Ethan catches Skye around the torso before the little eagle can run inside. Skye’s mouth is open wide, veins bulging in his neck, his face red and contorted. He shifts into his eagle form, causing Ethan to lose his grip, and the moment Skye gets free of his helmet and clothes he takes flight and heads for thewarehouse.
He must have wiggled out of the shield charm as well, because there’s no magical shimmer protecting him anymore. I can’t let him take that sort of risk, not when it’s far safer for me to go in. I shift and move to intercept him, blocking his flight path with my wing because catching him in my paw might risk injuring him.
His beak opens and he flaps at me, hovering in mid-air before attempting to find a way around me. I’m aware of people on the ground helping others to their feet, but most of my focus remains on him. I want to let him know that I’ll go in for Cal, but I know as soon as I turn around he’ll fly in anyway.
Fortunately it’s less than a minute later when Cal staggers from the destroyed warehouse carrying Nyoka in his arms, the vampire’s magical shield flickering and so weak it’s barely there. Fuck, if that blast had been any stronger…
I shift to biped form and join the pack and Doc P as they all rush over to Cal, including Skye who lands on the vampire’s shoulder and nuzzles him with his beak. Jet and Kit train their guns on the still-unconscious fae, although they both dart worried glances at Cal.
Cal’s mahogany skin is a sickly colour underneath the ash he’s covered in, and his balance is unsteady as he lays Nyoka down on the tarmac. Nyoka has a large, ugly hole punched through his chest and lifeless eyes.
Ayo stares at his dead cousin, his usually expressive face unreadable. Ethan puts his arm around Ayo and after a few seconds, Ayo turns his back.
Doc P makes Cal sit down. After a brief conversation between the two, Skye hops down from Cal’s shoulder, shifts, and thrusts his wrist in Cal’s face. Cal bites down without hesitation and starts feeding, his eyelids fluttering closed.
‘Is he okay?’ I ask Raj as Doc P returns to the rescued shifters.
Raj’s jaw is tight as he gives a sharp nod. ‘The idiot didn’t tell us he’s overdue for a feed, and his shield didn’t completely protect him from the blast. He’ll be fine once he’s hadsome blood.’
‘Thank fuck.’ I make a mental note to help Ayo tweak the parameters of the shield charms before future missions. ‘How did Nyoka wake up so fast?’
Raj grimaces. ‘The tranqs we’re using are fae-strength, so they’re too strong for magic-users and would have killed him. I didn’t realise Skye had knocked him out the old-fashioned way, but I should have. I should’ve been watching him more closely.’
‘It’s not your fault, or Cal’s, that he ran back into a burning building to escape capture. No one could have predicted he’d be that stupid.’
Raj nods, although he doesn’t look convinced. I think he’s more concerned about what could have happened to Cal than Nyoka’s death, of course. The mage certainly doesn’t deserve anyone’s pity.
It’s only then that any of us remember Idris. He’s now out of his car, and his wide-eyed gaze drifts from me to the many winged fae, before lingering on a completely naked Skye and the vampire feeding from him. Ethan signs a string of curses before striding over to the human who’s just discovered an entirely new world.
Chapter Twenty-Five
RAJ
‘I still can’t believe they were under our feet the entire time,’ I sign heavily.
Bryn is drawing circles on my knee with his finger. We’re sitting together under a tree overlooking the lake and the manor beyond, the afternoon sun glinting off the water, the bare branches above us starting to show the first glimpses of new life.
Yesterday was something of a success, with everyone rescued and the captured fae officially arrested once they awoke, at which point the London-based BSG Counter-Terrorism Unit took over. The fae involved will be questioned further and charged, with the CTU arranging secure imprisonment pending their trials. A copy of all the Far Out Freight data is being transferred to the CTU today, although it wouldn’t surprise me if Kit continues to search through it as well. Despite pulling an all-nighter when we arrested Lance, they didn’t find any digital evidence of weapons development, testing on the shifters, or even coded logs of weaponsshipments, and it’s still bothering them that they think they missed something.
Bryn is delighted to have the rest of his hoard back, which is now safely stored in the manor. None of my pack give a shit that it’s technically stealing, and there won’t be any legal repercussions because everything in Lance’s office will be officially listed as destroyed in the fire. Bryn’s already spent hours this morning polishing, tuning, and playing each of his basses in turn, and it was beautiful to see him so happy.
I can’t help feeling like I failed, though.
Bryn squeezes my knee before lifting his hands, his signs a lot calmer than I am inside. ‘You found the kidnapped shifters and put an end to the weapons manufacturing. You did your job well, treasure.’
I grimace. ‘Not fast enough. I could have saved those people a lot of trauma if I’d found them sooner.’
Not to mention put a much earlier halt to the development of that terrifying new weapon. Based on Bryn’s description this morning of how it felt when he was hooked up with the cables, Ayo thought that it might work by stealing the magic we use to shift. Nyoka’s involvement certainly backs that theory because of his history of similar experiments on magic-users, and we may know more once the rescued shifters have been questioned.
Magic isn’t something we can access the way Ayo can, but it’s a fundamental part of how we shift and without it we’d be limited to one form. There’s a part of me that’s still worried the weapon specs got sent out before the labs were destroyed in the fire, especially considering what Lance told Bryn about this not ending with him, but that part of the investigation is out of our hands now.
The CTU have requested that we do the initial questioning of the rescued shifters so that they can focus on the fae we arrested, with an agreement that we share everything we find out. We readily negotiated a reciprocal agreement becausewe still have unanswered questions—such as whether the fae ambassador knew about, or at least suspected, the illegal arms trafficking Far Out Freight were engaged in. We also want to know if this was connected in any way to the fae military organisation that kidnapped Zara several years ago.
‘Lance’s evil actions are not your fault,’ Bryn signs emphatically. ‘I’m sure your entire pack agrees with me.’
I manage a slight smile. It’s a variation on words Ethan has said to us many times after missions that didn’t go the way we’d hoped, and which he repeated last night. It’s also what I’d say to any of my pack if it was one of them in my position. It’s not easy to let go of the guilt, though.
‘I know. But next time you think something’s happened to your sister, tell me,’ I sign firmly.
