“Ah, you’re just jealous Samion makes them better than you.” The old woman smiled, brightening her entire face when she returned to Rae. “You love my Titus, I see it in your eyes. There’s a fire there.”
Warmth spread through Rae, cutting the earlier anger.
“I’m Ana,” she continued. “But you can call me Laolao.”
“Laolao,” Rae repeated. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
“I have waited so long for someone for my Titus. His soul is pure, just like my other boys.” She smiled at Axel. “Titus deserves a woman who will fight for him.”
Rae wanted to laugh, but couldn’t seem to make a sound, so Laolao patted her gently on the cheek.
“You’re so beautiful, you must give him beautiful babies!”
Axel seemed to choke on air. “Laolao!”
Rae dipped her head, skin burning as she returned to her seat. Hunter gave her a small smile just as the borrowed phone lit up, and determination tightened her stomach at the message.
Rise & Grind Coffee, back room. 5pm.
* * *
Rae climbed off the train at Camden Town at three minutes past five, already knowing Atlas would be waiting with a scowl. The coffee shop was directly outside the station, a line already forming to get inside. Pushing past the crowd, she walked through to the back, finding Atlas sitting behind a circular table with his back to the wall.
“Thanks for meeting me,” she said, not taking a seat. The room was private enough, with only beads separating their section to the main seating area. The coffee shop was busy, the noise loud enough to drown out their conversation.
“You carrying?” he asked, dark brow raised.
“Yes.” She knew there was no point in lying. “A gun.” She’d taken it from Titus’s room, finding an entire wardrobe full of weapons. She’d had to put it inside the back of her jeans, stealing a leather jacket from Titus to hide it. It drowned her, but hid the bulge of the gun beautifully.
“Why did you message me Rae? You’ve been flagged as AWOL, and Vivian’s having a fit. She’s doubled down on protection at the guild.”
“That’s why I asked to meet you, because I need to get back inside.”
His pupils swallowed his eyes, until they were entirely black with no whites. She hated when he did that, reminding her that he was a predator as old as time. “Stop it,” she said. “I’ve seen you puke because you drank too much alcohol from Winter’s blood, it’s hard to act tough after that.”
A thin circle of white appeared in his eyes, but he smiled. “She hadn’t told me she’d taken Acid.”
“That same night you were sobbing into your own sick.”
“Fucking hell, Rae.” He blinked, eyes returning to their dark brown. “What do you want?”
“I need help, Atlas. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
He leaned back in his chair, waiting. She explained everything she knew, from figuring out her brother had hired assassins, to Nathan, and then to their Guildmaster.
Atlas was uncharacteristically serious. “Would you go on the stand with your accusations? Knowing the consequences of slander within the Syndicate is punishable by death?”
“On the stand?”
He stood, his eyes passing over her shoulder. Rae tensed, reaching for her gun at the same time she turned. She held Titus’s gun at the stranger’s head, a man who didn’t even blink at a weapon an inch from his nose.
Atlas cleared his throat. “Rae, I would like you to meet Kyle.”
The man who was Kyle stared at her, silent. His hair was thick, a dark brown that brushed his brows, drawn together in a frown. A heavy band was tattooed around his throat. She’d seen it before, similar marks found on the slaves sold at the Troll Market, and it distracted her a second before she noticed his eyes.
Rae put space between them, but didn’t drop her gun.
His eyes were red.
