“It’s Allison again. She’s targeting us, using these kidnappings to bait us.” Her fury crackled down our matebond. There was a ripple of guilt with it. “To bait me. I did something that must’ve really pissed her off.”
“No,” I cut in. “Don’t do that, Rune. This is that bitch’s fault. Not yours.”
Still, the weight pressed into both of us. The matebond was heavy with frustration from all of us.
“Trail goes cold,” Tobias updated us through the comms.
“No additional evidence here, either,” Kane muttered.
Another fucking trail gone cold.
Our comms crackled again, and Jesper’s voice came through sharply. “…We have another kidnapping.”
My gut twisted.
“A demon this time,” Jesper continued. “Taken from the Demon Capital.”
“They’re escalating,” I muttered.
“No,” Rune whispered. “They’re trying to make us declare war.”
“Let me guess.” Slater let out a hissed breath. “I know them?”
“Their last name is Fester…Cole Fester,” Jesper answered.
“Motherfucker,”he muttered. “I know him. He went to the reform academy with my brother…he’s a decent demon who had a fucked up family life.”
Great…another fucking supernatural taken because theyknewus.
drecken
. . .
I satat the Supernatural Council’s meeting table once again, staring at the holographic projection of the Human Council flickering above the polished surface. This was becoming routine in the worst possible way.
To maintain the peace treaty, we met every half-decade. After this madness, I’d had enough of the Human Council for the next century.
Rowan exhaled a slow plume of smoke, fingers laced together as he leaned forward, fiery eyes locked on Evelyn Smith. His posture alone said he’d run out of patience three meetings ago, and I agreed with him.
“We agree to provide our agents and resources to help with your war against the Human Resistance Network,” Rowan gritted out, flames spreading over his arms. “We intend to dismantle them. They are the ones responsible for the supernatural kidnappings. Our people are being taken rapidly. We won’t sit idly by while you try to figure out their location to do something.”
Relief rippled across Evelyn’s exhausted features. “Thank you.Truly. We didn’t know if?—”
“We’re not doing this for your benefit,” I snapped, my magic spiraling in ribbons of color around me. “We’re doing it becauseour peopleare disappearing.”
Her mouth shut instantly.
Fiona Carmichael, their liaison, cleared her throat. “We understand, and we’re prepared to offer full cooperation. We will send over our files, internal reports, recent surveillance, and everything we have after this meeting.”
“That hasssn’t been much ssso far,” Sabine muttered.
“We’re doing our best,” Evelyn defended herself weakly. “The Human Resistance Network is using military-level cloaking. They’ve infiltrated multiple government sectors?—”
“And you’re just now telling us?” Dante hissed.
Evelyn winced. “We don’t want war.”
“Then ssstop hiding information,” Sabine replied. “Your people are not the only onesss dying.”
