Page 49 of Warrior Unraveled

Aiden shrugged. “The part about you helping the demons, maybe. But when my dad said that Virginia was believed to be dead and that you might have killed her, I knew he was wrong.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “You wouldn’t kill the woman whose pants you want to get into, right?”

“Right.” Even though right now he was a tad pissed at the woman whose pants he’d already been in, because she was treating him like he meant nothing to her. But that was none of Aiden’s business. He’d deal with that later.

Hamish showed up as promised and joined them in the command center only ten minutes later—without Tessa. He’d taken her to check on Leila in case she needed anything. Pearce sat at the console, keeping an eye on the messages that popped up on various screens. Aiden had pulled several chairs around the console for everyone to sit, but Wes hopped on a desk and sat there instead, while Virginia leaned against it, keeping her distance from him as if she didn’t want to get too close.

“Okay, let me give you the basics,” Virginia started and launched into a retelling of their ordeal in the Underworld, including how they’d escaped, but excluding what had happened later at the motel.

Once or twice a guardian interrupted her to clarify some part of the story, but for the most part all of them listened intently, soaking up every single word. After a lot of head shaking, exclamations of admiration, and a considerable amount of cursing, Virginia had the other guardians up to speed on the events that took place in the demons’ lair.

For a moment there was silence. Then Aiden said, “I remember hearing Zoltan’s thoughts in the vortex when we were rescuing Leila. It’s exactly how you described it.”

“I read the report a while ago,” Virginia said, “but I didn’t realize that was you.”

“Not that this knowledge has helped us in any way,” Aiden replied. “I think what Wes figured out is much more valuable.”

Wesley lifted his chin. “You mean my theory of how the lost portals came to be?”

Hamish pushed away from the console he’d been leaning against. “I found the first of the lost portals over a year ago. I’ve been trying to figure out ever since how they could have come into existence.” He looked at Virginia. “Counselor Robson, I’m sure you remember the stories from the Dark Days when many of our compounds were destroyed by not only demons, but also by human wars and natural disasters. I suspect that the old rocks that disguised the entrances to our portals were later reused by humans to build other structures: bridges, monuments, churches, warehouses.”

“That makes sense,” Wes said, “after all, quarried rock was hard to come by. People would have reused whatever they could, especially after a war.”

“We’ll have to inform the council members of this,” Virginia added.

“Doing it right now,” Pearce confirmed, punching away at his keyboard.

“Good. Now to something else: does the council have any suspicions as to how the demons were able to find and enter the compound?” Virginia asked.

“You mean other than that they believe Wesley led them there?” Manus shot back.

Logan jabbed him in the ribs and mouthed something unintelligible to him. “Sorry, we’re just all a bit on edge.”

“The council has no leads as of yet,” Pearce said, pointing to the computer screen. “But the other compounds have come up with plenty of theories.”

“Let me hear them,” Virginia demanded.

Pearce looked at the screen and started. “Betrayal by a council member.”

Virginia grunted.

“Been done, you know,” Aiden said.

Virginia motioned to Pearce. “Go on, what else?”

“A human mate being blackmailed by a demon. Torture of an emissarius. Betrayal by a guardian turned demon. Carelessness by a guardian traveling to the compound. Coincidence.”

“Coincidence?” Wes repeated, frowning.

Pearce shrugged. “A blind man may perchance hit the mark—if he takes aim often enough. Law of probability. The demons have been on our asses long enough.”

“Unrealistic,” Virginia said dismissively. “Any other theories?”

“What’s an emissarius?” Wes asked, recalling the word Pearce had thrown out earlier.

“A human who works for us, spies for us, keeps us abreast of anything important,” Aiden explained. “They know who we are, and they are loyal to us. But they wouldn’t be able to betray our compounds.”

“Why?”

“Because they don’t know where they’re located,” Virginia answered in Aiden’s stead.