Chapter Thirteen
Nial
“Ze, Nial, get up. You have to get out of here!”
I woke up to the sound of shouting, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. The whole place looked strangely foggy, and I was having a hard time breathing.
“Nial, get your ass over here, I have to get you out of here.”
Sallyann slapped my hands away from my eyes and grabbed them to haul me out of the bed. She waved her hands, and I was suddenly wearing jeans, flannel shirt, thick socks, and boots. She then pulled Ze up next to me and dressed him in the same thing.
“You two hold my hands and close your eyes. I don’t need you puking on me tonight.”
I did as she said and the next thing I knew I was outside the cabin, squatting behind a strange SUV in the driveway. There were two men dressed in fatigues standing by the house, and one was aiming some sort of weapon at one the few windows that weren’t already broken.
“Be sure you get every room. I want them smoked out quick. I know that asshole detective’s team has some connections and they may already know we’re here. We’ve got to retrieve the freak and get out of here before they know what’s up.”
A chill ran through me when I realized what was going on. Somehow the Syndicate had found me. They were here to take me in for who knows what. If it hadn’t been for Sallyann, they probably would have succeeded. I was too afraid to speak, so I just stayed there, watching them destroy our beautiful sanctuary. All of the memories we had made over the last few weeks were gone in the smoke and broken glass.
“There’s no movement in the house, sir. Are you sure this is the right place?” The second guy finally asked. He set his smoke grenade launcher down and looked around the driveway and surrounding woods like something was going to jump out at him any second.
“The freak’s brother swore this was the address he stole from the dad. He’s here. He’s just being stubborn. I think we need a little more incentive.”
My brother?
My mind spun with the possibility that Gabe, my very own flesh and blood, could have sold me out to the Syndicate. Ze moved to the side, meaning to confront the men, but Sallyann stopped him.
“No, Ze, you can’t. I removed all trace that you two have been here. If you go out there, they’ll know that his brother gave them good information. Don’t do it. If they think he lied to them, then it’ll be all the better for Nial. They might think he lied about everything and back off.”
Right when she stopped speaking, the guy who seemed to be in charge picked up his own weapon, but instead of smoke grenades, his were filled with the exploding kind. The rear of that beautiful cabin exploded in a magnificent ball of fire and splinters. My heart hurt at the loss of such a beautiful piece of architecture, but I was thankful not to have been inside when it went off.
Sallyann tapped me on my shoulder and motioned for me to follow her into the woods behind the SUV. Ze followed right behind me. We walked for a few miles, trying to be as quiet as possible, until we had gotten to the other side of the mountain top and another road. A truck was parked to the side of the road, and as we approached, it flashed its lights in a series of blinks, and Ze visibly relaxed and went around to the driver’s side and was greeted by Luke with a big hug. My magic didn’t like that and wanted to lash out, but I knew they had been friends and teammates for years. I chalked it up to new mate jealousy.
“Y’all hop in, we need to get you guys out of here. Sallyann could only take the two of you a short distance before she needed to recharge her juices.”
“Juices, my ass, tigerlily. I just can’t take that many bodies a long distance. I’m fine now. I’m going to pop back to headquarters and tell Daddy Rourke his suspicions were confirmed. I don’t know how Eugene does his thing, but I love it when he’s so right on the money. I’ll see you cats later. See what I did there? You’re all cats.”
She didn’t wait to see the eye rolls in the thin dawn light that was just beginning to filter through the trees. I had heard several things tonight that were very concerning, but honestly, I was just glad that my mate and I were safe for now. I had no idea where headquarters was or what the next step in my life would be. But as long as I had Ze beside me, I could endure it all.
We all hopped into the truck. Ze put me in the middle, and I curled into him for the long ride to wherever we were going. I slept on and off the whole time, so when we finally arrived back at my da’s house, I was beyond shocked.
“Why are we back here? Is it safe?”
Luke pulled up in the front and shut off the engine, then pulled a remote from the dash and hit a button. All of a sudden a surge of magic swept through me and seemed to extend out in a wave, then a dome to cover the entire property.
“What the fuck was that?”
Ze took the words right out of my mouth.
“We have a new team member. He’s a Mage, like Nial, but he’s much older and knows how the fuck to do all kinds of things, including creating this force field around the property. I don’t know how to tell you guys this, but the Syndicate has declared war on your dad, Nial. He’s their number one target and the powers that be have decided that our new joint task force is going to stay here for now and help him continue his work. We’re also his protection detail when he needs us. But for now, we’re all roomies.”
He hopped out of the truck and sauntered past Geordie who had come out to say hello. Luke was going to ignore him, but Geordie grabbed his arm and forced him to spin around. Luke looked sad for a minute, then he threw on a mask and pretended to listen to Geordie before walking away again.
As we exited the truck cab and Geordie came toward us, a new face rounded the corner of the house and headed for us, too. He was short and slender, with deep brown eyes and auburn hair that shone in the sunlight. He had a slight spring in his step as he came up to us with a smile in his eyes and on his lips.
“Hey, y’all, I’m Jimmy Thorne, but everyone calls me Thorne. You must be Ze and Nial. It’s great to finally meet you. I’ve heard tons about you two from Kane.”
Wait, what?
