Lance grunted. “We’ve got pensions.”
“And I’ll be using mine formyfamily,” Jon replied. “Jenna’s apartment is too small and too vulnerable, obviously. Plus, she might need help affording repairs to her bakery.”
Lance didn’t bother biting back his grin. “From perpetual bachelor to family man in like a week, huh? I’m impressed.” He waited for the audible cue of Jon’s frustration, then continued. “Of course, I don’t want your money. I earned my own.” Granted, unlike Jon, he had not come into an unexpected inheritance. But that was fine. “We’ll figure something out ‘til the business is up and running.”
Jon sighed. “And you think she’ll be interested?”
“I think it’d suit her way better than a stuffy hospital.”
“Hm.” Jon shifted his weight. “Talk to her about it, then. Later.”
Lance let his gaze turn to the side, moving more directly to the hard-to-miss bird of prey that perched on a mostly barren tree limb a few yards away. “You noticed it, too, then?”
“That’s fucking offensive.”
Lance grinned. “If Pretty Boy’s connected to these birds he keeps taunting us with, he’s probably figured out that some of us have our own gifts.”
“Doesn’t mean he knows what’s coming.”
“But do we?” Lance frowned as he tried to imagine what other tricks might be correlated with the ability they’d witnessed. They hadn’t witnessed much, though, and that made it difficult.
“We know how to figure it out,” Jon replied. Then, finally, he raised his voice for the others. “Listen up. Our target’s still in the area and our mission’s still not done.”
Alex looked over at them. “You mean you don’t think that bird’s watching us for shits and giggles?”
Foxe snorted.
Lynn sat back on her heels. “Billy’s ready to move, but he’s out of commission as far as combat goes.”
Jon nodded. “Then we get moving. If we hustle, we can catch up to Pretty Bird before he realizes he’s overplayed his hand.”
“I can still shoot,” Billy protested, voice strained.
Lynn moved aside to allow someone else to help Billy up, simultaneously brushing off her skirt. “Ahandgun, maybe. And that would still be heavily ill-advised.”
Without warning, the bird that had been watching them let out a splitting screech and dove off its branch. Aimed straight at Lynnette.
Herb and Alex moved, guns raising, but their reactions would be too slow.
Jenna let out a startled cry.
Lance processed the sight of water rising up off the ground in slow-motion in his peripheral vision, but he was already moving. They didn’t know how precise their enemy’s control over these birds was. They didn’t know for certain if the birds could be jarred free. What theydidknow was that the bastard had his sights set on Jenna, for some reason, and Lynn had pissed him off in the process of being a damn good friend.
Lance’s boots dug into the dirt as he came to a sudden stop directly between his girl and the descending bird, and he snapped out a hand, electricity still crackling around his body even as his fingers curled into the creature’s feathers. Of course, regardless of influence, it was still a wild predatorial raptor. The creature did not appreciate his capture of it.
The bird squawked fiercely and thrashed in his hold, spreading its wings like it could fly from the hand clenched around its torso. It tried gouging out the underside of his arm with one nasty talon, but succeeded only in scraping the edge of his skin.
Herb muttered something too low to be heard over the commotion.
Lance glared at the creature. “Nothin’ personal.” He let a trickle of power arc from his fingers, slicing it into the bird’s system like an invisible knife, and with a final strain of resistance the poor thing went limp. He relaxed his grip and knelt to set the sleeping bird on the ground without further damage.
“Did you…?” Jenna’s question was soft and hesitant, like she wanted to know but also didn’t.
“No,” Lance replied. “Just stunned it.” What he didn’t articulate was that the choice had been a test. If Pretty Bird’s control ran so deep that the bird continued moving anyway, they’d have learned something new. And then he would have had no choice. He turned to study the woman whose perfect face had been on the verge of being clawed out by the possessed raptor. “You okay, sweetheart?”
She raised both brows at him like he was being ridiculous. “It seems my boyfriend can leap moderate distances in a single bound, so yes, I’m fine.”
His friends laughed.
