Shadow Soldier (23 page)

Now that he’d claimed her, he couldn’t be away from her. She couldn’t leave, not without him, but the thought of her staying in Trinity Grove ripped a harsh growl from his throat. By any means necessary, he’d protect her.

He’d die for her.

And if he didn’t get them out of the city soon, he might be forced to prove it.

Roux had just stepped out of the shower when the doorbell rang, followed by frantic pounding that seemed to shake the entire house. Deke’s footsteps strode past in the hallway, and she could just make out a few of the curses he mumbled under his breath.

Wrapping herself in the towel, she tiptoed to the bathroom door and cracked it open just an inch, straining to hear the conversation happening in the foyer. From the deep timbre of the voice, she knew their visitor was a man, and she quickly scrolled through the males she knew who would have reason to disturb them on a Saturday afternoon.

Her neck ached pleasantly where Deke had bitten her, but otherwise, she didn’t feel much different. A little more grounded, more centered, and a hell of a lot less chaotic with her emotions, but nothing significant beyond that. His bite definitely hadn’t given her supernatural shifter hearing, because she couldn’t make out anything the men were saying.

Suspicious of their hushed tones, she toweled off quickly and brushed out her wet hair. Dressed in the yoga pants and black sweatshirt she’d brought into the bathroom with her, Roux pulled her shoulders back and marched down the hall to the foyer.

“Cade?”

Of all the people she’d expected to see standing in her house right then, he hadn’t even made the top three. His wide, frantic eyes darted from her to Deke and back again, and his normally fair skin had drained of all color, giving him a sickly gray pallor. Whatever he’d come to tell them, it had to be bad.

“What happened?”

“Stay here,” Deke ordered. “Lock the doors.”

Then he and Cade hurried off, pulling the door closed behind him with a sharp snap that rattled the windows.

She’d made her position clear when it came to taking orders and being left behind. They worked better as a team, and he damn well knew it. Grumbling under her breath, she jogged back to the bedroom, pulled on her socks and sneakers, and dragged the lockbox out from under the bed.

“Damn fool,” she grumbled. “Going off half-cocked. He doesn’t even have a toothpick to protect himself with.”

She pressed her thumb to the biometric scanner and opened the lid of the box. It took her about six seconds to check the clip, insert it into the 9mm handgun, and chamber the first bullet.

“Well, he does have teeth and claws,” a voice said from the doorway.

Still crouched on the floor, Roux pivoted on her knee, sweeping the gun toward the intruder.

Abby yelped and stumbled backward into the doorframe.

“Oh, shit.” Lowering her weapon, Roux jumped to her feet. “Are you insane? What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“I knocked,” Abby responded, her eyes narrowing. “Do you even know how to use that thing?”

Ignoring her, Roux pushed past her and marched down the hall. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“No clue. Cade showed up at my door, just to tell me to stay inside my house, and then he took off like the devil himself was on his heels.”

“Yet, here you are.” Roux smirked. “I knew I liked you.” After pressing the safety on the handgun with her forefinger, Roux tucked it into her waistband at the small of her back. “Where’s Peter?”

“At the bakery. After the girls went missing, he didn’t have the heart to hire a new assistant, so he works the Saturday shift now.” Following her out the front door, Abby pulled it closed behind them and huffed. “You’re going to shoot yourself in the ass.”

“It’s fine.”

Only the guards were permitted to carry weapons inside the city. While she’d rather have the gun in her hand and at the ready, she couldn’t risk being caught with it. Not only would it land her in a world of hurt, but as the registered companion of a Coalition captain, she’d land Deke’s ass in hot water as well.

“Roux, maybe Cade was right. Maybe we should stay.”

Pausing in the driveway, Roux turned to face her friend. “Look, you can stay here if you want, but a locked door isn’t going to keep anyone out.” Abby was scared, but Roux had never known her to be stupid. “Something is happening, Barbie. Something bad, maybe worse than anything we’ve seen, and I’m not going to sit around waiting for someone else I love to die.” Looking the woman in the eye, she softened her tone. “Are you with me or not?”

After a short hesitation, Abby sucked in a deep breath, held it for a heartbeat, and released it through her parted lips. “Let’s go.”

Roux led the way through the neighborhood and down the street lined with the newer shops to the city center. This new incident could have easily happened at the Bastille, but her gut had told her to head to the Square. Every time things went sideways, it always seemed to start there.

As suspected, her instincts had been right. Rounding the last corner, she found a small crowd mostly comprised of city guards surrounding the large fountain in the center of the cul-de-sac. Roux couldn’t see around them, over them, or even through them, but they spoke in low, growling voices full of urgency.

“Can you see anything?” Abby asked, pressing against Roux’s back. “What’s going on?”

“Not sure.”

A gap opened in the circle of bodies, giving her a clear view of the crimson water that filled the bottom basin of the fountain. As more of the guards began to stir, she finally saw it. A male body lay in a broken heap on the cobblestone street. The clothes and hair were sodden, the skin pale and wax-like. It took Roux a couple of seconds to realize what she was seeing, but when she did, she slapped her palm over her mouth to muffle her gasp and took a deliberate step back.

“Oh, my god,” Abby whispered in her ear, her voice filled with barely contained horror. “Is his…is his head missing?”

Too shocked to form a verbal response, Roux bobbed her head in slow motion. She’d seen a lot of shit in her life, but never anything so gruesome. Her stomach cramped, and bile rose in her throat, but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the body. Going by the reaction of the guards, this wasn’t normal territory for them, either.

“How does this happen in the middle of the freakin’ day?” Abby demanded. “I mean, someone just strolls into town, rips some guy’s head off, and nobody notices?”

It would seem odder if the city hadn’t become a virtual ghost town of late. “Who’s actually in the Square today? Peter? Maybe a guard or two?”

“Fair point,” Abby conceded. “And if they came in through the alley over there, even Peter wouldn’t see them.”

“Maybe it’s your Others,” Roux quipped, but a part of her still believed this bogeyman might not be so imaginary.

“Look.”

Just as Abby pointed, three Wardens emerged from the mouth of the alley, distinguishable from the city guards only by the blazing red of the Coalition emblem on their sleeves. Three more Wardens appeared—seemingly from nowhere—at the end of the street that led into the Square, and still, two more came from the alley near the Red Dragon Chinese restaurant. The two women and six men, all carrying modified, military tactical rifles, converged on the group around the fountain.

“We’ll take it from here,” one of the women said, using the barrel of her gun to point at the body. “Everyone return to your homes or posts. The Square is on lockdown.”

“On whose authority?” Deke asked, drawing himself up to his full height with his shoulders back and his chest forward.

Abby pressed even closer to Roux’s back, nearly toppling her over. “Where’s Lynk?” she whispered. “Why are they quarantining the Square?”

“Quiet, Barbie.”

“On mine,” the female Warden answered.

“And just who the fuck is she?”

Roux stifled a snort at Abby’s indignant tone. The blonde made an interesting point. Tall and muscular, with smooth skin the color of creamed coffee, cropped, ebony hair, and blunt, severe features, the Warden made a striking image one wouldn’t quickly forget. Roux had never seen her, though, and from the look on Deke’s face, he didn’t recognize her, either.

“You are?” With his hands still hanging loosely at his sides, Deke appeared calm, but Roux knew better.

“Captain Brianna McLemore.” She didn’t offer a hand or move closer to Deke, but stared at him as if he were something she’d found on the bottom of her shoe. “Just transferred here yesterday from Cornwall.”

Ranks between the city guards and the Wardens didn’t cross over, meaning one didn’t necessarily outrank the other. The private army acted as more of a security detail from what Roux understood, leaving Deke and his team to oversee everything beyond the gates of the Diavolos’ estate. They rarely ventured beyond their posts, and only once had she seen a Warden other than Lynk inside the Square. She’d also never known them to carry so much firepower.

As she watched the exchange, the crisp autumn wind kicked up at her back, and Roux stiffened. “Shit.”

“What? What is it?” Pressing up on her tiptoes, Abby peeked over Roux’s shoulder. “Do you see something?”

“Not exactly, but I think we’ve been found out.”

Sure enough, Deke lifted his head just fractionally, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed at the breeze. He didn’t turn to look at her, didn’t acknowledge her presence in any way. If he’d caught her scent, however, it stood to reason the other Gemini in the crowd had as well.

So focused on the guards in front of her, Roux didn’t hear the approaching footsteps behind her until it was too late. Abby yelped when Lynk lifted her off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder. Then the shifter’s massive hand gripped Roux’s upper arm, jerking her away from the brick building.

“Put me down, you overgrown gorilla!” Kicking and squirming, Abby beat against Lynk’s back with her tiny fists. Lynk barely blinked at her efforts.

“Trust me,” he mouthed to Roux.

Seeing no other alternative, she nodded. In theory, she did
trust Lynk, but people who came in contact with Wardens had a bad habit of going missing in the city.

Lynk marched them across the street to join the others near the fountain. When they passed the body of the poor man on the ground, he angled himself to shield most of the carnage from Roux’s sight. She appreciated the courtesy, but it didn’t make the guy any less dead.

Captain McLemore spared Roux only a passing glance. “Take them to the estate.”

“On what grounds?” Deke demanded, stepping forward to place himself between Roux and the new captain. “She’s not going anywhere.”

“Neither is she,” Peter added, taking Abby’s hand when Lynk sat her on the ground, pulling the petite female behind him. “They’ve done nothing wrong.”

“In my experience, people who sneak around have something to hide.” Turning her sea-blue eyes on Roux, Brianna lifted her upper lip and snarled. “Who are you, human?”

“Go fuck yourself,” Roux answered evenly.

Deke groaned, but Peter chuckled at her outburst. Even Lynk had to cough to cover his snort of amusement. Roux hadn’t intended her comment to be funny. She didn’t quite know why yet, but she seriously disliked the bitch.

Several things happened in quick succession after that. The Warden behind Abby grabbed her, jerking her away from Peter, who in turn launched himself at the big, beefy werewolf. Another Warden tried to grab Roux, but she was ready for him. Leaning into Deke, she used him as leverage, pushing off his shoulders as she delivered a solid back kick to the vampire’s midsection. Snarling, Deke swiped at the other female Warden when she approached, his long, black claws catching her across the chest and shredding her shirt.

Roux turned just in time to see Captain McLemore point the barrel of her rifle at the back of Peter’s head. Before she could shout a warning or make a move to stop the woman, Brianna pulled the trigger.

Blood splattered the nearby guards, and Peter’s eyes widened sightlessly as he crumpled to the ground. The world stood still for a heartbeat, disbelief etched into the lines of every face, even the other Wardens. Then everything erupted into chaos.

Loud shouts, growls, and snarls rose up to echo off the buildings, but none as loud or tragic as Abby’s cries. Her wracking sobs sliced through Roux’s heart like a hot knife, but Roux wasn’t sad. There would be time to grieve, time to give into her pain. Right then, a pure, white-hot rage consumed her, and she wanted to make the bitch captain pay, make her hurt like she’d hurt Abby. Or better yet, put a bullet through her head like she’d done to Peter.

Bedlam erupted in the Square. Guns forgotten in favor of claws and fangs, Wardens and guards attacked one another with a terrifying ferocity. One Warden had Gabriel pinned to the ground by the throat while Lynk drove his fist into the vampire’s face who’d first tried to grab Roux. Deke battled it out with two royal guards at once, and Thea leapt at the other female Warden, tackling her to the ground where she slammed the woman’s head against the cobblestone street.

Only Captain McLemore hadn’t moved or relinquished her weapon. She stood in a classic shooter’s stance, one foot slightly in front of the other, shoulders relaxed, breathing even. Circling around the fight, Roux slipped the handgun from the waistband and crept toward the captain’s back. She’d intended to wound the woman, clip her in the shoulder or the knee. When Brianna swung her gun to the right, training her sights on Deke, all good intentions went out the window.

Sliding up behind the captain, Roux pressed the barrel of her gun to the base of the female’s skull and snarled. “Drop it.”

The crazy bitch actually laughed at her. “Who do you think can pull the trigger fas—”

The 9mm discharged with minimum kickback, effectively silencing Captain Brianna McLemore…permanently.

“You talk too much.”

Turning away from the sight of the captain’s blood spilling out onto the street, Roux searched for Deke once more. She’d just found him—wounded and bleeding from the gut, but still standing—when a hand closed over her mouth, jerking her head back against a wall of hard muscle. Her assailant used his free hand to disarm her, squeezing the bones in her wrist until the gun fell from her numb fingers.