The big Dragon shifter bent over the Hitzu’s manacle. “Not as good at these as Lucas,” he muttered. “Spent more timeinthem, than gettingoutof them.”
I didn’t have an opportunity to ask about the comment, because Havoc’s rage galloped through my mind. Almost incoherent, it was raw emotion connected to a flurry of vicious images that made the guard beheading look tame.
“Frankel? You okay?” a voice called from the hall beyond ours.
If he made it to the doorway, the bloodstain would tell him that Frankel was definitely not okay.
“There’s a room about thirty feet from the door that was marked “Relief Station” on the blueprints,” Vali whispered. “He must have come from there.”
“Freking hell,” murmured Marcus. He’d stationed himself near the cell door as Talakai worked. Now he pulled his longsword and took a step toward the voice.
Kiko ran past him. “Got this,” she said breezily and jogged down the hall. Once she reached the door, she stopped, opened it, then leaned herself partway through it.
“Frankel’s been busy,” she purred to the guard beyond. “Want to join us?” And then she vanished.
Marcus muttered another curse beneath his breath and hurried down the hall, coming up against the wall just inside the open door. He held his sword in front of him in one hand, in the other, he’d drawn a knife.
Frankel’s fellow guard was about to have a very bad day, just when he thought he was going to have a bloody good one. Despite the man’s poor choice of allegiances, I almost felt sorry for him.
Kiko reappeared, all smiles, draped over the guard’s shoulder as her hand rubbed his ass. He had a stupid grin plastered on his face. The grin didn’t alter as Marcus drove his knife up beneath the man’s jaw and into his brain.
The guard dropped like a stone. Marcus dragged him into the now less-than-empty cell. He closed the door, and he and Kiko rejoined us.
“Good hit,” Talakai commended him from where he bent over the Hitzu’s ankle.
I stared. How had the Dragon even seen what Marcus had done?
“Knife to the brain leaves no blood trail.” Marcus sounded smug.
“Yes. Requires distraction, though, and unless you can immobilize fast, he had time to shout,” the assassin commented.
“I can be quite distracting,” Kiko affirmed.
My brain was filled with blood flying beneath Havoc’s talons. These guys were masters of the casual dispensing of death.
“How is it going with Isobel?” I asked Talakai.
The manacle finally clicked open. “Nikolai is just getting started,” the Dragon rumbled.
We heard shouts, and feet pounding away from us down the hall.
Talakai straightened. “They’ve called in reinforcements.” His voice was calm, but he’d drawn his sword again.
“We need to be there,” Marcus agreed.
“Everyone, grab hold,” I said.
They all did so, and the Hitzu followed their lead. A moment later, we blinked golden light out of our eyes. We had landed in the garden.
The sky overhead was far from quiet. Dragons glittered in the sunlight, and they headed for the roof. Brock’s pinions were coming to Isobel’s rescue.
Marcus’s gaze slipped over Jinsic, Vali, and Kiko. “We need to get them out, if we’re going in.”
Kiko bristled. “I’m going in, too.”
“If you are trying to save me, it would have been better to vacate the premises altogether.” Jinsic sounded genuinely pissed off.
“We have bigger concerns,” Marcus snapped. “And we didn’t have to free you.”
