CHAPTER SEVEN
Zander’s heart stopped the moment he located Seth under a section of fallen wall. If the guy lived, it would be a miracle. Clutching a mangled boy to his chest, the Egyptian twin was ripped to shit and utterly motionless. “Kyrian. Help me.”
Kyrian cursed as he got a look. He felt the boy’s neck and then laid him to the side. “Give me one sec with Seth to see if there’s anything I can stabilize before we move him.”
Zander scanned the building hovering above them. “Literally, my brother, you’ve got one second.”
“We’re outta time, lads,” Brennus said over the comm. “We’re up the creek. Humans are floodin’ up the street like ants to a picnic. We’re fucked.”
Zander didn’t have enough foul language in his extensive vocabulary to curse that properly. The Archangels would take this out on them in pain and blood.
Controlling exposure was their primary mission.
And they were the ones holding up the supernatural red flag and waving in the air.
“I’ve got Colt here, Z,” Hark said in his ear. “He set up a safety perimeter down the block. It’ll keep the masses back but there will be inspectors and engineers coming.”
Kyrian slung the kid over his shoulder and grabbed Seth’s ankles with both hands. “Are we good to fly out of here?”
“We’re set with a diversion when you’re ready.”
Zander grabbed Seth’s wrists and lifted. Holy hernia, the guy weighed as much a giant redwood. “Sweet Lady, let this work. Count us off, Hark.”
“Okay, in five. Four. Three. . ..”
Storme waited until Bo stomped the brakes and slammed the Navigator into park. They bailed out as one, tearing down a back alley which led to the wharf. She didn’t need him to point the way because she could feel Phoenix’s energy polluting the night air. She wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in Toronto could feel it.
Despite Phoenix’s anger toward his twin, no one could ever underestimate the bond between the two. Her breath escaped her lips in white cloud bursts as they ran, her eyes streaming from the snap of the wind coming off the water.
They entered a demolition zone—
An explosion went off in the next building.
And another in the third building one down.
Bo wrapped himself around her like a living shield and held her tight as the ground shook beneath their feet. “What the fuck?” she shouted.
A second later, he let her go. “S’all good. Just Brennus’s idea of a distraction. It gave Z and Kyrian time to fly out of the rubble with Seth.”
“Thank the goddess they found him. That will make this easier.” Storme rounded the last corner and wanted to take that back. She’d heard the stories of Zander going Jackson but had never imagined how terrifying the dark angel loss of control could be.
Phoenix stood arms outstretched, his entire body vibrating and pulsing with dark energy. His Mark had the scene lit up like a night game at BMO Field, and his eyes had flipped solid white. “Oh. My. Goddess.”
Brennus turned to her and shook his head. “I’m rethinkin’ ye bein’ here now, lass. He put the building down once they got Seth out but he’s still out of his heed. If he hurt ye, he’ll never forgive himself . . . or me.”
Storme wasn’t afraid of that. Even out of his mind, he’d never hurt her. “Phoenix? You okay, big guy?”
Phoenix turned, his leather Watcher’s vest flared up like a cape behind him. Mine.
She didn’t understand the violence in his thoughts until she realized that Brennus held her by the arm and Bo blocked her way. “I appreciate the gallantry, boys, but you need to back off and give me some space. Right now, would be good.”
Storme checked the sightlines of the surrounding buildings and wondered how they did it—always watching over their shoulders, always worried about exposure.
The red-and-blue lights from emergency services trucks weren’t nearly far enough away. The constant blink and flash spoke to how badly they needed to leave.
“Now, boys. Seriously.”
“We won’t go far, lass. If ye need us, we’re here.”
“He won’t hurt me. I can’t guarantee the same for you.”
Phoenix’s two brothers-in-arms slowly raised their hands and eased away. Once they were around the corner of the next building, their footsteps silenced. She knew they’d materialize to a vantage point somewhere close by.
Phoenix’s hands relaxed a little when the two of them were alone. She curled her finger in the air and smiled. “If I’m yours, Warrior, come claim me.”
She took a step backward and he crouched to launch.
The sight of him, more beast than male, spiked a level of sexual adrenaline inside her which defied logic. “Look at you, glowing against the night, your body taut with power. So sexy.”
Her backward retreat drew him step-by-step from the open. He tracked her movements like a predator, keeping her within striking distance. She undid the belt of her coat and let the two ends of the tie fall loose. Next came the buttons.
“Fly me somewhere private, big guy. I want—” She caught her heel on debris and stumbled. Her arms windmilled, but she needn’t have panicked. Before she even had the chance to fall, Phoenix caged her in his embrace and launched into the night.
“My hero,” she said, tucking her face into his neck.
The bitter snap of wind assaulted her hair. She nuzzled the wide velvet choker that bound them and purred against the warmth of his throat.
As his bonded mate and familiar, she eased him body and soul. As his wife, she loved him to the stars and beyond.
“Mine,” she said, kissing the end of his brutal, childhood scar. “You’re mine, big guy. Don’t you forget it.”
Brennus sent Bo and Hark back to the clinic to check on Seth before texting Colt that he’d skulk around in the shadows until the cop could break away. When the Ice Demon finally jogged over, Brennus had scripted himself the perfect, non-committal welcome.
He wasn’t sure if they were acknowledging their sexplosion or not. Was it a dirty little secret? A one-off? They’d crossed a line of good judgment and wasn’t sure where that left them.
“Hey,” he said, his mind blanking out on all his practiced charm. His beast growled at him from within and aye, he wasnae wrong. “One helluva night.”
Colt lit a cigarette and sucked back a long draw. “It’s never a picnic when Otherworld shit hits. The toughest part tonight was coming up with a reason why a detective from Gangs and Guns was first on the scene and should run the perimeter. You boys never cease to twist my nuts in a vice.”
“Yeah, but yer a masochist, so it works for ye.”
The cop laughed. “Ahhhh, maybe that’s why I do it.”
Brennus was about to make a smartass comment about the side benefits but sobered and got back to business. “How bad are we fucked? Sections of a building hovering ten feet off the ground was bad. Men launching into the night sky couldn’t have helped.”
Colt shrugged. “No one’s voiced anything yet. I’ll keep my radar on high though. People tend to want to be sure before they start talking crazy-talk. As for the diversion, really? Do you think blowing up two more buildings might’ve been overkill?”
Brennus scanned over to where the firemen worked on extinguishing building three. “Maybe it wasnae the best idea, but the end justifies the means, aye?”
Colt arched a brow, his heart-stopping cerulean blue eyes piercing his chest. When he gripped the straps of his Kevlar vest that way that cops do, Brennus had to look away or he’d make a fool of himself right then and there.
“I got this, Celt. Go be with your brothers and let me know how things turn out for Seth.”
Brennus knew how things would turn out.
With pipe bombs shooting that much red-metal into his brother’s system, no way could Drina save him, even with Cato and Kyrian there to help.
Tanek wouldn’t be their only loss in this stupid war—he’d just be their first.
With his insides twisted, he held up his fist for a knuckle-bump. “Thanks for this, Cop—for everything. Ye’ve helped us more than we deserve, I’m sure.”
And with that, he left behind the destruction of the night.