“Logan took him out, and you don’t kill a fucking Lord. The Chitahs are out for blood. Our names have been floating around among his pride; Leo called and passed along the warning. He said to lay low until they sort this shit out.”
“Is she okay?” Adam demanded again as they detoured out a side door that spilled into an alley.
“Leo’s going to check it out.”
“Where are they?”
“With all the ears around us? I’d rather not say, brother. It’s just like old times, except now I got something worth living for, and that makes me dangerous. You can stay at our place in the spare bedroom and if they come for us, I got your back. Let’s roll.”
They crossed the parking lot in large strides, moving toward Knox’s Jeep Commander. Sunny unbuckled her belt, getting ready to move into the back to let Adam ride shotgun. Her face looked distressed and Knox spun around unexpectedly. Without saying a word, he pulled a knife from a holster. “Something ain’t right.”
It sure as hell wasn’t right. Adam could feel the surge in Mage energy and he sharpened his light, scanning the parking lot.
“Lock the doors!” Knox shouted at Sunny.
Adam’s heart was a drum in a marching band. They stood back to back, just like old times. But Knox was at a disadvantage, being human.
“Remember that time in Mexico?” he said with a chuckle.
Adam’s eyes were alert. “I said to never bring that up again. Feel me?”
Knox turned his head, scoping the parking lot. “Yeah, what the fuck ever. Stripping down to distract the opponent was the classiest thing I ever saw. God, you were so green.”
“I was also drunk on a bottle of Cuervo.”
“Well, well,” a voice said from the right. A figure emerged from the dark shadows and he was a short man with thin hair and round glasses. “You must be Adam, Knox… and of course, the lovely Sunny.” He glanced in her direction.
Knox stiffened, looking over Adam’s shoulder as he kept his back pressed tightly to prevent someone approaching from behind.
The man used his finger to push his glasses up, strolling along as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Do I know you?” Adam asked.
“You probably should know the name of the man who’s going to flip your world off its axis,” he said with an apologetic voice. “I’m Nero.”
“Fucking hell,” Knox muttered.
Adam scraped him up and down with a single glance. Nero had an imperious demeanor, but his looks were anything but. He was nothing more than a lean scrap of a man with thinning hair, glasses, and a medallion around his neck. He had a sharp nose and looked more like a taxman than a mastermind.
“So you’re the big cheese, huh?” Adam sniffed out a laugh, keeping his light as sharp as it could possibly get.
“Let me quash any notion that I have a personal interest in Silver,” Nero said, rolling a toothpick around in his mouth. “Her light is very special, but she’s caused me more than enough trouble. Tarek in a leadership role would have made me privy to inside information. That was a tremendous opportunity; do you know how hard it is to buy a good Chitah? Even Logan pissed on my doorstep,” he said, scrunching his face. “But I had Tarek in my pocket. When you buy loyalty from a man like him, you have a stronger army.” With each step, Nero made a point. “I had connections, access to private information, and my own enemy doing my dirty work. Chitahs can track, they’re determined, ruthless, and are walking weapons to our kind with those revolting fangs.”
“I hear golden retrievers are loyal,” Adam mocked.
Nero’s mouth twisted into an angry smile. “I was going to take her off Tarek’s hands eventually. Her light is strong and I want that power, but this is the second time she’s severed one of my connections. Merc was the only one I knew who could pull core light, and I had just acquired an Infuser. I plan to pull some of that savory light from my guests and infuse it to my own. Now Merc is gone and I have to find a replacement.”
“Bummer,” Adam said unapologetically, stealing glimpses of the parking lot. What Nero said was of no consequence; their situation was. What were the odds this man was alone? Looking at his size, Adam could take him down for sure. But that was contingent on any rare gifts he might have. This was a man with an agenda and Adam’s senses were fully alert. A Mage couldn’t use their basic powers against another Mage because it would only juice them up. Therefore, it was always hand-to-hand combat using whatever skills they possessed in fighting, and techniques in movement using their abilities.
Nero didn’t look like much of a fighter.
“Yes, quite a… bummer. On top of that, I’m on the list of outlaws. All this because of that repugnant woman. Do you know how Tarek won her over?” Nero chuckled and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his beige slacks. “Quite clever, actually.” He nodded a few times and turned on his heel. “Quite.”
Nero flashed away and Knox pressed against Adam’s back. “Is he gone?”
“Yeah,” Adam said skeptically. “Eyes alert.”
They simultaneously walked toward the truck while keeping their backs to each other and their eyes on their surroundings. Laughter could be heard coming from the bar, and an angelic voice briefly floated on the wind like a haunting dream as the door opened and closed in the distance.
Their boots crunched on the pavement and Adam reached into the lining of his coat, pulling out a stunner—a dagger that could paralyze a Mage. Hopefully, it wouldn’t have to be used. But he didn’t have a good feeling about this. Nero wouldn’t just unload that kind of information and walk off.
Adam sent a text to Novis that simply said:
Nrthn Lights. Trouble.
Probably misspelled because Adam didn’t look down. They were still a good ways from Knox’s Jeep and while he could flash to the car, Knox couldn’t.
So they walked together. Slow and steady.
Adam saw a glimmer of a blade cutting through the air as a Mage flashed at him from the left.
“Get low!” he shouted at Knox, ducking before the dagger made contact.
Knox engaged, sweeping out his leg and tripping up their attacker. The Mage rolled over as Knox tried to stomp on his wrist to release his grip on the dagger.
Adam briefly flicked his eyes around, but the man was alone.
The Mage hopped up, dusting off his bare arms. Adam’s coat restricted his movements, but it offered protection against the cut of a blade.
“Cover me,” Adam said, and Knox stepped back.
Adam sliced his blade in a series of patterns, but the Mage blocked the maneuver, throwing out a fist and clipping him in the jaw. He swiped the blade low at the Mage’s belly, forcing him to hop back. They went into a series of expert moves that looked like something out of an action-packed espionage movie.
It wasn’t Adam’s first knife fight.
His blade sliced the Mage in the leg and he yelled out, flashing away before Adam could twist it in and take him down. It was times like these that being scarred worked to his advantage. The Mage eyed him apprehensively; uncertain what kind of man Adam was and how dirty he was willing to fight. Adam must have looked scary as hell with his black-handled dagger and fire in his eyes.
Knox stepped to the left and rushed the Mage, but the man flashed toward him unexpectedly. Adam’s buddy had tactical skills in the bag. It’s what he did for a living. The Mage may have been fast, but Knox could anticipate the move of an epileptic fly caught in a hurricane.
Knox dropped on one knee and stabbed the Mage in the back of his leg. The man shouted and jerked his leg so hard the knife tumbled on the concrete. Knox dropped low and kicked him in the knees from the side. The Mage folded like a piece of paper and hit the ground.
Lifting the infused dagger, Knox shoved it to the hilt in the attacker’s thigh and clamped his hand firmly around his throat.
“What do you want to do with him, Razor?” he said in that familiar voice, the one that declared he was willing to fin
ish the job.
“Fuck it. Do him in; you need the knife!” Adam shouted as three men emerged from the shadows and closed in from different angles. Two against four—they had faced those odds before, just not with Breed.
Adam made an unexpected move that startled the Mage in the red coat.
He attacked.
Adam didn’t play defense like they had expected. He flashed toward him and plunged his stunner into the Mage’s chest, taking him down and finishing the job.
The second Mage wasn’t armed and attacked from behind, kicking Adam in the back of his knees. He fell, flipped over, and immediately hopped to his feet. With a clean swipe, Adam sliced the man across the chest.
“Fuck!” the Mage growled, holding his hand across his heart. “You’re going to pay for that.” He had a full beard and the darkest eyes Adam had seen next to a Vampire or a serial killer.
Adam caught sight of Knox, who spat curses at a Mage with long dreadlocks. He gripped his dagger and stalked forward fearlessly.
Adam’s heart hammered against his chest, his back ached, but adrenaline kept him focused and alert. The Mage circled around him, grimacing from the fresh blood pooling on his shirt. Adam swiped his blade again and the bearded Mage spun around and flashed behind him. This one was bigger and stronger than Adam, so his punches hurt like hell.
Especially the one that rammed against the side of his head.
Flashes of light filled Adam’s vision and he was off-kilter, stumbling to his left as he sliced with his blade, keeping the Mage at bay. His attacker picked up on his disorientation and weaved left and right, making Adam dizzy.
Meanwhile, Knox was kicking ass and taking names across the lot.
That’s when it happened.
The Mage came up from behind, and in a quick motion, grabbed Adam’s wrist and plunged the dagger into his chest.
Adam had felt the power of a stunner before; Novis expected him to understand and experience all the weapons that could be used against him. It worked immediately like a numbing agent and all feeling evaporated as he hit the ground, landing on his left side.
“Piece of shit,” the Mage muttered, kicking him in the back. Then he stooped down and patted Adam on the cheek. “I was given instructions not to kill you, although I’m having serious second thoughts at the moment. You’re just supposed to watch; so I hope you enjoy the show.”
Adam watched in horror as the bearded man stalked toward Knox, who was holding his own against the Mage with dreadlocks, getting in a few clean breaks with his fist. Somewhere along the line, Breed magic was put aside and these were just two men using their fists to solve problems.
But Adam’s bearded attacker had a different agenda.
His heart sped up when the Mage flashed toward Knox’s Jeep, pulling on the door handles. Adam couldn’t yell out. He couldn’t even feel his own heart, which he knew raced out of control.
Suddenly, the Mage smashed the window with his fist.
Sunny’s eyes widened and she scrambled to the other side of the Jeep to escape. The door swung open and she stumbled out, running.
He flashed up from behind and grabbed Sunny’s blond waves of hair, yanking her back so hard that she screamed and her purple scarf tumbled to the ground.
Adam used every ounce of will to move his hand—to somehow reach for the knife and pull it from his chest. He thought he felt his pinky finger move, but the magic was too strong. His stomach turned, fearing what he was about to witness.
“Take your hands off her!” Knox roared.
And then he transformed into a mountain of fury, striking the Mage he fought against with such precision you would have thought he was one of them.
A blood-curdling scream poured out of Sunny as the Mage threw her to the ground and prepared to juice her light.
Christ, Adam couldn’t bear the thought. Memories of his sister’s death came back, and now he was forced to watch helplessly as Sunny was slain in front of him. She kicked her legs and the sound of her snow boots knocking against the concrete broke his heart.
The scumbag pinned her hands to the ground, struggling to remove her purple mittens. Sunny fought wildly, thrashing about and screaming as he straddled her. The wind picked up her scarf and it floated on the air, tangling around a light pole.
Knox’s eyes were on Sunny but he wasn’t able to get to her because of the Mage that circled around him. In a quick motion, he grabbed the dagger at his feet and threw it at his attacker. The blade plunged into his gut and he fell like a bag of concrete.
Leaving Knox unarmed.
Knox could have finished off the Mage to gain the advantage of a weapon, but he didn’t have a second to spare. Sunny’s body grew lax and her screams waned as the life drained from her.
Knox charged at them from the side.
The Mage rose to his feet as Sunny lay helpless on the ground. She was still alive, and while the attack was on all of them, a realization struck Adam. There was something so deliberate about this attack that he knew Sunny had been the target all along.
The Mage with the dark beard and dead eyes reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.
A chilling roar shook the silence as Knox ran at them—his lips peeled back and the lines in his face carved deeper from the agony of seeing what was about to unfold. The Mage stood astride Sunny, slowly raising his arm until it was aimed at her chest. Knox had no time to knock him down without causing the gun to go off.
Adam would replay the scene in his mind for years to come, and wonder how something that happened so quickly seemed to take place in slow motion.
Knox threw himself on top of Sunny—the woman he cherished more than life itself. The woman he carried a ring in his pocket for. The one Knox looked at like she hung the moon and stars.
A flash of light sparked as the gun fired three times.
***
That night—after Logan fed me Chinese food—I slept for hours. Nightmares of Tarek continued to haunt me, and I’d wake up in a cold sweat with Logan at my side, lulling me back to sleep with his purr.
“Sleep, female,” he said.
Around midnight, a tumultuous pounding coming from Logan’s front door woke us up. The insistent knock made me want to crawl underneath the covers because I knew it meant trouble. Logan hopped out of bed, lifting his nose in the air to concentrate on the scent.
“Open up!” a man bellowed as the thundering sound of his fist continued to strike the door.
Logan looked over his shoulder. “It’s Leo. Stay here or join me, but cover yourself up.”
I wrapped a thin blanket around me and followed close behind. As he unlatched the door, two angry men flew in.
Leo’s face was redder than the highlights in his hair. “You better talk, little brother. Word is out that Tarek is dead by your hand.” He shouldered past him into the living room, pacing angrily in a circle.
“The rumor is true,” Logan confirmed.
Levi patted him on the shoulder with a wide grin, flashing the tattoo on his inside forearm that read VERITAS.
Leo bared his teeth. “Tarek was a Lord. Do you realize what you’ve done? You cannot kill a Lord; the Pride is already seeking justice. They’re all but lighting torches in the streets! I thought we talked about this?”
Logan pulled me to his side and his upper canines slowly descended. “Tarek Thorn intended to rape and murder my kindred spirit. He held her against her will, and every choice she made I was forced to accept. But it was not her choice to be assaulted, and I would not stand idly by so my female could be slaughtered at the hands of a lunatic.”
Leo’s voice softened. “Logan, you know it is impossible that she could be—”
“You are my brother, but do not ever… ever doubt me on this subject,” he bit out harshly. “I challenged him as I had every right to, and he accepted that challenge.”
His brothers circled the room and Leo pulled in deep breaths of air, tasting the truth of Logan’s words on his tongue.
&nbs
p; Levi slammed his fist into the wall and leaned against it, lowering his head as every muscle in his arms flexed. Curses tumbled out of his mouth, but they were merely whispers.
“I’ll face the consequences,” Logan said with bravery on his tongue.
“Logan,” I whispered, stroking my fingers along his neck. His angered demeanor switched to one of adoration, and he hid his fangs behind closed lips. “Can they punish you for this? I want to know the worst-case scenario.”
“Death,” Leo confirmed somberly. He sat down in a rust-colored chair with his elbows on his knees. “If Logan is unable to prove his claim on you as kindred spirit, then he’ll pay for his crime with his life.”
“Oh, Logan. Why did you do this?”
I sat on the sofa and covered my face with the blanket. Levi sat beside me and wrapped his heavy arm around my shoulders.
“I swear, Leo, I tried to stop it,” I said, lowering the blanket. “I didn’t know he was going to call Logan and make him listen to it over the phone.”
Leo snapped his head at Logan and his jaw clenched. “Is that true?”
Logan nodded. “Do you want me to describe my visceral reaction from hearing my female’s screams at the hands of another male? I called her guard and he had the cop’s phone number and address. I sincerely hope that neither of you ever have to endure the torment I suffered, thinking I would be listening to the last moments of her life.” He raked his fingers through his messy hair. “I knew the consequences, and if I had it to do over again, I would have killed him slower.”
Logan knelt before me and kissed my palm, placing it over his heart. I felt the sweet rhythm of his life beneath my fingertips, suddenly aware that his heart could stop beating because of Tarek.
“What if I prove I have Chitah blood?” I asked Leo.
“Even the human children we give up for adoption do not have enough Chitah DNA to make them a kindred spirit for a Chitah male.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “You dump your children off at a stranger’s doorstep and never see them again. They never get a chance to mingle within your society or attend your Gatherings. They could very well be someone’s soul mate. Didn’t that ever occur to anyone?”
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