No one saw him coming.
No one except me, tracking the man’s every footstep as he rushed up on the gathered Kings.
Shoot him first.
I cocked the bolt on my bow and let fly as the man in my sights squeezed the trigger.
The gunshot shattered the air. Bodies collided and crumpled.
In the carnage, I didn’t see who fell.
13
Cam
Thecrackof the gunshot battered my eardrums, shocking them so hard it felt as if the bullet had entered my brain.
I couldn’t tell if I’d moved before or after whichever motherfucker had pulled the trigger. All I knew was falling, tangled limbs and blood, and the pained grunt of the brother who tumbled down with me.
Rubi.Heart in my throat, I rolled on top of him, shielding him, but there were too many arms and legs in my way. Too much weight. My body felt like lead and the coppery tang of blood filled my nose.
There was pain too, in my ribs and my back, and panic seized my soul as the unwelcome sensation of a stranger’s skin against mine overwhelmed me.
Get it off. I fought like a wild animal, throwing the weight from my torso. My hands squelched in the bloodied dirt beneath me and I reared up, fist clenched, arm drawn back to strike.
Saint caught me. “Easy. It’s me.”
I shoved him, breathing hard.
He stood his ground, holding my gaze as if he could will me to calm the fuck down with his wild green eyes.
Apparently he could. Perspective returned to me and Saint let me go.
Nash replaced him in front of me and I latched onto my VP’s levelheadedness as I took stock of the reality I found myself in.
A body lay face down on the ground at my feet, blood pooling around it. Dressed all in black, the man was wearing the wrong clothes to be one of us, and for a heart-stopping moment, my brain gifted me the memory of the last person I’d seen in black jeans and a North Face jacket.
Alexei.
It made no fucking sense, but the shaking sensation gripping my chest had only ever happened in his presence, and a fresh wave of panic sent me to my knees.
I gripped the black jacket and yanked the body over, bracing myself for the worst despite the fact that I could think of no reason, logical or otherwise, for Alexei to be dead at my feet.
A dull face stared back at me, eyes fixed and blank. Colourless, not blue or green or grey. Complete with a crossbow bolt through his skull, the dude was the deadest motherfucker I’d ever seen. “Jesusfuck.”
As the murmured curse left my lips, the gravity of what the hell had just happened descended. I barked orders and we fanned out, keeping low and moving fast, scanning the area for further threats. In the distance, a bike roared away. Crows crawling back to their fucking pit. I’d deal with them later.
Mateo took point, covering ground with swift feet, Nash and Embry sweeping behind him, soldiers covering their backs.
Saint stuck close to me, and I kept Rubi between us, steadying him as he wavered from the hit he’d taken to protect Nash, keeping him on his feet as he doubled over and puked.Fuck.We were sitting ducks here, the pipes and hammers we’d brought to the fight no protection against an unseen enemy with a goddamn crossbow.
Or a gun.
Saint scooped the pistol from the ground—a replica that had been converted to fire live rounds. He dangled it from one finger—aglovedfinger—as whatever happened, he’d be disposing of a body tonight, his moody face as grim as I’d ever seen. “Another distraction. Good job you got a guardian angel.”
“That’s what you’re taking from this?”
He nodded.
