“My parents are in that psychopath’s hands!” Elijah argued. “If Echo hadn’t taken my blood, that bitch would have killed my mate!”
“That’s the kind of irrational bulldozing we don’t need right now.” Kiyo crossed his arms over his chest. “Fionn’s right. We’d be playing into her hands.”
“Well, we’re not just going to stand here and do nothing.” Echo glared at them one by one. They stared back, unflinching. She huffed. “Interesting how no one’s hurrying to do any saving because it’s not your people who have been taken.”
“We don’t need to be here, full stop,” Conall murmured dangerously. “Dinnae you forget that.”
“No, no, no.” Niamh stepped into the middle of the room, turning slowly to look at them all. “We will not fight among ourselves. Elijah and Echo are right. If it were Kiyo or Rose or Conall, we wouldn’t even blink before going in to save them.”
“Agreed.” Rose nodded, stepping up beside Niamh. “So, what do you suggest?”
“I saw something she doesn’t want me to see. There’s a large house on the other side of the estate where the compound is. She’ll be expecting us to attack the compound. But she’s at the house, and there are only two guards at either entrance. I say we go to the house and we take her out.” Niamh eyed Elijah and Echo. “Then we can save your family.”
Elijah nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“I need more details.” Fionn waved off Elijah’s coming objection. “I’m not leading us into an ambush. I want details of the house, where it is, who is guarding the entrances, and then we make a proper plan. Or we don’t do it at all.”
“I’m with Fionn,” Conall agreed. “We have a daughter we need to get back to. Thea and I are’nae throwing ourselves recklessly into anything. We go in with a plan, or we dinnae go.”
Echo squeezed Elijah’s hand again, sensing his fear-driven impatience. “That sounds fair.”
Her words soothed him somewhat. But Elijah would not feel settled until he knew his parents and Odette were safe.
32
She knewElijah wanted to rip the world apart to get his parents back, and it wasn’t that she didn’t feel a similar antsy anxiety over Odette and Margaret. However, Echo agreed with the others. Astra had almost killed her. She’d been too fast and too strong for Echo to stop, and if she hadn’t had Elijah’s blood in her system, she’d be dead.
They couldn’t take that risk with their family.
Emotionally and physically drained, she’d excused herself after a few hours of planning and bickering. She let herself into one of the guest rooms, and in its adjoining bathroom, she stared in the mirror at her bruises and cut lip. Usually, she didn’t bruise in a fight unless a supernatural had swung a punch. And usually the bruise didn’t last very long.
No one hit quite as hard as William.
He’d almost killed her.
He’d shoved a stake in her chest.
A crack drew her eyes down to the sink, and she realized she’d gripped the edges so tightly she’d pulled it away from the wall.
“Shit,” she murmured.
She looked into the mirror again to see Elijah entering the room and closing the door. His concern was palpable as he came up behind her and wound his arms around her waist.
Naturally, more naturally than Echo could ever have imagined, she leaned back into his embrace.
His gaze dropped to her cut lip. “Why aren’t you healing?”
“I am. It’s just a little slower. The fight with William took a lot out of me.”
“Here.” He raised his wrist to her mouth. “Drink.”
Her heart jumped at the offer, thirst and hunger roaring through her in instant response. Echo’s eyes silvered before she could control it. “Are you sure?”
At his silence, she found his eyes in the mirror and inhaled sharply. Elijah’s irises were glowing gold.
Like they did when he was turned on.
That was all the answer she needed. Echo cradled his wrist in both hands and brought it to her lips. She licked him first, feeling the throb of the large vein there against her tongue. Her incisors slid down, a burning ache forcing through her gums. Then they sliced through Elijah’s skin. His warm blood filled her mouth, and the pulling sensation caused a deep, low squeeze in her womb.
