"He went to Darius? Alone?" Jace asks, incredulous.
"We don't know. He's not answering," I say, the words scraping in my throat.
Then my phone buzzes and my heart leaps—please, let it be him.
I snatch it up, check the screen. My chest sinks.
"Unknown number," I mutter.
I swipe anyway. Photos.
My stomach lurches. Blood. Carnage. Too much to take in at once. I look away, then force myself back, because something about it feels familiar. And then I see him.
"Johnny…" The name slips out, ragged, unbelieving.
Before anyone can respond—
Crash.
Glass shatters inward, spraying shards.
"Asher!" I gasp, but he's already moving, his body slamming me to the floor, shielding me completely.
Then a hiss. Something detonates. Fumes.
Asher stiffens, coughs hard, and suddenly his weight crushes down on me as his body goes slack. Unconscious.
"Nightshade," I choke out, panic spiking. Weaponized. It has to be Darius.
The bar erupts—screams, chairs clattering, people stumbling in a blind rush for the door.
I claw at Asher, wriggling free from under him.
The front door crashes open. Figures pour in, half-masked, moving in formation.
Astrid's war cry tears through the smoke, raw and feral, and in the same breath her blade bursts into being, bright, lethal steel.
She's on the nearest attacker before he can blink. He fires, bullets tearing into her side, but she doesn't flinch. Her sword cleaves, and he staggers back.
Another soldier surges forward, blade drawn, and steel slams against steel, the clash reverberating through the room like thunder.
Chaos swallows everything.
A massive coyote launches into the fray, fur bristling, teeth bared. Jace. His howl cuts through the ringing of gunfire, savage and wild.
Gunshot—close. I whip around to see Winston braced with a shotgun, aiming at the intruders, eyes blazing.
Then a commanding voice cuts through the storm.
"Haaalt!"
It's a woman's voice. Firm. Sharp enough to slice the air.
The mercenaries hesitate, weapons raised.
And then I see her. A figure in black armor, crossbow raised, half-mask obscuring her face, but I recognize her. Darlene.
Her bolt is aimed at Asher.
