Locke gripped his fists, the leather gloves tightening around his knuckles. “Get ready,” he spoke into his mouthpiece.
All of our backs stiffened as the low clap of dainty hands echoed into the darkness.
Locke squinted to get a better look. He was the only one that refused to wear the bug-like goggles. He said he would rather face his enemy with his own eyes than rely on a human contraption.
“Well, you came prepared. I’m impressed.” The deep voice didn’t match the delicate hand that placed itself on the red velvet chair.
The enemy’s body came into the light. The broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long dark fingernails indicated he was in fact a fae. The fuckers were tall, and even the males had a feline looking eyes.
We couldn’t see his face, just a plain black ski mask of quite inferior quality, considering the suit he wore.
“Come now, I won’t bite.” He lifted the scotch bottle and poured himself a glass.
Locke approached, his hand on his weapon, but his movement was graceful. He showed no fear as the rest of us waited for the inevitable to happen.
Because we already knew we were surrounded, Beretta had already tapped her comm to let us know. There was no way out of this except through bloodshed. This fae had the warehouse completely stocked full of his men.
Vampires, witches, even rogue wolves were creeping in as Beretta and her team tried to pick them off one by one.
“Free beer if all of you make it,” Locke murmured into the mouthpiece. “And hopefully, a mate in your future.”
As much as I didn’t want my brothers and sisters to fall in this battle, I knew I would survive. My strength from the bond would see me through. My mate and I were meant to be. And I’d fight until I won my way back to her, one damn fae at a time.
Chapter Forty Three
Journey
Thebarwasfilledwith laughter and overflowing drinks. But the humans didn’t know that their friends were in danger of fantasy-like proportions.
I wrung my hands together, trying to keep the overwhelming dread at bay. Grim was well supplied with his wolf. His healing abilities would take care of him, or at least I hope they did. I still didn’t understand a shifter’s anatomy or the tiny details that went along with it. I mean, I’m supposed to go into a heat soon, and I didn’t even know what that fully entailed.
“Don’t worry.” Tajah took a sip of white wine. “They will be fine. Locke and his crew have done this so many times, I’m sure they could do it blindfolded.”
Bear huffed, his arms crossed over his enormous body. “Hell, with fae, you never know, though. Those are some tricky fuckers.”
Tajah slapped Bear on the arm, who didn’t even flinch. He glared at her and picked up his bucket sized glass of cold beer and drank it in one gulp.
An hour passed, and I slowly became familiar with all the humans in the bar. They were all sweet and kind; most of them were women. They were all very fond of Delilah, who they hadn’t heard from in the slightest, but the buzz from another table caught my ear.
“They’re surrounded. I’m heading back to the control room.” Switch tapped his earpiece and swore under his breath. “I’m getting static.”
I stood up from the table, the chair falling behind me. But I didn’t care. I ran after Switch, trying to listen to the static which I could hear as well.
“They’re surrounded. More are trying to get in a side entrance, but we have popped several off. I don’t know if there is an underground tunnel. But they keep disappearing; don’t know where they’re going,”Beretta hissed through the earpiece. You could hear another crack in the communication, static rumbling through the ear piece. Then there was a pop of a gun firing through a silencer.
Tajah stood from another table. Her movements were quick as she ran across the bar to catch up. “What’s going on?”
Startled at her quick movements despite her cane usage just weeks ago, I pulled her along with me until we reached the private room beside the bar. “Something is happening. They’re surrounded.”
Bones was already inside the room filled with computer monitors. He leaned on the table with his fists, pointing to several corners of the screen. “Here and here,” he spoke into an earpiece. “They’re portal jumping now. They’re using all their magic reserves; they won’t be able to escape once inside. I don’t think they have enough gateway runes to get out with how far they are having to jump.”
Gateway runes?
“Magic,” Tajah said, standing behind me as I stared at the screens. “Magic isn’t done with wands like humans believe. It’s all inside the being. However, enchantments can be written on special pieces of parchment and thrown into the wind with a gentle whisper of a non-magical caster. For them to have so many is quite astonishing.”
“Why would that be astonishing?” I asked, still staring at the screens.
“A witch or warlock can only put their spells on three pieces of parchment at any given time. It means more magical beings are working with the fae than we all realized.”
