“I don’t follow yours.”
Mace had his claws around her throat, and just as fast, Angel had hers around his balls. “Care to test me, Alpha?”
“Gray wanted them to take him so we’d find the passage,” he ground out. “Follow his scent into her fortress. Get Noa close enough to destroy that fucking queen.”
“Amal’s not stupid. You know she’ll be waiting for anyone who follows. I know another way in.”
Mace tightened his claws. “I don’t trust you.”
“I’m her aunt. She’s my niece. You really think I’d hurt her?”
His upper lip drew back. “What happened when they killed your brother?”
“You’re a piece of shit,” Angel snarled. “I’m not a child pretending to be dead. I know the Cariboo. Years ago, I found a backdoor. We sneak in while you’re busy being the shiny object, diverting Amal’s attention. I’m talking about a small force—me, Noa, trusted Blackfish fighters. I’ll take Levi. He’s motivated, and you can communicate with us through Levi’s pack bond if you’re worried or if we need help.”
“Until you get too far away.”
“Better than doing what Amal expects. And right now,” she added, “you wish you’d come up with the plan yourself.”
“No chance in hell.”
“No shame in it, either. You’re a tactician. You see the beauty here. A plan within a plan. Exactly what she won’t expect. I’m offering my help.”
Mace flexed his hand. From the movement, I knew he was evaluating Angel’s solution, testing the benefits. She’d suggested it to me earlier, and I’d already agreed.
My jaw ached from waiting. Each minute we stood here arguing infuriated me, when all I wanted was to find Grayson. Find Amal.
“If I get to him,” I said, “I can be his weapon. I can syphon the way she can, drain her life force or overload every sense until she can’t fight him. One bite—that’s all it takes to kill a vampire. End her. But he can’t do it by himself. He needs me, and running in through the front door and trying to fight past all her creatures is a fool’s tactic.”
Mace’s eyes glittered as my chin lifted. “I promise you. I won’t fail. He gave me his sigil, and I gave him mine. This is our destiny…” I moistened my icy lips. “Isn’t that what the Gemini Witches told you years ago? You’d be faced with the choice that went against everything you are? Everything you fight for? But this, Mace… this is the moment. Make the choice to trust me. Trust him.”
His snarl was pure anger, throbbing frustration as he whipped his hand from Angel’s throat and leveled a finger at me.
“You.” His voice shook. “I believe in you.”
My smile grew sad. “That first day, in Hattie’s store. When you bought a bag of chips that you didn’t want so you could get close enough to scent me. You were dripping wet, Mace, from being out in the rain. You’d been watching me, stalking through the aisles. I knew then, you know.”
“Knew what?”
“The man you are. The warrior willing to lay down his life. I’m glad you’re my friend.”
“We…” His canines flashed with a tight smile. “We’ll drink together when this is done.”
“Yes. We will.”
Mace moved his fighters through the passage while we hiked overland, a small group, spread out in the packed snow. The sun was high overhead, bright even through the clouds. The frigid air nipped at my nose, my cheeks, but the constant movement kept my body warm beneath the thick wool. Natural lanolin meant the material remained dry. I wore boots. The bow and quiver were a comforting weight against my back.
When the Blackfish talked between themselves, they used a pack bond. I didn’t mind. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them, barging in with Angel, taking the lead. Her mercenary attitude hadn’t changed, the take-no-shit swagger. I’d broken my share of rules, but it was hard to wrap my head around who she was—my aunt. My father’s younger sister. Family I never knew existed. I wasn’t easy with throwing open my arms to her.
My family had always been Leo and my mom. Hattie and Oscar. Angel tipped the table in an unknown direction. Now, I was tied to the Blackfish pack, like it or not, when I didn’t want them risking their lives for me. Not even when they honored my father by doing it.
I’d been afraid to ask Angel about him. I blamed it on her pain when Fallon sang the lament. Why add to her suffering?
But what I feared was learning a truth about my father that I didn’t want to know. Facts that demolished the fantasy I’d built up around Bronson Dade and Andrea. How they’d been the star-crossed lovers. Torn apart by fate. He’d told my mother he was Alpha to a small pack back east. Hardly small, and not as far east as he’d implied. He kept secrets. And truth was a hard thing, at times. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it.
I chewed on my inner lip. Levi walked beside me. He'd reclaimed his spear, and when I stared at the shaft, the old bloodstains were visible on the wood, the smears made by my fingers when I’d gripped the weapon—and his wound—fighting to keep him from bleeding out.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
