sure who it is,” Zane said, the bright screen of his phone projecting blue light on his face as he worked. “I mean, based on the odds, it’s either Cora or William.”
“Well, the rendezvous is Cora’s mansion,” Killian said, shrugging. “That would suggest that it’s her, except for the fact that it just seems stupid for her to return when she’s a wanted woman.”
“My father is the last one to know Amy’s whereabouts,” Anthony pointed out.
“What if they’re working together?” Tina asked, stopping midstride as she stared up at each of them, her eyes widening a bit with worry at the idea. “What if King William is another of the powerful people Cora has under her thumb?”
“Oh, awesome,” Draven sigh with a heavy sigh, rubbing his face as this just got worse and worse.
“If that’s the case, this will be more dangerous than we originally thought,” Zane said, frowning deeply. “They both want you for different reasons, Tina, but they both ultimately want your power.”
“Exactly.” Tina sat on the bed with a huff, slouching a little in overwhelm. “If they’re working together now, it just means they’ll turn on each other later, and any one of us could get caught in the crossfire.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Killian asked, scanning each of their faces. When he came to Draven, he paused, and Draven just shrugged. He wasn’t the plan guy, not usually. He was the brawn.
“We walk into the obvious trap,” Tina said, standing as she arched her back like a queen, a determined and resolute expression on her face. “But first, we check to make sure this is legit.” She reached out her hand, palm up, toward Zane and nodded toward the phone. He tossed it to her, and she caught it effortlessly, wasting no time before she typed something on the screen.
“What are you doing?” Draven asked with a nod toward the cell phone.
“Asking for proof.” She hit send and waited, shoulders tense as she stared at the screen, no doubt waiting for the response.
Seconds later, the phone rang, and Tina put it instantly on speaker. There was a rustle, like fabric over the microphone, and the distant muffled curses of someone wearing a gag over her mouth. For a second, the line went completely dead, and Draven wondered if the call had been dropped, but a quick look at the screen showed that it was still going. They must have muted.
The rustling returned, and this time it came with Amy’s voice. “Don’t touch me, motherfucker!” There was a loud thump, and a man started cursing under his breath while Amy yelled into the phone. “Tina, stay away! They want you alive, but William is going—”
The line went dead, and Tina gritted her teeth, clearly resisting the impulse to throw the phone against the wall like Draven had earlier. To be safe, he tugged it from her fingers and pocketed it until she had cooled down. Even though he wasn’t usually a model for calm and levelheaded decision making, he felt like this was the right call.
“I guess we know who’s behind this after all,” Flynn said, pushing off the wall and coming to stand beside Tina, setting his hands on her shoulders for support.
“Maybe not,” Zane said, shaking his head. “Tina said they, not him.” The tiger shifter ran a nervous hand through his wild hair. “Cora is probably in on this.”
“Well, we’re going,” Tina said, scowling at the floor as she spoke, her hands balled into angry little fists. “But I’m concerned about going in blind. Zane,
see if you can hack into the house’s security system again and look for any activity.”
“On it.” Zane nodded and walked into the hall, toward his room, where Draven was sure the tiger shifter had set up yet another command center. It seemed as though the nerd was never short on hardware or cutting-edge tech.
“They want me alive,” Tina said, pacing the room as she rubbed her neck, lost in thought. “We have that on our side, at least, but I don’t like this one bit. Anthony?”
“He’ll kill her,” Anthony said, eyes squeezing shut. “If he’s gone so far as to imprison her and use her as bait, he doesn’t want her anymore.” Anthony’s jaw tensed, and his nose wrinkled in disgust. “We have to go, Tina.”
“I know,” she said with a slow nod. “We’re leaving. Now. Get everything together, and let’s try to cobble together a plan on the way.” She lifted her fists and looked down at them, shoulders tense, back arched, flexing her fingers as her eyes glazed over with thought. “Unless we are very careful, this is going to end badly, guys. Whatever we do, we cannot let this go wrong.”
Easier said than done, boss, Draven thought, but he didn’t dare voice his opinion on his one. Every step would be dangerous, but at least this time, they would have backup. For the first time in history, the elite of the eagle, demigod, and cat armies were about to go on a recon mission together. He sighed deeply, not altogether optimistic, but it was time to see how well everyone would actually get along.
29
Tina
In the early morning hours before the sun rose, Tina walked through the halls of Stratford Manor with a gun in her hand and her dagger strapped to her thigh, a handy slit in her skirts so that she could reach it easily. Something about fusing with Damara had changed her sense of fashion, and even in a raid situation, she now felt more comfortable in dresses than jeans. Tense and on edge, she hurried down the empty halls, eyes peeled for any signs of danger, for even the barest breath that didn’t belong to her, Anthony, Draven, Killian, or Flynn. Through her headset, she heard Zane typing away at a keyboard as he monitored the manor’s surveillance system, once more controlling the whole show.
Only this time, it seemed they were ready for him.
“The place is empty,” Zane said with a frustrated groan. “I don’t see Amy anywhere.”
Above them, something thumped on the floor, as if something heavy had fallen. Tina looked up and then over at Anthony, who frowned and shook his head, clearly on edge.
“Someone’s definitely home,” Tina whispered into the headset, lifting her gun toward the stairs at the end of the hallway, eyes peeled for shadows or the creak of a floorboard to give away the stranger’s position.
True, she was a poor shot. Her training thus far had been focused mainly on mastering her magic and hand-to-hand combat, so she wasn’t sure how useful she would be with a gun. Yes, they’d given her occasional lessons here and there, and she knew enough to at least not kill herself or the people around her by accident. Still, the idea of her being armed made her a little nervous, if she were being honest with herself, but Draven had insisted. As he put it, the kind of people they were up against had a lot of firepower, and in close quarters, she couldn’t miss. She just had to promise to point it away from them.
At least he’d gotten a chuckle out of her for that, but now that the heavy weapon was in her hand, she hoped she wouldn’t have to use it and much preferred her goddess magic or even her dagger.
“Squads Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie have secured the basement,” Zane said through the headset, referring to various elite teams from their three allied kingdoms, and Tina sighed with relief that she and her men weren’t infiltrating Cora’s home alone this time, especially now that the enemy was expecting them.
As they swept the hallway, Anthony and Draven alternated looking into the rooms they passed, clearing them before moving on along the route that was, statistically speaking, most likely to have a captive based on the possible ways to smuggling someone in unseen. Considering how local law enforcement had this place on lockdown, it would have been difficult to get in without flagging the authorities, and whoever had smuggled Amy into this place had done so without anyone being the wiser.
Of course, there was always the chance they had moved and that Amy wasn’t even here anymore. Tina’s grip tightened around her gun as she reached the stairs, but Killian gestured for her to let him go ahead of her. Since he was bulletproof, she nodded, following close behind.
“Shit, someone’s in here, too,” Zane said, mumbling under his breath a bit as he once more typed furiously on his keyboard.
“What?” she asked, genuinely baffled as she looked around, only to hear another thump from upstairs. “You see them?
“No, I mean someone’s in the surveillance system with me.” He cussed under his breath. “I can’t kick them out.”
Tina frowned and looked upstairs, urging Killian to go. They needed to do this, and they needed to do it fast before this person got the best of them.
In her pocket, her phone buzzed, and she debated leaving it alone. However, considering the few people she actually wanted to have her phone number were standing around her, she figured this was probably the kidnapper. She pulled it out, pausing on the stairs to briefly glance at it while doing her best to stay alert.
Warmer.
She shook her head at the taunt, since clearly whoever was here had a visual on them. “Zane, they’re messing with us now.”
“Ignore them,” Draven said. “They’re just trying to throw you off your game and worm their way into your head.” He looked her dead in the eye, his serious expression drawing her back into the moment. “Don’t let them.”
“Right,” she said with a nod and a deep breath. “Let’s get Amy.”
They swept through the hallway, and again each room was empty. The texts continued.
Warmer.
Colder.
Frigid.
Where is she, Tina? Are you going to make it in time?
Eventually, Tina stopped looking at the messages, preferring to keep her gun raised as they stormed through the house, going a little faster now as the other squads continued to clear rooms in the massive mansion. They came to the last door on this floor, which was closed and locked, and Tina pressed her ear gingerly against it. They were in the heart of the house, and she didn’t like that the nearest exit was all the way at the end of the hall.
In fact, based on what little she knew of the house’s layout, she suspected this room wouldn’t even have windows. She tapped into her magic, reaching into the room for a pulse, and found that there was only one racing heartbeat on the other side of the door.
Of course, Cora had pulled this trick on them once before, and Tina wasn’t about to fall for it again. She lifted her gun, ready to shoot Cora the moment she saw that woman’s sneer and nodded to Anthony to kick the door in. He obliged, the wood splintering from the force of his blow, and Tina raised her gun, ready to fire.
Amy sat in a chair by the wall, squirming in her seat with a gag over her mouth, her hands tied to the armrests. Tina smiled and rushed to her as her pocket vibrated again, but once she just ignored it. She had gotten what she’d come for.
“You’re okay!” Tina ripped off the cloth gag and tossed it to the floor as she untied her friend.
“Get out, all of you!” Amy said, eyes wide with fear. “There’s a bomb under the house that’s set to a timer! You have to go!”
“A bomb?” For a brief moment, Tina paused, her heart hammering in her chest at the thought of sitting on top of an explosive that could take out a house this big. She looked up at Anthony, worry fluttering in her chest, and in that state of utter shock as she absorbed Amy’s warning, she just didn’t know what to do.
As quick as she shock had come, though, she shook it off and helped Amy to her feet. “Let’s get out of here!” She bolted toward the stairs with her friend and men in tow. “Zane, warn everyone else! Evacuate now!”
“On i
t.” He had a worried tremor in his voice. “Tina, don’t you dare die, do you hear me? Run!”
“Great, thanks, Zane,” Draven said, scoffing as the six of them tore down the stairs. “We’re not nervous enough as it is. That really helps.”
Beneath her, the house began to rumble. Tina’s throat went dry, since they were still a good three minutes from the exit, and she pushed on, running faster, pushing herself faster than she had ever run before.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her around the waist, and in a split second, the world became nothing more than a blur. Nausea built in her cheeks, and she forced it down as someone gently laid her on the grass. The world still spun around her, but she briefly saw Anthony looking over her as she stared into the sky. Beside her, Amy heaved into the grass.
It took a moment, but the reality of what had happened finally clicked for her. Anthony had saved her and Amy, but at the expense of Killian, Flynn, and Draven’s lives. They were still in the house. Tina bolted upright and stared at the mansion as the windows shook.
“Anthony, go save them!” she screamed. “Now!”
He nodded and ran inside, a dark streak against the world around him, and she watched in horror as she waited for four of the men she loved most in the world to emerge safely.
Instead, the house began to explode.
It started on the south side of the house, and the building detonated, an orange and yellow explosion bursting from every window, through the roof, kicking off doors as the entire house caught fire in an instant. The explosion ripped down the mansion, a bright stream of fire against the dark morning, until the entire house blew up in front of her.
The force of the shockwave knocked her backward, and she hit her head against a tree. The world went dark around the edges of her vision, the light fading here and there as she fought to stay conscious, the adrenaline in her body fueling her, keeping her as alert as possible even while her head throbbed with pain.
“No!” She screamed for Anthony, for Draven, for Killian, and for Flynn, terrified at the thought of losing them, desperate to know if they were okay as the flames consumed what was left of the house. Her head hurt so badly, but she tried to push through the pain. “Tell me they’re okay, Zane,” she said, slurring slightly, hoping her connection to the tiger shifter hadn’t been broken in the blast. “Tell me, please.”