My shoulders shook as I laughed.
The man watched me chortle, shaking his head and sighing as if he thought me adorable. He spoke firmly, “I’m moving on here, so pay attention.”
“I’m listening.” I wiped the moisture from my eyes, done laughing at him. “Where do I come into this plan?”
“You’ll be inside the building and will pretend to look at antique items. We expect him to hack into the building and cut the electricity, so if the lights go out, don’t be frightened. Shifters can still see everything in the dark. If he tries to kidnap you again, we’ll be on him.”
“How do I keep him from doing that?”
“You two talked a lot when you were captured. Try that approach again.”
I nodded. “I can do that.”
“Then when you’ve got his full attention, we’ll step in and take him down.”
“Don’t you want to interrogate him instead of killing him?” My brows puckered in confusion.
“I mean, we’ll capture him. We don’t plan to kill him. Our ultimate goal is to find out who he’s working for. We want the shifter who is fucking with mates.”
“I would have to agree with that wholeheartedly.” I shuddered. “I’d rather not have my soul taken.”
“Hopefully, when we catch Mr. Valentine, he will be able to tell us why his boss wants the souls. Since he helped create the spell, he has a real chance of knowing.”
“That sounds like an accurate assessment.”
Finn’s head of shiny white hair was magnificent in the afternoon light. “Do you have any questions about what you need to do?”
“Not right now. When we get there, I might though.”
“When we get home, I’ll show you a blueprint of the building so you know the exit strategies.”
“Thank you. That would be helpful.” I leaned against his arm and rested the side of my head against his shoulder. “Finn?”
“Yes?”
“I feelalivebeing your mate. Not just content or happy. Butalive.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I feel the same way.”
* * *
Godric threw his hands in the air, shouting frantically, “Those are not baseballs! Do not play catch with the grenades!”
I lifted the small ball Poppy and I had been tossing back and forth. My head tilted as I examined it. “It doesn’t look like a grenade.”
Finn sprinted over to my side, his eyes large on his handsome face. With delicate fingers, he extracted the grenade from my hand. “It’s the newest version. All you have to do is twist the top and the bottom in opposite directions to activate it. They are very temperamental.”
I cleared my throat as a blush stained my cheeks. “I didn’t know. Poppy and I apologize. We didn’t mean to frighten you two.”
Poppy marched over, her black boots clomping on the ground with irritation. “How much longer are you two going to be? Mina and I have already explored the entire place—twice. And believe me, she takes her sweet time looking at all this old stuff.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me. You were the one ogling all the guns.”
Instantly, Godric asked, “She didn’t steal one, did she?”
“No.” I shook my head.
My lips pinched, and I jerked my eyes away.
