by Sadie Moss
“Release her now. I’m sure we can think of better things to do than fight. Wouldn’t you agree?”
The incubus’s deep voice was liquid sex, full of a promise so tempting that, even though he wasn’t addressing me, I unconsciously craned my head to gaze up at him, my body pressing back into his. I couldn’t catch my breath, and all I wanted was to drown in his scent.
Our faces were mere inches apart. Glancing down at me, Akio dropped a small kiss on my nose, and that slight touch banished every thought from my mind. My body felt like it was floating, weightless and heavy with lust at the same time.
The mage seemed to be swaying on her feet a bit too. Turning his attention back to her, Akio slipped out from behind me, stepping forward and grasping the taut magic rope. He used it to reel the mage in closer to him. She stumbled forward until he caught her, wrapping his arms around her. Her whole body shuddered, and a sudden flash of jealousy ripped through me even as the bind constraining me loosened.
Corin darted forward, unwinding the glowing magic whip from around me. I stepped back, attention still locked on Akio and the female mage. Her eyes were hooded, her hair twisting above her head like charmed snakes while Akio brushed his lips against the shell of her ear, whispering words too low for me to hear.
Finally, he stepped away. The mage remained where she was, eyes unfocused and hands idly tracing paths up and down her body. Her magical whips had vanished.
“The charm won’t hold her long; she’s strong. We need to get out of here.” Akio turned to us, looking over my shoulder to address Corin. It was just as well. I didn’t think I could meet his eyes right now. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment as the lust in my mind cleared.
Corin grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the garage. “Guys! We gotta go! Now!”
Fenris leapt after us, leaving the body of the mountain lion shifter behind. His gray snout was covered in blood.
The elementalist threw an ice spear to intercept us, and we ducked. It crashed into the kitchen cabinets, shattering wood and porcelain. Jae took advantage of the man’s momentary distraction to launch a fireball at him. The elementalist turned too late and was engulfed in flames. He screamed, dousing the fire with water as the sickening smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils.
We poured into the garage, heading for Jae’s sleek silver car.
Before Jae could unlock it, the car filled with water, which turned immediately to ice. A sheet of ice formed on the outside too, sealing the doors closed.
The elementalist braced himself in the doorway, sagging weakly, half his hair burnt off but a look of triumph on his face.
“Mine! Mine!” I wrenched the door of my shitty Honda open, flipping the visor down to grab the keys.
Everyone piled inside as Jae sent a scorching blast of flame toward the elementalist. The man’s magic must have been tapped out, because no water doused the flame this time. He fell back into the house as the doorframe caught fire, the blaze catching quickly. I slammed the car into reverse, the old gears screeching as I cranked the wheel. I was about to peel out down the street, when Jae put a hand on my arm.
“Wait,” he said softly, looking back toward the house. A flicker of fire glowed from inside the garage, and smoke was beginning to fill the space. He looked into the back seat, catching Akio’s eye.
“Do it.” The incubus’s voice was grim.
Jae closed his eyes. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but I felt magic pouring from him.
The house shook, rocking on its foundation as if a magnitude eight earthquake tore through the earth just below it. The wall with a hole in it was the first to go, buckling under the pressure. Before it collapsed entirely, I saw the mage with the electric whips still standing where we’d left her, arms limp by her sides. Then the falling rubble obscured her as the rest of the house came down with a thunderous crash.
I stared at the pile of plaster, wood, and stone where Akio’s house had once been, my jaw dropping.
Holy shit. Jae had just destroyed Akio’s house.
And Akio had let him.
I was stunned, both by the raw power Jae had displayed and Akio’s sacrifice. No one inside could’ve survived that collapse, which meant there was no one to report back to whoever had sent them. True, his house had been fairly well trashed in the fight anyway—thank the gods it wasn’t all my fault this time—but he’d just lost everything. All his fancy-ass clothes. All his books.
Twisting in my seat, I shot a look back at the incubus, wanting to say something.
His dark eyes were cold.
“What are you waiting for?” he barked. “Go!”
Gulping, I threw the car into gear and tore off down the street, clenching my jaw on my sharp retort. Whatever warmth I thought I’d seen in his eyes earlier had obviously been an effect of his incubus charm.
“Damn it, this car is a fucking magnet for Peacekeepers,” I muttered, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of a lurking officer. Even if they had no idea we were involved in the fracas at Akio’s house, my old beater stood out in this neighborhood like a neon sign.
“I’ll put an illusion on your car. Nothing flashy. Just enough not to draw attention.” Jae’s focus was glued to the rearview mirror.
I drove aimlessly through the streets of the Capital, trying to stay away from heavily trafficked areas.
“Where are we going?” When I was sure we weren’t being followed, I glanced back, taking in the rest of the car. Corin was sitting in the seat behind me, and the amount of blood soaking his shirt made my stomach drop.
“We need to get back to the Resistance headquarters,” Jae said grimly. “I’ll guide you.”
Silence settled over the car, interrupted occasionally by Jae calling out a new direction. We passed through the gate to the Outskirts without incident, and I slowly began to recognize our surroundings.
When we pulled up alongside the old house that hid the portal we’d gone though before, I hit the brakes harder than I meant to, jerking everyone forward in their seats.
All that was left of the house was a smoldering shell.
Chapter 15
“What the fuck?” Fenris breathed, leaning across Akio to stare out the window.
Jae got out of the car, scanning the street warily. I did the same but could see no movement. The neighborhood was long since abandoned, and it looked like whoever had started the blaze hadn’t stuck around.
Leaving the others behind, we crept into the burnt-out remains of the house. The roof was gone, and chunks of charred wood littered the floor. Jae picked his way over to the basement, sending up a ball of glowing light to hover a foot above us like a lantern. The stairs looked too damaged to trust, but Jae darted down them anyway. I followed, stepping as quickly and lightly as I could. The place where the portal had been was nothing more than a black burn mark, the edges glowing red like embers.
Jae ran his fingers over the glow, his brow creased. “They tried to break into the portal. They didn’t get through, but the portal is destroyed.”
I studied his face in the darkness. The dim light hovering over us cast his features in harsh shadows. “Is that good or bad?”
“Both. The portal did what it was supposed to do by keeping intruders out. But now we need to get to another portal quickly—and hope that one is still intact.”
We hurried back up the stairs. I stumbled when one of the planks snapped beneath my foot, and Jae reached back to catch my arm, pulling me onto the relatively stable main floor.
When we got back in the car, Jae filled the others in on the state of the portal downstairs before murmuring directions that would take us to an alternate entrance to the Resistance.
“Shit.” Fenris rested his hands on our headrests as I drove, leaning forward. He was stuck in the middle seat between Corin and Akio, the three large men squashed together. His stormy gaze darted between me and Jae. “This can’t be a coincidence, right? The attack on Akio’s place, the portal getting destroyed. The Representatives must
be closing in.”
“I don’t want to speculate until we talk to Christine.” Jae’s hand tightened into a fist on the middle console, before he added, “But I don’t believe in coincidences. Corin, were you able to reach Christine?”
“No. Phone was on the couch. It got left behind.” Corin’s voice was tight with pain, and I winced in sympathy. I’d gotten a few lumps and bruises, but he’d taken three brutal lashes across his chest. I pressed harder on the gas, careening through another decrepit pocket of the Outskirts.
An agonizing twenty minutes later, Jae directed me to stop in front of a tall, redbrick building, then led us up the stairs and into a supply closet halfway down the hall on the third floor. We stepped through the portal there, appearing in the dark, labyrinthine basement of the abandoned factory where the Resistance was headquartered. Jae conjured another ball of light above us, and we walked quickly through the tunnels. When we reached the guardroom, four people greeted us instead of the two there had been last time—three men and a woman, and none of them were sitting or playing cards. They stood alert and tense, and as soon as they saw us, they all reached for their weapons.
“We were attacked.” Corin stepped forward, his voice commanding despite its weakness. “We need to see Christine immediately.”
I noticed that Jae hung back behind the rest of the group. It made sense. Even though the mage was obviously committed to the Resistance’s cause, I was sure some people here still didn’t trust him. Or me, based on the looks they were shooting my way.
But the desperation radiating from us, and the blood soaking Corin’s shirt, seemed to convince them he was telling the truth. The four guards stepped away from the door, letting us pass through. As soon as we entered the main compound, Corin staggered, sucking in a pained breath and raising a hand to the gashes on his chest. I slipped under his arm, draping it over my shoulders and turning to Jae.
“These cuts need to be taken care of right now. Which way to the barracks?”
He inclined his head left, and I tugged Corin in the direction he indicated.
“I’ll report to Christine.” Fenris darted off the other way.
When we reached the room full of cots, I found an empty one and lowered Corin onto it. His eyes were half closed, his face tight with pain. I pushed him onto his back gently, tearing open the front of his shirt to examine his wounds.
I bit my lip. Fuck. They were deeper than I’d thought. The skin had split open cleanly, almost down to the bone in places.
“Do you have a healer here?” I asked Jae.
He knelt down beside me. “No healer. But I know a bit of the healing arts. I can teach you. It’s a skill you should have.”
Godsdamn it. I would’ve much preferred to sit back and let Jae handle this. But he was right. What if one of them got injured in the future and he wasn’t around? I’d hate myself if I couldn’t help them because I’d been too scared to learn how.
“Can I?” I asked Corin softly.
His eyes were screwed up, and I wasn’t sure if he was really paying attention, but I wouldn’t make him my healing guinea pig without his go-ahead. There was enough resentment lingering between us already; I didn’t want to betray his trust again.
He nodded once, gritting his teeth. I looked to Jae, waiting for instruction.
“This is a spell where empathy becomes very important,” he said softly, hovering his hands above Corin’s chest. I did the same, placing my hands next to Jae’s. Our fingers brushed, the contact soothing me. My heartbeat slowed a bit, and I managed to draw in a steady breath, gathering my focus.
“Okay. I’m ready.”
“Find the magic inside you and direct it outward. But at first, don’t try to do anything with it. Just feel.” Jae’s voice was soft in my ear.
I followed his directions, reaching out with my magic like it was a sixth sense or an insect’s antennae, trying to gather information about what was in front of me. Instead of closing my eyes, I focused on Corin’s clear blue ones, using that connection to help my magic find what it sought.
Finally, I latched onto it. I could feel Corin’s essence, feel the thrum of life flowing through his body. And I could feel the interruption of that life in the deep gashes across his chest.
Not daring to speak, I nodded my head slowly.
“When you’re sure you have a grasp on the injury, pour magic into that gap in his life force. Let it knit him back together,” Jae murmured.
I clenched my jaw, fear rising to the surface. What if I poured the wrong kind of magic into Corin and ended up hurting him instead of healing him? Was that possible?
No. It’s Corin. You won’t hurt him. You won’t let yourself.
Focusing on that thought, on how I’d do anything to keep him safe and happy, I slowly began to stoke the fire of my magic. He sighed deeply, but it wasn’t a pained sound. After a moment, his wounds began to close. Jae removed his hands from beside mine and rose, standing behind me and gripping my shoulder as I kneeled over Corin. The contact bolstered my magic, and I kept feeding it into Corin’s wounds until the skin closed over completely.
Pulling my gaze from the deep blue pools of his irises, I checked my handiwork. His chest was still covered in blood, but the three gashes now looked like very fresh scars, pink and shiny.
Jae’s hand slipped off my shoulder as I wiped a trembling arm across my forehead, scrubbing away the beads of sweat that had gathered there as I concentrated.
“Are you okay?”
Corin rose up onto his elbows, shifting slightly as if to test the pliability of his newly formed skin. “Good as new.”
I snorted. “Yeah, that’s what you said after you got kicked by a buffalo on your first hunt. But I seem to remember you needed fourteen stitches.”
“Twelve.” He swung his legs over the side of the cot, setting them gingerly on the floor. His torn shirt hung off his shoulders like a very unfashionable vest, and I used the fabric to wipe some of the blood off his chest, trying not to notice how familiar the lines of his body were. His lean waist, his firm stomach, the scar under his left collarbone that had required—
“Fourteen stitches,” I insisted, poking at the old scar playfully.
Corin huffed a laugh. “I guess I should take your word for it. You were the one who patched me up.”
“Like you’d rather have had Margie do it?” I arched an eyebrow in challenge.
“No. I wanted you.”
His eyes met mine again, open and vulnerable for the first time since I’d met this new version of Corin. My hand on his chest stilled, the bloodstained fabric of his shirt slipping from my grip.
As if realizing what he was doing, Corin stiffened, straightening. His eyes closed off again, their clear blue color just as beautiful but nowhere near as inviting. He broke our gaze, glancing down at the piece of quartz strung around my neck on a thin leather string.
“Why do you still wear that?”
His voice was blunt, not angry or bitter, just—blank. And the lack of emotion cracked my heart open. If Jae and Akio hadn’t been standing nearby watching our exchange, I’d have let the tears stinging my eyes pour down my cheeks. Hell, maybe I would anyway.
“Because you gave it to me. I’ve always worn it,” I whispered. “I’ll never take it off.”
Corin reached out, gently running a finger over the smooth stone. His skin barely touched mine, but I shivered at the contact.
“Why did you leave, Lana? With no word, no warning, nothing. You were just… gone.”
I braced my hands on the edge of the cot on either side of him, still kneeling at his feet. “I had to, Corin. Edgar, he would’ve—”
“Would’ve what? Whatever he did, we could have survived it together. Whatever your life has been for the past eight years, it could’ve been our life.”
“But Margie—”
“We could’ve figured it out,” he insisted. “Made something work. We were stronger together, and we should’ve stayed that way.”
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One rebel tear tracked down my face. “You always said that. But sometimes the only way to be safe is to be apart.”
Corin shook his head, huffing out a breath, then drew his hand back and leaned away. He regarded me silently for another moment before turning to his two teammates who stood like sentinels behind me.
I rose on shaky legs to join them. I hadn’t meant to start this conversation here, and I knew it was far from over. But we had other problems to deal with at the moment.
“Sorry about your house, Akio,” Corin said wearily.
“It’s fine.” The incubus’s voice was dry. “It was just… my house.”
“That’s plenty. I can’t—”
“You!”
The harsh cry interrupted Corin’s response, and we all whipped our heads around to see Christine striding toward us with a heavy gait. Fenris trailed behind her, his expression worried.
The Resistance leader raised a shaking finger to point at me. “You! How long have you been working for the Representatives?”
Chapter 16
Before I could blink, Akio, Jae, and Corin were before me, separating me from Christine. As the furious woman reached us, Fenris slipped from behind her to join the rest of the men.
I craned my neck, trying to see over or through the wall of muscle in front of me, as Jae asked, “What’s going on, Christine?”
“This Gifted”—she spat the word—“is a mole for the government. She’s betrayed us.”
“You accused her of working with them before, but as we pointed out then, if the work she did as a mercenary benefitted the Representatives, she was unaware of it. She’s pledged herself to the Resistance, and I have no reason to doubt her.”
“You have no reason to doubt her?” Christine snapped. “Of course you don’t. You’re all infatuated with her.” She glared at me over Akio’s shoulder. “The Representatives chose well, I’ll give them that. Red hair, pretty eyes, a perfect sob story, and she managed to seduce not just one, but four of my best operatives!”