Chapter 6
Tyce paced the suite of his motel while his Sentries scoured the city. He was pissed. No, pissed didn’t cut it. He was fucking livid. His Angel had slipped through his fingers and it made zero fucking sense. Three Sentries…no, not Sentries! His men were goddamn mercenaries, the best there were, and still the three outside and the two that had rushed from the building hadn’t been able to secure his Angel and the little girl she’d been with. That pissed him off too. Who was the kid? Clearly, it wasn’t his Angel’s daughter, because the kid had said that her mommy was dead. Was it a ruse? A story they’d rehearsed to somehow avoid capture?
Expelling a pent-up breath on a growl, he rolled his head on his shoulders and ignored how his skin crawled with the need to hunt. Right now, he was waiting for Intel that Monroe suddenly remembered he had forgotten to supply.
Fucker! He was going to mutilate Monroe StoneCrow, but first, he had to find her. The shock of the initial affliction still hadn’t worn off, but it came in second to the realization that he’d found his Angel. And she was human. It wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d thought that, if he one day found his One, she’d be a Walker, a kick-ass one like Conn’s Aries. The fact that this woman was human, out in the city alone and without protection while others hunted her was terrifying. It was a new emotion to Tyce. Nothing scared him, ever! And yet here he was, sick to his stomach and feeling another new emotion…helplessness.
A snarl ripped from him as he paced. Unease knotted his stomach with the realization that his choice had been taken from him in the matter. Intentionally, he’d never sought out his mate. He knew she could be used against him, or taken from him. His Angel wouldn’t be just a person, she would be a weapon, a weapon everyone would attempt to use against him. All this time, he’d been smart enough to keep everyone from having any leverage over him, and now that ended.
Burying a hand in his hair, he actually contemplated walking away. His feet stalled and his body slammed to a halt as he stood and truly considered getting on his jet and flying back home without her. His inner beasts raked their claws down his insides and he dropped to a knee with the agony that seared him. The physical pain came second only to the stab of guilt that tore through him. A tidal wave of emotion engulfed him and he staggered to his feet, refusing to be cowed by current circumstance. He’d found his One. Good or bad, he’d found his Angel.
His laptop dinged indicating an incoming email and Tyce had to fist his hands several times before crossing to the table and reaching for the laptop. He was so primal right now he didn’t trust himself not to break the damn thing.
The e-mail was two words. Two words that rocked Tyce’s world, two words that in the space of an intake of breath became more significant to him than any other two words in existence.
Briel Solomon.
Briel. He rolled his Angel’s name around his head, instantly discarding the last name. It’d change. Surprisingly, just thinking her name soothed something inside of him. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. All two seconds of what he’d seen anyway.
Closing his eyes, he shot her name to his team through the mist. He knew his men, and he knew Conn would be on top of seeking her. It’d be child’s play to the Walker Commander. Hell, he’d hunted down his own Angel, Aries, and she’d been more wily and cunning than any other mark they’d ever gone after. She’d even ended up joining Conn on his team of mercs after he’d claimed her, but with the birth of their daughter, Wynter, they both preferred Aries and Wynter stay at StoneCrow while Conn was on assignment, because Angels and children were more secure there than at Apex.
He thought on that now as he backed away from the laptop and resumed pacing. Things would have to change, and drastically, because there was no way he was bringing Briel and that…kid to Apex without erecting some form of wall and stationing guards like they did at… Fuck! He was turning into Monroe already, and Apex would be like StoneCrow, and… Monroe! That fucker had known! Tyce slammed to a halt mid-pace, dropping his hands and fisting them at his sides as Monroe’s words played in his head.
“You’ll get what’s coming to you.”
“Mother. Fucker!” He didn’t have a single doubt that Monroe StoneCrow knew exactly what would happen when Tyce met the mark. A rolling growl rattled his chest, and while Tyce was pissed at being played, he was too worried about Briel to waste his energy on plans of revenge.
A mental nudge indicated that one of his Walkers was attempting to contact him. Conn.
“She cleared out her bank account forty-five minutes ago from a bank near Union Station. Smart girl. She’s sticking to heavily populated areas.”
“Anyone could find her out there!”
“I’ve contacted Aries to get a woman’s perspective. She said to ignore the metro and train station. I’ve sent Loc and Bronco to the two nearest car rental shops. Shane and James are going to the train station just in case. I’ll stay on the interwebs and see if I can’t track her down. Oh! Aries is on her way here. Not DC, but my location.” There was pride in his tone when he said, “She took the redeye last night. Said she knew us boys would fuck this up. York and Sky are heading to Apex with Wynter now.”
Grateful as he was, Tyce was unable to comment so he severed the connection. He needed to do something, had to do something, but what? His eyes flicked to his laptop and suddenly he was across the room, jerking up the desk phone.
Monroe answered after two rings, his tone a cocky laced casual. “Tyce. How is DC?”
“Cut the shit you deceitful conniving fuck!”
Monroe’s chuckle rumbled over the line. “That good, eh?”
“You fucking knew!”
He was answered by silence, which was confirmation enough.
Tyce demanded, “How?”
The indifference in Monroe’s tone was so grating that Tyce had to pinch his eyes closed against the rage clouding his vision. “The attack on the Estate. You and your men donated blood for the Walkers in need.”
Incredulity laced Tyce’s tone when he accused, “We came to your aid and you took advantage of it?”
“I found your One,” Monroe ground out. If I hadn’t done what I did, she’d be on the run right now, unprotected, with her five-year-old sister. I did you a favor!”
Sister. That explained a lot. Still… “Fuck you and your scheming ways. I was afflicted. She got away. My Angel is still on the run and unprotected!”
Monroe tisked over the line. “One last bone then.”
Tyce waited impatiently with forced silence. He worried he wouldn’t be able to hear Monroe over the roaring pulse in his veins.
“General Solomon secured several safe houses in the DC area for this exact scenario. One of those is a permanent suite he kept at the Washington Court Hotel; it’s next to Kelly’s Irish Times, near Union Station. Try there. I’ll text you the address.”
“And how is it your privy to this information?”
“The General and I did business together.”
“And you had this Intel the entire time? You withheld it?”
Monroe sighed over the line.
“If anything happens to her, if I don’t find her in time, you’re fucking dead!”
Now the anger in Monroe’s tone matched Tyce’s own. “You think I’d let her die? You think I’d let any Angel die? Never! Especially not this one. She’s going to do the one thing I’ve been unable to for years. She’s gonna bring you to your fucking knees.”
Tyce swallowed hard, Adam’s apple dipping low in his throat as he considered a denial, then thought better of it. They both knew the power an Angel held over her Walker.
“King and his team have the hotel surrounded. Move your ass, Tyce. I can’t babysit your Angel all night.”
The line went dead and Tyce didn’t even bother replacing the phone receiver in its cradle, just letting it drop to bounce off the desk as he turned and rushed the door, contacting his team through the mist to relay the information.