Chapter Thirty-One
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RAHAB’S TEMPER WASsimmering as he took his walky-talky out of his suit pocket.“This is your commander,” he said to the seventeen other remaining soldiers who’d sired cambions.They had their own channel for him to communicate with them on.One of their guards monitored and used the other channel his men utilized.“Meet me at the gym in five minutes,” he ordered.“Tell your guards to wait where they are until you return.”They would be able to make it back in time even if they’d been scattered all over the other four boroughs.
Xathan was already waiting for him when Rahab entered the gym.He’d opted to have the meeting there because it was larger than the lobby of their base.“Lord,” his hairless advisor said in cautious greeting.
“Xathan,” Rahab said curtly, then added a temporary ward to hide their presence.
Phul was the next to arrive.He entered, gave his leader the same wary look as Xathan and stood at attention.The rest arrived within the five-minute deadline.Lachial arched a pale blond eyebrow at the second in command.Phul shook his head to indicate he didn’t know what was going on.
“Do any of you have any updates about your search to locate your offspring?”Rahab asked.
Ornias raised his hand.“I do, Lord,” he said, still scowling at the brief glimpse he’d had of his progeny.“Kochab teleported her directly in front of my team,” he reported.“He teleported away again before we had time to react.”
“How unfortunate,” Vetis said with a smirk.“We’ll all have to move quickly to snare our younglings before our enemies can whisk them away from us.”
“I’m beginning to wonder how any of you can possibly capture your cambions,” Rahab snarled.“You can’t even find eleven escaped humans.”Vetis made his face go blank, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut for once.“It’s been six days since GG and her friends ran away,” their commander went on, pacing up and down near the front counter.They were scattered between the gym equipment that had been rearranged to Rahab’s liking.
Phul had been dreading this moment, but he had to speak up.“Lord, if I may?”he asked.
Rahab spun around to face him.“By all means, Phul,” their leader said.“Tell us all your insights into why you’re all incapable of locating my female!”He was roaring by the end of his sentence.It was just as well he’d muted the building after warding it.
Phul winced, but he didn’t cower away.“As you said, it’s been six days since GG and the other women left,” he said.“I believe Fate is behind this.She’s shielded them from us.They’re probably halfway across the country by now.I believe we’re wasting our time searching for them.”
The veins in Rahab’s neck stood out as his fury increased even more.He was speechless with anger that his second would dare question his orders.
“Phul may be right, Lord,” Xathan said, bravely meeting his leader’s glowing scarlet eyes.It was a sign he was about to explode again.“Fate has always been manipulative and sneaky,” he continued.“I think she orchestrated all of this to distract us from our true task of finding our offspring.”
That was enough to give Rahab pause.He scanned his men’s faces and saw they were all in agreement.Anarchy had chosen them all to sire their progeny for reasons Rahab couldn’t begin to understand.Most were no different from the rest of the soldiers.Lachial and Vetis were particularly vicious.Xathan being chosen still baffled him, since he was physically inferior to the others.Fate had obviously interfered with the women he and his men chose to procreate with.She’d planned all of this long in advance to work in Order’s favor.
“You could be right,” he said, stunning them by controlling his emotions.“Fate is behind this.If I’m meant to finish my personal business with GG, then she’ll turn up eventually.For now, we need to focus on locating our spawn.”
Xathan pinched his lips together.His commander had once again taken his words and twisted them to make it seem like this was his idea.He knew better than to point out that he’d just said that exact same thing.
“We would have located the cambions if they were in Manhattan by now,” Rahab went on.He resumed pacing, but his stride was thoughtful rather than manic.“We need to concentrate our search on the other boroughs.I assume you have a plan, Xathan?”
