Our arrival was met with groans from Santiago and glares from Miller. Portia was doing her best Maggie impersonation, and she winked to let me in on the secret in case I hadn’t seen through her charade. Whatever her game, I was glad Portia was the one playing it. I wanted Maggie far away from Sariah.
Personally? I would put five dollars on Portia and Santiago hoping to provoke Sariah into an attack using fake Maggie as the sacrificial lamb. Predatory instincts were difficult to suppress at the best of times, and these were far from those.
Wu prowled behind Sariah as she strolled toward the desk Santiago had arranged as her workstation, close enough his breath must have hit the base of her neck. No wonder she sat down so fast.
Cole entered at my side, and we sank onto the couch to see who cracked first.
“I vote yes,” Santiago announced.
“No one’s asked a question,” I pointed out.
“You’re the let’s put it to a vote type these days,” he countered. “Trust me, it’s coming.”
“Sariah,” Wu intoned from his position beside her. “The floor is yours.”
“Mother has outposts in Greenville and Jackson in Mississippi, as well as in Alexandria and Monroe in Louisiana.” She stood and lifted the tablet Santiago had loaned her, proving they really did pour out of his ears, then indicated the virtual pins she had stuck in the map. “The Jackson nest is the largest. It’s about forty-five minutes from Vicksburg. But the nest in Monroe has the best fighters. It’s closer to an hour and a half away.”
She held everyone’s focus now, and she preened under the attention.
“I’ve already explained how the system works, so I’ll skip that part.” She paced between her chair and the wall, four quick strides that told me she thought best on her feet. “We’ve got two days to take out as many nests as possible. There are no direct lines of communication. Mother distrusts technology. Her grasp is only as firm as the hosts her soldiers have taken, and their understanding is too thin for her liking. She has no time to become proficient herself, so she’s sticking with what she knows best. She’s running scouts between locations. I have their timetable memorized. If we disrupt their lines of communication, we can, potentially, take out two of the four nests before she realizes what we’ve done.”
“This could be an ambush,” Miller said, tossing in his two cents.
“I’ve kept her offline,” Santiago protested. “She’s had no way to reach out and touch anyone.”
“She’s fresh from The Hole,” Wu agreed. “She was clean when she arrived.”
“She won’t betray us.” Cole dipped his gaze to her wrists. “Her intel is good, or it was prior to her incarceration.”
“Then the question becomes—” Thom exited his bedroom and crossed to my side, “—which two do we hit?”
“A forty-eight-hour window isn’t realistic,” Portia agreed. “We can only take out what we can hit in a single night. Otherwise, word will travel, and an ambush will really be waiting.”
After a brief debate, I became aware of all eyes falling on me. I was their leader, what was left of her, and it was my duty to make these calls. Or it would be one day. Call me a coward, but I wasn’t willing to shoulder the decision alone.
“What will give us the tactical advantage?” I posed the question to all of them. “Taking out more of her fighters or her better fighters or splitting the difference?” I looked to Cole, who had led them for so long, to get a read on which way he was leaning. He gave away nothing. Great. It was down to me then. “I vote we strike the two weakest outposts. We’ll lose the element of surprise, which will cost us our chance at the bigger targets. But the fact is, we don’t know how far to trust Sariah’s intel. After Famine’s capture and Sariah’s disappearance, War might have initiated emergency protocols.”
“You’re throwing away your chance.” Sariah huffed. “Hit her hard and fast, take out the two prime targets.”
Seven of us, counting Wu, wasn’t going to make a dent in the numbers she implied. “I won’t risk the coterie.”
“We could split teams,” Wu offered. “Strike the weakest links simultaneously then regroup.” He eyed Sariah. “If we take out the scouts, we can isolate the remaining nests. We could take three out of the four in one night.”
“Given the opportunity,” Santiago grudgingly agreed, “we should take full advantage.”
There was always a chance the individual battles would take longer, that we wouldn’t have time to regroup or the means to plan another attack. A girl could hope, right? “I can live with that.”
“All in favor,” Cole said, lips curling with amusement. “Say aye.”
A chorus of ayes filled the room, Sariah’s the loudest.
“Aye—” I elbowed him in the ribs and immediately regretted my life choices, “—can’t believe you said that.”
“We’re a democratic coterie these days.” Amusement glinted in his eyes. “All I did was save you the trouble.”
“All opposed,” he called, still grinning. “Say nay.”
“Nay.”
We whipped our heads around in sync. Miller stood with his legs braced shoulder-distance apart, and his arms fisted at his sides.
“Miller?” Cole and I rose in tandem. “What’s the problem?”
He tagged Portia with a gaze harsher than any he would ever turn on Maggie. I still imagined her cringing inside, even though I had no clue if she was cognizant of what happened while she was waiting her turn.
“Let’s discuss this somewhere private.” Anything we said in close quarters would be overheard. Crossing to my friend, I hooked my arm through his. “Come on. Stop dragging your heels.” I trailed my fingertips down Cole’s arm. “We’ll be downstairs. Give us a few minutes.”
We left the suite and took the elevator down to the lobby. There was a plush sitting area, and we put it to use.
“Portia is climbing the walls.” I twisted so we faced each other on the couch. “She needs an outlet.”
“Maggie is untrained.” He shook his head. “Her fear will cause Portia to doubt, and they’ll both get killed.”
“Portia has been training, which means Maggie has too. Even if she’s not an active participant. Muscle memory will have kicked in, and all Portia’s knowledge is right there if she takes over.” I crossed my legs and started kicking to burn off energy. “I don’t love this idea either.” I held his worried gaze. “You know I would do anything to keep Mags safe. I already have.”
“I know,” he said softly. “Let me have their back?”
“Santiago is usually Portia’s partner, isn’t he?” It was a hunch, but it made sense.
“Yes.” He tipped his head back and stared up at the ceiling like he might glimpse Mags through all those layers of wood and plaster. “They’ve always worked best together.”
“Then it makes sense to let the pairing stand.” I squeezed his hand. “He knows her weaknesses, so he’ll be there to shore them up, and he’ll be the first to notice if she falters.”
“I hate logic.”
“Me too.” I sat there a moment longer. “I’ll give him a direct order to get her out if she defaults to Maggie. I’ll let Cole have the honors if you think he’ll listen better if the news came from him.”
“Santiago isn’t sexist.”
“No, he’s Luceist.”
Miller chuckled, a ticking time bomb defused. “We’ve got an odd number. Who gets Sariah?”
“I hadn’t planned on allowing her in the field.” Funny how he was shifting all the big decisions onto me. “It seems dangerous. One look at her, and it’s as good as beaming an SOS to War. Any survivor will tell War who led the charge and who was with her. She’ll suspect Sariah, but she won’t have all the pieces unless we hand them to her.” Figuring the rest of the coterie would be getting twitchy, I uncrossed my legs and stood. “I guess that leaves you the odd man out.”
He spread his hands. “Guess so.”
“Looks like you’ll have to play third wheel for someone.”
He glanced up at me. “Guess so.”
“I told you—” I took his hand and hauled him onto his feet with me, “—I’ll do anything to keep her safe. You can’t get in the way of Santiago and Portia, but you can act as backup, and you can do me the huge favor of keeping an eye out for Mags.”
“Portia isn’t used to sharing,” he agreed. “She’s the dominant personality. For now. She ought to be able to hold on, especially if Maggie gives her permission.”
“But emotions run high in battle, and attentions slip.” I nodded that I understood. “We need to make sure Portia doesn’t lose her grip.”
With that settled, we rejoined the others, who were deep into planning our various infiltrations. Guess they weren’t all that concerned Miller might go kaboom after all. As much as I wanted to take credit for that, he was the stalwart one.
Miller joined Santiago and Portia in their huddle while I joined Cole, Thom, and Wu in theirs.
Asking Santiago for a favor was almost as smart as sticking your head in a lion’s mouth, but I took a quick minute to text him my request all the same. He angled his head toward me, lips pursed in thought, then gave me a terse nod.
“Everything settled?” Cole shifted so that his arm brushed mine, drawing my attention back to him. “Miller seems calmer.”
“We’ve come to an understanding.” I cast my gaze around the group. “Are we all going in together?”
“Yes.” Thom stared at Wu, unblinking. “This evens the teams. Three and three.”
Three plus three didn’t equal seven. Even I could do that much math.
“Great,” I grumbled. “I’m the liability.”
“You’re the bait,” Wu corrected me. “Her coterie has their orders. War might want to take another swipe at you, but she won’t shed a tear if someone guts you before she gets her chance.”
I rubbed my stomach. “You guys are big on disembowelment, huh?”
“Yes,” Thom answered, distracted. “It’s fast and simple, a solid strategy.”
A bullet between the eyes was fast and simple. Evisceration was up close and personal. It allowed them to get their claws wet, and I couldn’t say boo about it. Brutality was in their nature, and the same was true for our enemies. I couldn’t leash my coterie when War allowed hers to roam unfettered. “Do we have our marching orders?”
Wu caught my eye. “Are you ready for this?”
“I have to be.” I rolled my shoulders, but his judgment weighed on me. “We passed the point of no return a few miles back.”
Wu dipped his chin then vanished into the hall with the cooler in one hand and the note to Jay Lambert’s mother in the other. How he ended up with either of those things mystified me. Light-fingered indeed.
“I don’t like this,” Cole murmured.
“Which part?” I leaned closer. “That we’re using Sariah’s intel? That we’re raiding War’s nests? That Maggie is going out on her first mission? That Portia is sharing consciousness with a civilian?”
“I meant the part where you have to fight.”
“I could say the same for you.” I rested my cheek against his upper arm. “You’ve all got this feral core, I get that, or I’m trying to, but I don’t want this for any of you. You might enjoy a good brawl, but it terrifies me that I might lose one of you.”
“We’ve been doing this a long time.” He kissed the top of my head. “It might not seem like it, but this plan is low-risk.”
“I’ll have to take your word on that.” I cut my eyes toward Sariah, busy arguing with Santiago about who knows what. He would fight you on any point, no matter how trivial, if he didn’t like you. Since he didn’t much like anyone, cue histrionics. “What are we doing with her?”
He had his answer primed and ready. “You’re going to order her to remain here.”
“You’re that confident the bangles will compel her into good behavior?”
“She can’t disobey a direct order while wearing them. She can find loopholes and manipulate those, but she must follow your instructions to the letter.”
A shiver rolled through me at having that much power over another person. I could tell the coterie what to do, yeah, but they could argue. They could fight back. She couldn’t do either of those things if I forbade them. No wonder Lorelei wanted them destroyed ASAP.
“Good to know.” I almost wished I had the option of ignorance here too. “There’s something . . . ” A headache throbbed behind my right eye. “I get a migraine if I look at them too long. That can’t be good.” I blinked clear of the pain. “They didn’t bother me at first. Maybe it’s from too much exposure? Can they affect me?”
I might have a charun core, but I still thought like a human, and I still wore a human shell.
Cole’s answer came slower this time. “Do you have a long-sleeve shirt she could wear to cover them?”
“I’m sure I have a spare in my bag.” I rocked back on my heels, waiting to see if he had anything else to add. “I’ll go dig that up then get her settled. I’ll pop some ibuprofen while I’m at it. Maybe that will help.”
“Santiago is setting her up with what he’s calling an unhackable tablet that will link her to his party and ours. We can check in with her and coordinate with each other through the White Horse app.”
“That’s one heck of a handy app.” And they called me chameleonic.
“Santiago reprograms it for every occasion.” A smile tugged at his lips. “You better look fast. This incarnation won’t last the night before he shreds it and starts weaving the strips into something new.”
Shaking my head, I went to raid my clothes and left the coterie to finalize our plans. In my room, I found a pleasant surprise that punched me in the feels. A pair of black tactical pants and matching long-sleeve shirt was folded on the duvet, waiting on me. I ran my thumb over the white war horse stamping its front hoof embroidered above the pocket. Heavy tread boots waited at the foot of the bed with black socks sticking out of their tops like tongues flapping. The nylon belt clashed with my leather shoulder holster, but I couldn’t care less. I suited up and left the room grinning like a fool.
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.