My jaw flexed once. I recognized that Fates-damned chant. “Forgotten tongue.”
Raze’s expression was steady. “Can we kill them?”
“Do we have to?” Hawk muttered.
“We get the relic and book it.” Aura’s gaze was narrowed on the relic with wary curiosity. “We can’t stay long enough to fight.”
“Down the left,” Slater announced our next move as Snakey came back to him, coiling around his neck before fading out. “Shadows from the mountain will cover us that way, and we can slowly make our way toward the relic.”
“How?” Aura asked with a hint of fear in her tone. “It’s at the center of all those vampires.”
“Speed,” I answered. “We’ll have to swipe it and run.”
“They’re distracted,” Eleanor added. “Maybe Snakey can grab it for us?”
“He can.” Slater nodded.
“Beats a race against vampire speed,” Raze agreed.
“That’s what I was thinking,” I said.
“Well, we have vampire speed on our team, too.” Rune’s gaze met mine, and my heart did a flip—a fucking annoying feeling.
“I’m not leaving my squad behind,” I stated simply.
No fucking way.
“Worst-case scenario, overachiever?” She thinned her lips into a line.
“Fine. Last resort,” I grunted, but I knew I wouldn’t be the type of agent who left his squad behind to complete a mission if I could help it.
We slipped along the ice-covered rock, pressed flat, breath ghosting. The vampires’ chant thudding like a second pulse.
Their creepy camp opened below, filled with runes, smoke, and the stink of old blood.
One vampire stopped mid-step and sniffed the air.
“In here,” Lorian hissed, pointing toward a crack between two stone pillars.
We shoved into the crack without a second thought. There were ten bodies and not enough space, but we managed.
Rune’s spine hit the mountain, and somehow I ended up caging her in with Slater crammed tightly at my back.
“Don’t take advantage of your position with my mate,” Slater whispered, almost teasingly.
“Shut up.” My chest brushed Rune’s on the inhale, and I couldn’t help but feel the swell of her breasts.
Slater chuckled like he knew exactly what mental battle I was fighting.
Fuck.
I was too close.
“I’m kidding. It’s obvious you’ll be her mate, too. Take advantage as long as she’s willing,” he teased again.
“Slater,” she hissed as her eyes found mine. “Sorry, Dimitri.”
Our breaths mixed, warm against the knife-cold around us that I couldn’t even feel thanks to the warmth of her venom.
