Jace slid back behind the wheel, and then did nothing. He didn’t start the engine, nor call out to her. He just . . . was. He didn’t push, but he’d made it clear he wasn’t leaving without her. She stood, taking one last look at the property entrance behind her, memorizing the landscape, and the road marker, just in case she had to find it again in a hurry. Then she turned and made her way to the car. She opened the door and entered silently, but when she sat down, Jace picked up her hand and held it close. A ghost of a smile passed over his features before he squeezed gently, then started the engine. He turned the truck around back onto the dirt road, and took it all the way to where it curved away into a dry river bed, parking in thick brush along the side of the road.

The others arrived a few minutes afterward, and Sienna watched as Jace and Reece seemed to take charge. They distributed some of the weaponry they’d stashed in each truck and loaded up with a few other cool-looking gadgets. Keila picked out a handgun, loading it expertly and then tucking it into the back of her shirt, Payton following suit. Sienna had no idea how to use a gun. They weren’t expecting her to pick up one, were they?

“You pick it up fast when you need to,” Payton said. “But your power is better than any gun.” She kicked at the small stones dotting along the river bed. “Fire one of those suckers fast enough and you’ve got unlimited ammo.”

“We might have the psychic woo-woo,” Keila said, “but she’s got the strength. Who knows how many other men like Zero she’s got hiding away up there.” She picked up several clips, inspecting them before shoving them into an inner pocket in her jacket. “She’s been working this for years, and we have to assume through official channels at some point, at least. If I’m right on an estimate of her age, there were others before her, too. We’re going to need all the firepower we can muster”—she tapped her head—“here, and then cold, hard steel.”

Something chilled in Sienna’s veins at Keila’s words. Were they completely insane to even think they could accomplish this? Topple a woman who could have an entire army behind her—a hundred men hiding up in the hills? If Keila couldn’t detect her, then what the hell else could be hiding up there? The only person on their side who could do the same was Sienna, and she’d struggled to even hold her shield over just herself and Payton. She was going to need every speck of energy she had to even get close to Isobel, and even then she wouldn’t be able to protect them all.

Her light wavered, and a sob rose from Payton. She’d been standing alone, leaning up against a tree, and one hand shot out, bracing herself against falling. “Sienna,” Payton gasped. “I need him. He’s not going to make it. She’s beating him.”

Emily stepped over and wrapped her arms around Payton. “I’m so sorry, Payton.”

Keila’s eyes blazed. “Cole’s strong. He’ll make it.”

“But we’re moving, now,” Aaron said. Sienna had barely heard him speak that morning. The man was huge, but still he had a habit of blending into the background, sometimes as if he didn’t want to be noticed. Perhaps there was more to the big man than she’d stopped to consider. He moved the same way Reece did, purposefully and without a sound. Cole did it, too, some of the time. He seemed to make more of an effort to be a regular guy around Payton. Reece and Aaron on the other hand . . . Sienna suppressed a shiver. She wouldn’t be surprised to find out either man was as deadly as the target they were gearing up against.

Sienna took a deep breath, pushing her shield back out over Payton. She’d been so caught up in learning everything about her powers, she hadn’t stopped to consider what the others’ partners were bringing to the table. Shit, Cole alone was an integral part, just as much as she. Without him, they would have been sitting ducks, fighting their way through the dark until they were ambushed out of nowhere by an enemy who had kept them entirely too close for Sienna’s comfort. Reece, Jason, Cole, Aaron, and now Jace. They had more on their side than Isobel could possibly imagine. They were strong. She just had to believe it.

Payton bit down on her lip, cringing a little even as Sienna muted Cole’s connection. Watching her struggle for composure was almost more than she could bear.

Use it. Get mad at it.

Oh, God. She could really use her mom right now. Why the hell had she left Sienna to figure all this out alone? Maybe she’d lost track of things, forgotten the size of the original mission. She’d tried to teach Sienna, but she’d also left out a few critical pieces.

A warmth stole over her as Lainey walked over to Sienna and linked arms with her. “You’ve got this,” Lainey said. “I could feel a tingling, from all the way over there.” She pointed to where she’d been standing, over by their truck. “Now I’m next to you, you’re practically vibrating with it. Whatever it is that’s holding you back, let it go. You can’t imagine the power I can feel inside you.”

Let it go. Sienna slumped back against the truck door, closing her eyes. If she concentrated, she felt it, too. A warmth—not just from Lainey, but all of them. It was there, tingling in her grasp, but just out of reach.

The morning breeze chilled her face, a welcome relief from the desert heat. She pictured her mom’s face. When Sienna was little, before she’d grown up and realized the world held dangers beyond what she could imagine, her mom had been everything. A skinned knee? No problem. Even dragons hiding under the bed had been slain with nothing more than a bright torch and plastic sword. There was her mom, as vibrant and solid as if she were standing right in front of her. Straight blonde hair and emerald eyes, smiling down at Sienna.

What the hell was holding her back?

Get mad. Get mad, Sienna. It’s okay.

I am mad! I’m mad at you! You didn’t stay! You always told me I’d be safe as long as we were together, and then you left! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

Find your safe place. What that place really meant.

Her tent! The place she’d hidden from storms, where her mom and she had laughed together, drawn pictures, and read stories. When they’d had tea parties, and had special cupcakes. Dressed up her dolls and had fashion parades. Even when the lightning had been crashing about her head, and the thunder so loud it hurt her ears, she’d been safe there. She’d known she was safe there. But why? Through her adult eyes, the location hadn’t been anything special—a canvas child’s toy, hidden away in an empty storage space. What had been special about it was her mom. She hadn’t been born in the usual way, but her mom but had protected her and loved her all the same.

Loved her. Through all her childhood tantrums, and then her teenage ones, her mom had never stopped loving her. God, she’d loved her so much she’d been tortured to death rather than give up even a single piece of who Sienna was to those monsters. If she had, Sienna wouldn’t have survived the first night, let alone as long as she had. She looked around—their small circle of half-broken warrior women, and the powerful men who stood by their sides. They were all ready to fight, ready to die, for her. For each and every person there. Emily, Keila, Payton, Lainey, and now her. Each one was ready to stand to save her life, and the lives of how many others who were stashed around the globe. Her mom had told her what she needed to know all along. Sienna just had to be ready to hear it.

Something rippled inside her, the world coming undone. Nothing was as it once was. The space around her distorted, ripping outward, shards of light puncturing the air. It caught the others, one by one, until they passed through the boundaries of her mind. They were huddled there together, hair blowing from the force of an astral storm. It shot between each one, connecting them together, connecting their minds.

That’s it, Sienna. You’re loved. You’ve always been loved. Now go kick some ass.

Sienna grinned. Thanks, Mom.

It was time.