We drew Greenville, leaving the other team Alexandria. Monroe and Jackson could wait. We had an hour and a half drive ahead of us, while the others had closer to three. That meant we would strike first, but it also meant our entire plan hinged on us taking out the scouts at our location. No pressure.
Night fell as Wu drove, and Thom rode beside him in silence. He was leaning over the console, too close to be polite, but Wu was determined to ignore him.
Thom might give sheep a run for their money in his tomcat form, but Wu made for a damn big bird.
Rixton would love that. Calling Wu Big Bird. Talk about your missed opportunities. Ah well. Tweety I had called him, and Tweety he would remain.
Thinking about Rixton pinched my heart, so I locked down all thoughts of him and Sherry and sweet Nettie before I got sniffly. The last thing I wanted the guys to remember about my first op was how I kicked it off by bawling the whole way there.
Our first target was an abandoned fast food restaurant on the edge of town. Just looking at the broken sign made me hungry. I couldn’t remember when I ate last, and that couldn’t be a good thing. Maybe the headaches were my stomach’s attempts at getting my attention.
Wu parked three blocks away, and we huddled on the sidewalk at the rear of the SUV like it was a barrel fire in the middle of winter. Cole popped the trunk, pried up the carpet, and exposed a storage compartment that would make any spare tire envious. The weapons cache he revealed made me take an involuntary step back. It was like the middle ages vomited its surplus. Small swords, axes, medium swords, maces, big swords, and a dozen smaller weapons I couldn’t imagine a use for—let alone name.
One for you, one for you, one for you . . .
“I’ll pass.” I waved off the shorter sword with a broad tip he offered me. “I don’t know how to use one.”
“You’ll need a blade. Trust me.” He unfastened my belt and fed it through the loops on my pants then added a scabbard before buckling me up again. “The falchion is a decent size and weight for you.” Happy with the fit, he sheathed the blade and adjusted its position at my hip. “How does that feel?”
“Clunky,” I admitted, fingers brushing the pommel. “And unnecessary.”
“Just wait.” His grin bordered on feral. “You’ll change your mind.”
The sword he chose for himself was tall enough to pass for my twin. The familiar way he handled it told me they were old friends reunited. That was a comfort. Me? I wasn’t trusting my sword not to bite back.
Wu, to my surprise, came equipped with his own twin swords that looked so at home in his hands I had no trouble flashing back to all those portraits of avenging angels. Clearly, there was some truth in the myths.
“I’ll take zone one,” Thom said. “Smaller targets are harder to spot.”
“Be safe.” I ruffled his hair. “Don’t take any chances.”
Thom leaned over and rubbed his cheek against mine, a light rumble in his chest. “I will, and I won’t.”
Laughing softly, I watched him go. “Cole and I will take zone two.”
Cole’s eyes glinted in the dark. “Double the manpower in case Thom flushes out a scout.”
“That leaves me with zone three.” Wu sighed, clearly unhappy drawing the short straw—the one least likely to see action. “Report back in one hour.”
That left us a thirty-minute window to plan our attack before Santiago’s team arrived at their destination.
Wu turned on his heel to leave, but I caught him by the upper arm. “Be careful.”
“I didn’t know you cared.” His smile was wicked and meant to incite Cole, but Cole ignored him. Huh. Maybe their truce was more binding than I first thought. “I haven’t died yet. I doubt this will kill me.”
“Asshat,” I muttered to his retreating back.
He chuckled in response then vanished into the gathering shadows.
The streetlamps flickered and dimmed, one of Santiago’s time-delayed tricks. The absence of light might confuse the Drosera for a minute, but they would come investigate as their hideout edged toward absolute darkness. Luring War’s coterie out into the open, using their curiosity against them, was the point.
This was a stealth mission. No chatter allowed. Even though I longed for a distraction to keep my mind off what came next, I couldn’t risk the inattention. Conversation might not get us killed, but it would get us noticed, and that amounted to the same thing. The best I could manage was caressing my Glock in its shoulder holster with my fingertips in anticipation of the draw.
I drifted in Cole’s wake, learning the way he moved, a shadow larger than the rest. I don’t think I would ever get tired of the view, but I had to keep a clear head. If my coterie could pick up on scent cues, then so could the Drosera. As satisfying as it might be to gawk, I couldn’t let myself get hot and bothered if it meant leading the enemy straight to us.
Once he got over being pissed about me blowing the entire operation, Santiago would never let me live it down.
I could hear his I told you so’s from here.
We circled the block but encountered no charun. This end of town was quiet so late, most of the stores closed, and traffic was light. It hit me then that if the fight bled out onto the street, humans would get hurt. Maybe not in the initial strike, but any who witnessed the battle would be silenced.
Jay Lambert’s fate was already a burden on my conscience. Add too many more, and I might crack.
Movement snared my attention, a motion too quick to be human, a smudge too large to be an animal.
Ahead of me, Cole walked on without a hitch in his stride, and I mimicked his placid demeanor.
A second patch of darkness shifted with inhuman quickness on my periphery.
We were being hunted.
Heart kicking my ribs, I expected fear to drench my mouth or sweat to coat my skin. But with Cole at my side, I wet my lips, anticipation zinging down my nerve endings.
Cole glanced over his shoulder at me, his nostrils flaring, a red sheen coating his eyes.
That . . . did nothing to help with the whole anticipatory thing.
Squeezing my thighs together as I walked, I forced my brain to focus.
The smirk that kicked up his lips had me seeing red too. He was riling me up on purpose.
Newsflash. I was not going to be the Pied Piper who lured out all the charun with her pheromones.
The scuff of boot on asphalt rang out behind me, and I didn’t wait to take my cue from Cole. I pivoted on my heel, raised my arms, and sighted my gun. I squeezed off two quick bursts before my brain caught up to my reflexes.
The cold place lapped at my senses, blanketing me in a thick calm. The part of me second-guessing my decision to kill another being suffocated.
Kill or be killed.
This wasn’t Canton. I wasn’t on the force. These weren’t people breaking human law. They were charun. Other. And they would raze this world if I let them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The man went down. The skin suit, I reminded myself. He wasn’t human anymore. But still . . . I couldn’t look away. The cold place nipped at me, taking bigger and bigger bites of my self-control, but I refused to surrender. What if . . . ?
A gasp echoed down the empty street, the man’s dying breath.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
I rocked forward, ready to sprint to his side, but Cole clamped a hand on my shoulder.
“Trust your instincts,” he growled. “There are no humans out tonight.”
A groan reached my ears that built in volume to a roar as the man split down an invisible seam, and the super gator pulling his strings burst onto the pavement. Light glinted off its beady eyes, turning them red, and he snapped his massive jaws at me.
“Watch my back,” Cole ordered as he drew his sword. “Don’t let them box me in.”
Cole charged the Drosera and leapt over its head. He landed on its back, fisted his sword with both hands, and stabbed downward through its spine.
; The creature screamed and thrashed as Cole gripped the hilt of his sword like the pommel on a saddle. A second blade, this one shorter and curved, appeared in his dominant hand, and he started hacking at the base of its skull.
Bullets wouldn’t kill them. I scowled at my gun, my pacifier, hating no one had bothered to tell me that, and traded it for the falchion sheathed at my opposite hip. I tested the weight of the blade and hoped like hell I didn’t hack off my own fingers or toes wielding the blasted thing.
The second shadow coalesced behind Cole as he finished off the first beast. With his back to the skin suit, he didn’t see the attack coming.
This time, there was no bargaining with the cold place. There was no dipping my toes in its waters. It rose up, sank its hooks in me, and plunged me into its depths.
As much as I’d wanted to run to his defense, I prowled, closing the distance. The skin suit held a handgun I doubted would kill Cole since my weapon had been about as annoying as a mosquito bite to the Drosera I dinged, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt, that it couldn’t damage him in other ways.
As quick as that worry surfaced, it drowned beneath a pulse of soothing numbness. Wresting control of my body off autopilot proved impossible. All I could do was ride the wave as I crept up behind the skin suit, cradled his jaw in my left hand, wrenched his head back, then slashed a gaping smile across his throat with the blade in my right.
Blood poured hot and wet through my fingers, and the urge to lick them clean had my mouth watering.
I swallowed once, twice, three times then spat excess saliva on the ground when that didn’t help.
“Release him,” Cole rasped, his voice husky, riding the edge of adrenaline. “He’s dead.”
Finger by finger, I willed my hand open and let the body drop.
“You’re still here.” He gazed at me, into me, through me. “You’re still Luce.”
Luce.
Yes.
The cold place snapped like a rubber band, and I melted into his arms.
“Are you sure?” A tremor rocked my voice. “How can you tell?”
“I would know you anywhere,” he murmured into my hair. “You are the other half of my soul.”
Tipping my head back, I searched his face. “Not her?”
“Never.”
“Okay.” I breathed through the panic fisting my heart and stepped away from him. “I’m not done with this conversation, but I also don’t want us to get sniped out here in the open.”
“We need to finish clearing our zone,” he agreed. “We can pick this up in our room back at the hotel.”
I might have gulped, and he might have nipped my bottom lip hard enough to hurt.
“Bad dragon.” I rubbed away the sting. “I’m waiting on a first kiss, not a first chomp.”
He smiled, all teeth, and we set out to finish our circuit.
On the way, we intercepted Wu, who had gotten bored and decided to come help us.
His gaze lingered on my swollen lip. “Were you two making out or fighting Drosera?”
“You can’t tell?” I arched an eyebrow. “I see you sniffing me. You’re not that subtle.”
“You’re getting better at locking down your emotions.” His bland expression made it impossible to tell if he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing. “You don’t leak as much.”
“Good.” Finally, one benefit to inviting Conquest to the party. “Did you have any trouble?”
“I convinced a few humans to be somewhere else for the next few hours, but I saw no sentries or scouts.”
“We need to backtrack to our rendezvous point.” I scanned the streets, at their darkest and most silent since our arrival. “I hope Santiago wasn’t going for a total blackout. I don’t have night vision.”
Back at the SUV, we checked in with Santiago’s unit then made certain Sariah hadn’t gotten into any trouble. I was signing off when Wu shoved an eyeglass case in my hands. “New toy?”
He measured the night around us. “A necessary one.”
After tucking away my phone, I cracked open the case. “Night vision?” The wide yellow lenses set in a black frame resembled sunglasses more than anything. “They’re not those nighttime driving glasses, are they?”
“Spoken like a true infomercial connoisseur.” Wu removed them and slid them on my face. “They cost more than $19.99 if that’s what has you worried.”
Through the lenses, the night flared to light around me. I turned a slow circle, stalling out when I spotted Cole, who had believed himself to be hidden. But I noted the tightened fists, the sawing motion of his jaw, and the murder promised in his eyes when they landed on Wu. Maybe their truce wore on him more than I first thought.
Wonder if they would give me a copy of the terms and conditions if I asked? Nah. Probably not.
Silly dragon. Did he really think he had competition? Wu was nice and all, but he was no Cole. And it’s not like he had declared any intentions for me beyond partnering up to wipe my sisters off the face of the planet.
A text on his phone distracted Cole, saving our gazes from clashing and me from getting caught.
“Okay, I’m impressed.” I adjusted the frames until I was comfortable. “Mine to keep?”
“Greedy little thing,” Wu said, amused. “Yes, they’re yours.”
“That was Thom.” Cole flashed me his phone. “He can’t come to us. We’re going to have to go to him.”
Panic quickened my breaths. “He’s okay?”
“Snug as a bug,” Cole assured me. “He’s in a sweet spot to watch our backs and doesn’t want to give up prime real estate.”
“Good.” An exhale gusted through my lips. “Hold on—I thought he went cat?” I glanced at his phone. “No thumbs for texting. How does that work?”
“Ask Santiago.” Cole put away his cell. “This is the field test.”
Packing away my questions for later, I slid a fresh clip in my pocket—bullets might not kill a charun, but they slowed them down—then palmed the falchion. “Ready.”
Wu set the pace, gliding through the darkness, as silent as a cat on soft paws.
Basically, he fit right in.
Cole stuck to my side, his flash of temper extinguished, his body quivering in anticipation of the fight.
“I’ll be pissed if you get yourself hurt,” I murmured. “Super pissed.”
“I know.” Feral intensity burned in his gaze when he turned it on me. “The same goes for you.”
“I know,” I parroted back to him, taking comfort in our small ritual.
I flexed my fingers, rotating my wrist, getting used to the weight of the blade. It should have felt stranger, less familiar, but it didn’t. Eyeing Cole’s sword, I experienced a moment of kinship. Something told me if I lifted it, I would find its strength a comfort too.
Zone three remained quiet and contained. Zone two was bloodstained but empty. Zone one buzzed with frantic activity.
Smoke poured from the rear of the building, and flames licked up its sides. Men and women hustled to contain the blaze, but it burned too bright. Unnaturally hot. I was sweating from here.
“Mmmrrrrpt.”
A slight weight touched down on my shoulder, and a furry cheek brushed mine. “Nice job, Thom-cat.”
“Are the scouts neutralized?” Wu stared into the blaze. “Did you have to burn them out?”
“Mmmrrrrpt.”
“Fast and effective,” Cole praised him. “We don’t have long. The authorities will be notified soon if they haven’t been already.”
The winged kitty glided to the ground, shook out its wings, then rose on two legs as Thomas.
“There were eggs,” he said. “Rooms of them. They’ve dug deep and carved out a true nest. It’s easier to boil them en masse than scramble them individually.”
Eggs. We had to cut down War’s numbers, but it still made my heart ache. “Any children?”
“No.” Thom turned compassionate eyes on me. “There are no young, only the unborn
.”
“All right.” I packed away those bothersome emotions for later examination. “Let’s do this.”
Cole was watching me, assessing my reaction to the grim news, but he dropped his gaze before I caught him at it.
“Bring up the rear,” Wu ordered me. “Thom, you’re with Luce.”
Cole offered a tight nod of agreement indicating they ought to be the ones who led the charge. I didn’t argue. I was weaker, and I glitched between stone-cold killer and bleeding-heart. I couldn’t be trusted to have their backs, no matter how much I wanted to guard them.
Distracted by the fire, the Drosera didn’t notice us converging on them until Cole roared his battle cry. That sent them into a fresh tizzy, and they tossed aside buckets and grabbed anything that might work as a weapon. I counted two dozen of them, give or take. It was hard keeping them straight with the black cloud swirling around them.
Wu raced forward, twin swords raised, and sliced through his opponents without uttering so much as an undignified grunt. Each strike was as elegant as a courtly bow, his attacks a vicious waltz with more partners than any dance card should hold. He actually paused once to grimace as blood splattered his shirt. Thankfully, he got his head back in the game before it was separated from his shoulders.
There was no hesitation in Cole. There was no stopping him, either. He raged at them like a pissed-off bull with a matador in his sights. He swung his sword like it was an extension of his arm. Powerful. Merciless. He cut down his opponents then snarled a challenge for more.
What it said about me that I actually panted watching him work up a sweat, I didn’t want to know.
It was easier accepting them as other than recognizing the same urges and desires in myself.
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