A roar exploded from a dark corner, and the chained down supe flinched, whimpering. Focusing on the captive, I realized he looked like the picture Ezra had sent me of Jeremy Delton. The kid's father was still alive… for now.
“Oh, don’t worry,” the old man cooed, smoothing his hair. “I’m going to make you better. Faster. Just like you wanted.” He called over his shoulder, “Nyx!”
A syringe floated toward him, green liquid swirling inside. Air mage. Of course.
Before he could inject the supe, another voice cut through the room, soft, velvety, and colder than metal left in snow.
“Doc. We’ve got company.”
Shit.
Holding my hand out to the guys, I signaled for them to stay put. Maybe I could buy us enough time to wait for the right moment to strike, but I had to know what I was dealing with first.
Stepping into the doorway with a feral grin, I lifted my hands toward him. “Doctor! I’ve been dying to get an appointment.”
He turned slowly, tucking the syringe into his coat pocket as he faced me like an old friend. “Nova Rossey! If I’d known, I might have made the place more… presentable.” He made a show of looking around before laughing hard.
He looked normal enough, but the magic clinging to him was wrong, twisted. His eyes glowed neon purple, and the corrupted air around him shivered.
“Nyx,” he purred, “welcome our guest.”
A cloaked figure slid out of the shadows. A slim hand lifted. Fingers flicked. The air tightened, sucked inward, forming a spear of compressed wind that shot toward me.
The magic was fast. Sharp. Clean. But Riot had trained me better.
I waited for a heartbeat, a single breath, letting it get dangerously close so she wouldn’t be able to redirect it, then I dropped and rolled. The spear sliced the air where my ribs had been.
By the time I rose, the mage was staring at me, the hood thrown back. Her cherry red hair spilled onto her shoulders, and her face was contorted with pure disgust.
“That should’ve obliterated you,” she hissed.
I licked my teeth and smiled, slow and wicked. “Yeah, well… I’m Syndicate. I’m not that easy to kill.”
Frustration rolling off her in hot waves, the air mage exhaled hard through her nose, a dragon ready to blow fire. It was the doctor who spoke first, his voice syrup-sweet and filled with delusion.
“You know it’s futile to try to stop us.”
He lifted his phone, eyes swirling with manic purpose. “Even if you kill us all today, I can send the corrected formula to him.He’ll make more doses.Thousands. When the time’s right… Boom!”
He dragged his tongue around his lips in one long, gross circle. My stomach clenched, not from fear, but from disgust. I’d lived with psychos. Been raised by psychos. But this guy? This guy made my skin want to crawl off my bones just to get away from the way helookedat me.
“Come with us,” he whispered.
Nyx, the air mage, jerked her head toward him, eyes wide, mouth half open in protest, but he ignored her. His attention was locked on me like I was the final piece to his fucked-up puzzle.
“We could use your strength,” he coaxed, stepping closer. “Join the winning side. Our master seeks a partner… someone worthy to stand with him. To carry his seed. To birth a superior race.”
My smile didn’t reach my eyes. “Is that what he’s doing? And who ishe, exactly?”
A feverish gleam spread across his face as I stepped closer. “Why tell you,” he purred, “when we can take you to him? Much clearer when seen up close.”
He grabbed my arm and yanked me closer, which was exactly what I wanted.
I softened everything—my eyes, jaw, the tension in my shoulders—trying to make myself look harmless. Curious. “Is he like you?” I asked, my voice feather-soft.
His gaze swept over me, that oily magic that was and wasn’t his caressing my skin like a sticky hand, touching everything it could. His pupils dilated, greedy and bright. “You’re alreadya perfect specimen,” he murmured, “but I can improve you. Strengthen your limbs. Enhance you beyond imagination.”
My hands slid up his cheeks and cupped his face, looking deep into those bright lavender eyes. “I hoped,” I said, sweet as poison, “for eyes like these.”
