“Well, that’s a question you’re in a better position to answer than I,” Flint said dryly. “But I hope you can convince our werewolf friend to let me in so you can explain?”

  “You don’t want to come in here,” I said honestly. “Believe me.”

  “It’s sweet that you worry about me. But if your concerns revolve around Osbourne Sr., don’t worry. I’m aware of his reputation, and I’ve come prepared.”

  “That is in no way comforting,” I blurted out. “What do you mean by prepared?”

  “Shade, I can help. You know I can help. I’m not saying Liam and his people can’t defend their home—of course they can. But I’m guessing this is a situation you’d like handled with as little death as possible. And who do you think is better able to deliver a non-violent option, hmm? Me and you, or the werewolves?”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  Liam must have realized it too. I watched the conflict play out over his face. The desire for as little collateral damage as possible warring with the knowledge that his father would use this as another strike against him. More evidence that Liam couldn’t handle New Moon. The werewolves could easily take the intruders. And with the Vanguard’s help, Liam could probably cover it up. But if he accepted my help—and Flint’s—the Vanguard wouldn’t need to get involved. May not need to know at all.

  Osbourne Sr. could be dealt with later.

  “I’ll have Sam let him in.”

  Danielle’s smirk had gotten healthier now that Liam had turned his attention to someone else. I had the overpowering desire to wipe that smug look off her face. So strong my magic rose with the urge, energy dancing between my fingertips. It would be so easy…

  Scath appeared from behind me, startling me enough that if I weren’t focused so hard on Danielle and my anger I might have jumped. I had no idea where she’d gone—or why—but now she circled the table, heading for Danielle. Ruth watched her approach like a mother watching drama play out on the school playground, trying not to interfere and rob her child of a valuable life lesson. Still, she put herself between Scath and Danielle, just for a second. Just long enough to make Scath look at her. Let her know there was a line she would not allow to be crossed. Scath nodded, then directed her full attention to Danielle.

  “You’re feeling confident,” Scath said, her voice a low whisper, “because you don’t see what’s coming. Foresight comes with age and experience.” She smiled, wide enough to reveal that her teeth never really looked human, no matter what form she was in. “You’ve made so many bad choices. I hope you’re still here when the consequences catch up with you. I want to watch.”

  Danielle narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know me. And you don’t know what I’m capable of.”

  “Neither do you, little pup. And if you continue to make such foolish choices, you’ll never find out.”

  My mouth was hanging open. As soon as I realized it, I snapped it shut. What on earth was going on with that cat? When had she gotten so chatty? So interested in…anything? Why had she left before? Why come back now?

  Danielle had seen me with my mouth open, but fortunately, that seemed to unsettle her even more. She looked back and forth between me and Scath, and I saw her desperately trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

  Join the club.

  Answers would have to wait for now. Liam left the room, and I followed after him, trusting Scath to come with me. The look on Liam’s face when he glanced at Scath after we left the room told me I wasn’t the only one wondering what had gotten into her, but there wasn’t time to talk about it now.

  Liam had gathered more people, and I saw two men I didn’t know standing with Brenna, St. John, Sonar, Blake, Edwin…and Flint. Edwin stood next to Flint, his expression carefully guarded as he eyed the leannan sidhe.

  Even when Flint dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, he managed to give the impression that he was on his way to model for the cover of a romance novel. His hazel eyes changed color depending on what angle you saw them from—and I was sure he knew exactly how to move his head to get the colors he wanted at any given time. His shoulders were broader than most sidhe—one of the quickest ways to deduce he wasn’t a pureblood. If he was bothered by the fact that the shifters had positioned themselves in a semi-circle around him, he didn’t show it.

  But then, Flint had an incredible poker face.

  Cormac and the rest of his company were nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

  “We should find Dad first,” Brenna insisted. “He—”

  “If you’re about to say he could help, don’t,” Liam said his tone heated. “By now I hope you realize he’s a problem, not a solution.”

  Brenna pursed her lips. “I didn’t realize he treated Magda so poorly. That’s not acceptable. But he’s still family. We need to try and help him. Help them. And no matter his personal failings, he’s still strong. For pity’s sake, New Moon is under siege, we can’t turn down help.”

  “Not now, Brenna.” Liam looked around at the gathered people, his gaze snagging on Flint before continuing on. “I want everyone in wolf form. If any of them get away, I don’t want them identifying anyone they don’t already know about. Sonar and Blake, you go east. Scath and Edwin, go west. Brenna and St. John cover the north, and Sam and I will go south. Ruth and Stephen, I want you inside with the clients. Keep them calm, keep them safe. Better head to the basement.”

  It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that everyone, including myself, referred to the bounty hunter as Sonar, even when she was in human form. I’d yet to hear anyone but Blake call her Yvette. For a moment, I felt awkward, the witch in me suddenly ashamed I’d never asked her what she preferred to be called.

  Sonar—Yvette—caught me staring at her. “Sonar,” she said, as if reading my mind. “It’s easier to avoid slip-ups that way. Also nice not to let the people I’m tracking know my real name.”

  “Thank you,” I said, meaning it. I looked to Liam. “I’m going to go upstairs. There’s a window that gives me a good view of the grounds. I have a spell that should keep them from trying to get inside the building.”

  “That is our primary goal,” Liam agreed. “Sam has a team of officers from the reservation coming, marked cars and all, so we just need to hold them off till they get here.”

  “I’ll go with Shade,” Flint said smoothly. “My greatest contribution will be boosting her spell. As that is the primary goal.”

  Liam looked like he wanted to argue, but knew he didn’t have time. His aura crept outward another few inches, crawling up my back like a live wire. I fought the urge to squirm.

  “Before we part,” I said quickly as others moved to carry out their tasks, “I’d like to connect us telepathically. We’ll be able to communicate by thought. No one will hear any thoughts that you don’t want them to hear,” I added. “I can connect myself and up to four other people.”

  “I’ll be one,” Liam said immediately.

  “And me,” Flint added.

  Sonar raised her eyebrows. “You can do that?”

  “You’re sure no one will hear my thoughts?” St. John cleared his throat and gestured at Liam. “Could be awkward. I am dating his sister.”

  Brenna’s face turned bright red, and for a second Liam looked very much like he’d swat the fox shifter clean off his feet.

  Brenna grabbed St. John’s arm. “I’ll gag you,” she said, her voice strained. “I swear I will.”

  St. John opened his mouth and Brenna reached up and clapped a hand over it.

  “Don’t say it,” she warned.

  “Yes,” I answered Sonar. “And St. John, the rest of us will only hear what you want us to. It’s just like talking, only telepathic.”

  The fox shifter just nodded, though his crimson eyes still sparkled with mischief.

  The adrenaline pulsing through my body made it easy to call my magic. It was already simmering at the surface, and it took a minor flex of my will to call tendrils of silver energy to my fingertips. I drew a few symbols over my forehead, then approached Liam, Flint, Sonar, and St. John in turn, repeating the symbols on each of them. When I finished, I closed my eyes, concentrated on the slight pull I could feel between us. “Psychicae vinculum.”

  The bond tightened, then sang between us like a plucked rubber band. I blinked and opened my eyes. Can everyone hear me?

  A chorus of confirmations echoed in my head. Confident the spell had worked, I nodded to Liam. He and Blake left to change into their uniforms, while Sonar and St. John stripped down where they were, tossing their clothes into a pile before taking their animal forms. Neither of them shifted as smoothly as Liam, but St. John was close. Confidence and comfort in your own skin. That was the key.

  Who was it who texted me? Flint asked telepathically as we made our way upstairs.

  I tensed, then reminded myself that the telepathy spell wasn’t a bullhorn. Everyone I’d connected could speak privately to one or more members of the bond without being overheard.

  I think it was Danielle, I said. Cormac said she’s good at computers and getting information she shouldn’t have. It wouldn’t be hard for her to hack my cell phone, I’d wager. Especially if she managed to get a hold of a computer Liam or Emma used for work.

  And why would she want me here?

  I gritted my teeth. To cause trouble. To be a distraction.

  We reached the top of the stairs and I led the way to the large window that overlooked the grounds in front of New Moon. From here, I could see the intruders, some of them standing alone, dotting the lawn like large insects, and some congregating in small groups. All of them were oriented toward the front of the building, and I could see the moment Liam and Blake walked out the front door to confront them. Half the people dressed in black took a few steps forward, straightening their spines as they prepared to make a stand. The other half ducked behind trees, or crouched lower to the ground. Ready in case words proved insufficient.

  Then this is part of her distraction too? Flint asked.

  Yes.

  Then she’ll try to escape now.

  Seems likely.

  How secure is this place?

  I shot him a hard look. I didn’t like the way Flint’s questions had turned to Liam’s security. Let’s concentrate on the task at hand.

  As my lady wishes.

  Flint put his hands on my shoulders, and I tensed.

  “You know how this works,” he murmured, not bothering to use telepathy this time. “Just relax and let me help you.”

  I wanted to argue that his touch didn’t have to be quite so sensual, but then worried that he wasn’t actually trying to be sensual. For all I knew, Flint didn’t know how else to touch someone.

  Suddenly I heard the sound of shattering glass. Then again, farther away. Chaos erupted down the hall, and a woman bolted out of her room, screaming, her eyes wide.

  “Someone broke my window and threw a smoke bomb into my room!”

  Sure enough, a cloud of smoke billowed out of her room behind her, creeping down the hallway like a ghost. From farther away inside the building, I heard someone shouting.

  “Tear gas!” someone screamed.

  “They’re right outside,” I realized.

  Flint’s grip tightened. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.”

  I forced myself to relax, concentrating on my magic as Flint’s energy spread out from his touch, sending a warm rush over my body. If his touch felt sensual, his power felt downright seductive, and it took a conscious effort not to elbow him in the stomach on principle. I took a deep breath and let his energy sink into mine, letting his power feed my spell as I shaped it. Red light formed in a complicated pattern of knots and strings, a delicate web of blood red magic.

  I shoved my hands forward, letting the spell expand as I did so. The energy swelled and flexed, growing until it surged around me, rolled outward like a bubble fed with the breath of a giant.

  Blue light flickered in tiny shoots of lightning over the grass, and a blanket of fog started at the edge of the property. Tendrils of grey licked at the ground as it rolled closer and closer to the building. The fog would make the humans as good as blind, but the shifters were used to relying on scent. Advantage New Moon.

  Once the fog was set, I released the second layer of the spell in a blanket of lavender-colored light. An illusion shimmered into being over the front door, visible in my mind’s eye, hiding the entrance from any of the humans who pushed through the fog to try and get inside.

  On my next breath, I infused the illusion with an added layer of confusion, deepening the lavender energy to a deep plum. Anyone who came too close to the front door would become lost, forgetting what they’d been doing, what they were there for. And as a finishing touch, I activated an enchantment that would project a suggestion into their minds as well. A simple command to “Surrender your weapons.” Any weapons left behind could be dusted for prints, hopefully leading to the identification of the wielder.

  It wasn’t a complicated spell, but it covered a lot of ground, and required several layers. By the time I was finished, I felt out of breath, as if I’d just physically run the entire property. Flint’s hands moved on my shoulders, starting to massage my muscles. I jerked away from him.

  “Sorry,” he said without a trace of actual regret. “Force of habit.”

  “You should work on that,” I told him, stepping back to put more distance between us. I directed my thoughts to Liam. What’s going on?

  We’re being attacked on all sides. No sightings yet, but I have reports of at least one window on each side of the building being targeted. So far, one smoke bomb, one flash bang grenade, one tear gas, and one Molotov cocktail.

  They’re trying to cause chaos, Flint said telepathically, speaking to everyone I’d connected. They’re trying to smoke us out of the building. My money is on snipers.

  The fog will take care of that plan, I thought.

  There’s an underground tunnel that leads to the woods if we have to evacuate, Liam said. It was built by some of our own, and it’s not on any plans.

  That doesn’t mean Howard couldn’t have found out about it, I thought grimly. I’ll check it out.

  We’ll check it out, Flint corrected me.

  I didn’t have time to argue, so I didn’t.

  Chapter 21

  The subbasement of New Moon was a center room with four tunnels, each extending down a different direction. The holding cells I’d been to earlier were down the opposite hall from the one that led to an evacuation room. Ruth and Stephen had brought most of New Moon’s clients to the evacuation room, and they all stood around a heavy steel door set into the wall.

  Even if I could have unlocked the metal monstrosity, there’s no way I could have moved it. It was heavy enough that Stephen grunted as he pushed it open.

  “There are a few curves in the tunnel.” Ruth’s bracelets clinked as she extended one arm to point into the shadows beyond the door. “But it’s all one tunnel, no branches or forks, so you should be able to just follow it to the second door.”

  “Is the second door going to be like that one?” I nodded to the vault door.

  “Similar, but not nearly as heavy. The door at the other end is meant to keep out mundane animals and humans. If one of our shifters is out in the forest and a group of humans comes by, for example, they’re meant to be able to get into the tunnel to hide out. This one,” she patted the heavy door, “is meant to keep everyone out who doesn’t have the code.”

  Flint held absolutely still. The sort of stillness that said he was trying very hard not to be noticed. And though he kept his face impassive, it was clear he was listening. A little too intently.

  I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Stephen stared at the leannan sidhe, straightening to his full height in subtle warning. Flint smiled and inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment.

  I headed into the tunnel, knowing Flint would follow. Ruth waited for a few moments as Peasblossom turned herself into a glowing pink beacon before closing the door behind us. She left it open a crack, so she’d hear if there were trouble, but closed it enough that a quick motion would be all it took to shut it if danger appeared.

  Flint managed to hold his tongue until we were out of earshot. “She doesn’t hate you as much as I’d have thought.”

  I tripped over a half-buried rock, then scowled at him over my shoulder. “Let’s not get personal, shall we?”

  “I came here to help save your life. And possibly your mate’s job.” Flint’s eyes glittered in Peasblossom’s faint pink light. “We’ll discuss whatever pleases me.”

  “Are those silver bullets?” I asked, nodding at Flint’s gun, holstered on his hip.

  “Not pure silver, but yes.”

  “Good.”

  He opened his mouth, but I kept talking.

  “The man I’m most worried about is Howard Tudor. Militant and very detail-oriented. He figured out how to sneak up on shifters, and he’s definitely armed to the teeth—also with silver shot. If anyone could have found out about this escape tunnel, it’s him.”

  “Below ground radar would do it. You usually see that more with people hunting fey, but the human military uses it often enough that this Howard person could know about it.”

  I stared at him. “Below ground radar to hunt fey. You mean to find sithens.”

  Flint nodded. “Less helpful with the royal sithens of course. Being animate as they are, they don’t tend to stay in one place. And without proper preparation, humans—even the more knowledgeable ones—don’t fare so well when they attempt genocide on my kin.”

  There was something in his voice. That hard, yet still somehow hollow tone that made me think of fury and loss. Grief and resentment. It made me wonder if he’d ever been present during a siege like the one he was describing. But even if I’d thought he’d confide in me, now wasn’t the time.

  “Let’s assume Howard knows about the tunnel. He’s a general, not a soldier, so he’ll have put himself here to pick off anyone who tries to escape while the rest of his team kicks the beehive.”

 

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