Wind rushed through my hair as I stood on the roof of a high rise building, exposed to the elements. For once I’d put it up, a neat ponytail on the top of my head that I was now curling into a bun. There would be too much risk of it getting in my face if I’d kept it down.
My doubts were still present, niggling at the back of my mind, but I could shove them away because we were in the midst of the operation.
The Rare Jewel Gala was in full swing, and Kylan had been spotted there by Altair and Sky. They’d only caught a glimpse of the back of his head, the man somehow supernaturally good at hiding his face, but Grey had been present, confirming it was Kylan. We didn’t know which room he was staying in, but only because he’d gotten an entire floor to himself with no indication of which was his and which was for staff. On a near-penthouse level, that meant four full suites.
I was trying not to think about how much it cost him, and how many better uses there were for that money.
“You’re confident it’s this side?” I asked Em for the fortieth time.
He sighed, inhaling a deep breath once again. “I’m not confident of anything,” he said. “The air is thin up here and the scents are weak. I think I smell a stronger vampire on this side than the other side, but I could easily be wrong.”
I bit my lip, holding back a scolding. Emmett was doing what he could.
I just didn’t want Shan and Caspian, who were on a rooftop of the other side of the building, to get to him first.
Kylan was my kill, and I wanted them out of danger as much as possible.
“Fine,” I mumbled, staring between the blacked out hotel windows and the phone in my hand.
When it rang, it was go time. Altair and Sky were watching the gala for Kylan’s departure, while Nolan and Oswald had taken up residence in one of the buildings to watch for his arrival. This entire plan was a bust if Kylan used his resident mage to portal in, but we didn’t think he would. His mage was, by all accounts, weak. They would have to portal Kylan and his entire team to a new location come morning, so they were probably saving their strength. Besides, no portals or other magic was permitted at the gala as a precaution.
It was a bet we’d have to make. Same with betting I could get to his room in the tiny window between when he arrived and when his wards were fully functional.
“We’ve planned as best we could,” Emmett said softly, placing his hand on the small of my back.
My body relaxed into the touch, the mark on my wrist throbbing as it always did when he touched me. “I know. There are too many variables.”
“Nolan is used to working with variables. His assassins kill people like Kylan all the time.”
“But they’ve never tried to kill Kylan himself, and I’m assuming there’s a reason for that.”
“I’m fairly certain the only reason is because Nolan never had enough people he could trust to do it. That’s changed.”
Nolan was a little like me, honestly. He didn’t trust too deeply because he was worried about betrayals, which was how I’d felt before meeting Cas and Shan.
“It has,” I agreed.
We watched the building across the street in silence, then, though we could see nothing. Twenty stories up from the ground all we heard was the wind, and with the darkened windows there was no way of knowing what was going on in the suite. Emmett’s hand didn’t leave my back, his thumb tracing soothing circles across my spine, and if we’d been in any other location or on any other mission, I might have tried to kiss him. We were at the point where a kiss between us wouldn’t be weird, right? Fuck, who knew. I should wait for Em to make the first move.
The phone lit up after another hour, earlier than we’d anticipated Kylan leaving. It was good, though. I was getting twitchy, and I’m sure everyone else was too.
I answered the call on the first ring.
“He’s on the way back,” Nolan’s voice said through the line. I heard Ozzy talking in the background, informing Shan of the same information. “Got a lot of guards, as we expected, but most should peel off in the lobby and on various floors. Please be safe.”
I smiled at the hint of worry in his tone. “I’ll be careful.”
Careful was a little different than safe, but neither of us commented on that.
“Oswald told me to say he loves you.”
“He told me before we left.”
“I’m just relaying a message.”
“Then I love him, too. Send a text when they arrive at the building.”
I hung up with a small smile on my face. Based on estimated driving time between locations, we had fifteen minutes, but had to be prepared for anything.
