Faye

 

I’d lurked in the hallway to the bedrooms, waiting for Pete to leave. Hearing his voice made me think of the long, hard slogs as a Black Op under Herrod. Swapping stories by firelight. Laughing behind Herrod’s back. Playing pranks. Relying on each other. Saving lives.

Once Pete was gone, Andrei came to get me and stopped short when he saw me in the hallway. Immediately, his arms opened and I gratefully fell into him.

“Bao’s perfectly okay, sunshine,” Andrei whispered into my hair. “They don’t even know where he is. And he’s going to get Herrod on board.” His grip tightened. “Everything will be okay.”

There was a savage fierceness to those words, a Zima’s cold-blooded promise and I knew Andrei would do everything in his power to make sure that was the case.

Stepping back, I touched his face. “What now?”

“Come on,” he said, pulling me into the living room. Soraya was bringing out a tray of coffees, her lips set in a thin line and Dez was sitting, staring into space. She touched Dez’s shoulder gently and he stirred, glancing up at her. Before Soraya could pull away, I watched as Dez took her hand and kissed the palm. Her face went soft and I almost melted.

As we all sat down, Soraya’s face became tight once again and I gazed at her. “It was no mistake Bao was sent here. She did this.” Her eyes went to Dez. “She probably wanted another excuse to haul Dez in and try to throw him into jail. After all, she didn’t manage to imprison him and hand over a King Cheetah to Frost as was planned.”

Dez nodded. “I was thinking along those lines. But there’s also this, Raya… If for any reason I was implicated or worse – that would have repercussions on you.” He gazed at his girlfriend, concerned. “All the Lafis, maybe, and by extension, the Weslarks.”

“Ugh, I hate this!” Soraya said stormily. “Dez never asked for any of this.”

“No, I chose this,” Dez said in a quiet voice. “I chose you.” Soraya gave him a small smile.

“Maybe,” Andrei said, sounding impatient. “But you also forget they are planning to take out the HQ this weekend. If anything, I think Mirois wanted a distraction and a desperate one at that. Murder? Yes, maybe Rasoir could have gotten away with it, but Bao is good.

“Moreover, Bao is also someone who is connected to Faye and if the Knight name was on the line, he’d be the first to speak up. That would most likely bring Herrod forward as well…”

We discussed this a bit longer, trying to figure out why Mirois would want to try to take out Bao. I thought Soraya and Andrei both had valid points, but eventually, the argument started getting heated. At that point, I interrupted with a delicate clearing of my throat.

“Pete is okay and we still have a lot of work to do,” I said. “When does Talori get here?”

Soraya checked her watch. “Not for a few hours. Keon should be here before then.” Her lips curved up. “He’s never met Talori in person, I hope he doesn’t pass out or anything.”

“Who is this Keon again?” I asked, glancing between Soraya and Andrei.

“Computer genius. Was a kind of low-level agent until I saw what he could do. Took him under my wing and got him some good work.” Andrei paused. “He’s a good kid.”

“You know,” Dez said slowly. “In all of this madness between Boston, Rasoir, Crane and everything else, I’ve kind of forgotten about Frost.”

We all looked at him. “You’re right,” I said slowly. “I’ve been so focused on Mirois, I sometimes wasn’t thinking about her at all…”

“Now that I’m thinking of her, I wonder… Do you think Mirois was lying or do you think Frost is in San Francisco?” Dez asked. “If she is, that seems very strange that only Bao would be sent in, even if only for intel…”

Andrei sucked in a breath. “You’re right. I doubt Frost is. If anything, she’s somewhere around LA. But Dez, you make a good point. If there are other Shifters of Anubis running around…” He stood up suddenly. “I think I’ll head out for a bit and scope it out.”

“Take Dez with you,” Soraya and I said at the same time.

Dez looked mildly amused, but Andrei’s face darkened. “Do you know who I am?”

“Dez’s friend,” I said pointedly.

“A very good shifter, but someone who still needs help on occasion,” Soraya said. “Take Dez. Watch each other’s back. It’s not safe for anyone, even Andrei Zima, to be alone right now.”

“Come on, Andrei, I’d love some girl time with Soraya,” I said, gazing at him with big eyes.

“Oh, fine,” Andrei growled, stomping back to the guest room.

Soraya gave me a look. “What do you see in him?” At that, Dez laughed and Soraya tossed her head. “Oh, what? It’s a valid question.”

“That’s also exactly what Andrei asked me about you, Soraya,” Dez said, leaning down and kissing her. She made a face as he pulled away. “You two need to learn how to get along.”

“He saved my best friend and now they’re dating, we get along, geesh,” she said. Now I gave Soraya a look and she let out a huff. “Fine, I’ll be nicer.”

“The world really is coming to an end,” Andrei teased as he came back out, fully dressed. “Hey!” He had to duck because Soraya launched her shoe at him. “Faye, tell her how good I am to you!” Soraya was holding up the other shoe and I laughed.

“He is the best, Raya,” I said quickly. “Now stop throwing shoes at him.”

She tossed it aside and they left. Standing up, she put her hands on her hips and gazed at me. “Why don’t we make waffles and gab? No Anubis stuff. Just girl talk. What do you think?”

I stood up and followed her into the kitchen. “I think you are brilliant.”

As she pulled out the ingredients, I sipped my coffee. I’d tried to help, but Soraya insisted I let her. But she also kept shooting me covert looks. I waited. I knew she’d get to it eventually.

“Andrei Zima?” Soraya asked, dubiously. “Even after all the terrible things I told you?”

“I hope you don’t think I’m betraying you,” I said, putting down my mug.

“No, if anything, I feel kind of bad,” Soraya said, pouring the waffle mix into a bowl. “Zima isn’t that bad of a guy, although he does irritate me with that bossy attitude.” I made a noncommittal noise and she glared at me. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just that…” I bit my lip and everything I’d ever thought about Soraya and Andrei’s rivalry came pouring out. “I don’t think you like having your position as eldest threatened. And Andrei did look out for Roy, the best he could anyway… But Ivan used to go after Roy anytime Andrei stuck up for him. It wasn’t like your family where everyone looks out for each other. And I think, in a way, Andrei is like the big brother you never had. That’s why you two always fight.”

Soraya gazed at me and slowly put down the waffle mix. “Oh my God, I think you’re right. He is like an annoying big brother. Even when Dez and I first started…” She went pink.

“Okay, you have to tell me how that happened,” I said.

Cheeks even rosier, Soraya gave me a happy smile. “I will. But Andrei – he is good to you?” Her face became troubled. “He’s not going to take off on a secret mission when this is all over?”

I opened and closed my mouth. “Oh, we haven’t really talked about that.”

Wincing, Soraya shook her head. “You know what, I’m being way too negative and nosy. This is your business.” She chewed her lip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… Faye, you know me. I worry. I don’t want you getting left behind or waiting around for him. If he wants to be with you, he needs to be with you.” She nodded firmly. “You need that.”

There was a blunt, forceful love behind her words that both made me love my best friend all the more and worried me. I’d always loved how honest and upfront Soraya was. And she made a good point. Andrei lived most of his life bouncing from place to place.

“I don’t know if I can ask him to change his whole life for me,” I said slowly.

“Baby, you are worth any request. Besides, I’ve seen how he looks at you,” Soraya said and now I flushed. “I’m probably jumping ahead, but I think you should talk to him about that. I know you. You are too much of a people-pleaser sometimes and you never want to ask too much of anyone. You never want to ask anything, period. But you should – especially with him.”

“Ha, Andrei said something like that,” I murmured.

“He did?” Soraya asked and I looked at her in surprise. A delighted smile appeared on her face. “You know what, forget I said anything. I think you’ll be just fine.”

“Huh?” I asked, staring at her. “Why the sudden change of heart? Because he told me to ask him for something?”

“Exactly,” Soraya said cryptically, tweaking my nose.

And that’s all she would say on it, no matter how much I badgered her to spill.

 

Hours later, after a huge breakfast and lunch, the boys came back. Both of them were starving and annoyed. It turned out they hadn’t been able to find a single other shifter in San Fran.

“It’s almost kind of weird,” Andrei said. “There should at least be a few here.”

“What a waste of time,” Dez grumbled and I glanced at him in surprise.

“He needs to eat,” Soraya whispered. “They both do.”

She was right. Once our boys were fed, their spirits returned. We were starting to delve into the plans for what was going on this weekend when Talori showed up.

Talori was an elegant, sweet, and quieter member of the Lafi clan. Yet she burst into tears upon seeing me, sobbing on my shoulder and I gladly hugged her for a good ten minutes. Soraya rubbed her back and tried to calm her sister down. And by the end of it, Soraya and I were teary-eyed again.

“Honestly, I’m still in shock,” Soraya said, wiping her eyes. “But it’s a good thing.”

A little later, while Talori still sniffled by my side on the couch and tapped away on her computer, Keon showed up. He was a stocky, smiling black kid, who enthusiastically hugged Andrei, Dez, and Soraya. He spotted me and then he gulped when he saw Talori.

“Hi Keon,” she said, standing up and wiping her face, then wiping her hands on her pants. “Sorry, bit of excitement here.”

“Are you okay?” Keon asked worriedly, even as he gazed at her with hearts in his eyes.

Soraya and I looked at each other, hugely amused.

“Yes,” Talori said, coming over and hugging him. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

Keon was going red over Talori’s shoulder and I smile at him. “Hey, Keon.”

“Keon, this is uh…” Andrei glanced at me and made a face.

As Talori stepped back, Keon studied me and then his eyes went wide. “Wait, aren’t you – you’re Faye Knight. You’re, uh, supposed to be… You’re not?” He sank into a chair. “Woah.”

“Yeah, no I’m alive,” I said quietly. “It’s a long story.”

Keon glanced at Andrei. “You found her, but I thought…” He swallowed. “Oh damn, I can tell this isn’t good. No one goes off the grid voluntarily unless it’s majorly not good.”

We briefly summed up the situation for Talori and Keon, telling them as much as necessary, but not enough to really freak them out. Technically they were both still “rookies” even though they were out of training. And I could tell by Talori’s twisting fingers she wasn’t comfortable hacking the Order. Keon, on the other hand, looked enthused.

“Oh, I’ve broken into LA HQ a bunch of times,” he said cheerily. “I wanted to test how secure stuff was. Man, I made security recommendations a billion times but no one ever listened.”

“Good thing,” Andrei said and clapped his shoulder. “Now do you think you could break in and find out where they keep the burn order?”

Nodding, Keon pulled out a laptop and got to work.

Talori was gazing at Soraya and tugging on her short curls. “Sora, this is okay?” she asked dubiously. “I could – we could all get in big trouble for this.”

We hadn’t told them who the traitors were, only that they had access to the burn order. As Keon and Talori both probably realized, that meant a Head. But neither of them said it out loud.

“Innocent lives are at risk,” Soraya said, her voice steely. “Children. Elderly. This is not a time for rules.”

“That time passed,” Andrei butted in and winked at the Lafi sisters. “We’re saving the world, kid.”

Talori, not being Soraya’s sister for nothing, rolled her eyes at him. “If you say so.”

And Andrei, being a Zima, smirked. “I do say so.”