Page 26 of Guardian

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Manus stormed into the command center, fury coursing through every cell of his body.

“Fucking bastard!”

Logan had betrayed him. Hell, he’d betrayed not only their compound, but their entire race. And if he didn’t find him fast, Logan would pay for it with his life.

Manus marched to the computer console, where Pearce was working. “Anything?”

Behind him more people entered the command center. He knew that Aiden and Hamish, who’d helped with the clean-up at the psychic’s shop and apartment, had followed him. But now he saw Enya, the only female warrior in their compound, enter too.

“I got something,” Pearce said. “Not sure if it’ll help.”

“Can somebody fill me in on what’s going on here?” Enya asked and approached.

“Later,” Manus said and motioned to the computer. “What have you got? Where is Logan?”

“Well, I can tell you where his car is.” Pearce pointed to a map on the screen. “He parked it right outside the Greyhound station in Philadelphia. It’s still there. Somebody had better pick it up before it gets towed.”

“Yeah, later,” Manus said impatiently. “What about Logan?”

“I figured since he left his car outside the bus station, I’d start there. And bingo, a camera picked him up entering the ticket hall with a woman.”

“And then?”

Pearce swiveled in his seat. “How about you give me a little bit more information about what’s going on here. It’s kind of hard to figure out what he’s planning when you’ve only given me half the facts. What went down on your mission? Or is it too super-secret to tell even us?”

Manus looked back to where Aiden and Hamish were standing. They’d come to get him in Wilmington and helped dispose of the demon bodies, but he hadn’t told them much either, only that Logan had left with the woman.

“Ah, fuck confidentiality. I don’t know why Barclay bothered.” When he caught Aiden’s raised eyebrows, Manus shrugged. “Your father can be a pain in the butt sometimes.”

“You’re preaching to the converted,” Aiden said. “Now tell us what’s really going on. Logan wouldn’t just run from demons.”

“He wasn’t running from the demons. He was running from me.”

Enya let herself fall into a chair. “Well, this sounds like it’s going to be an interesting story.”

“What did you do to piss him off this time?” Hamish asked.

“I’m not the one at fault here.” Manus shook his head. “Logan didn’t follow the order the council gave us.”

“Could you be any more cryptic?” Pearce asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Manus tilted his head to the side, grimacing. “Fine. Here’s the deal. Logan and I were tasked with eliminating a psychic.”

Several gasps filled the room.

“Yeah, and before you all start talking at once, I’ll tell you what you need to know. The psychic, a woman named Winter Collins, is apparently unaware of her psychic abilities. She’s mentally unstable, and she displays drawings of her visions in her shop.” He motioned to Aiden and Hamish. “I mean, you saw it. We had to wipe down the runes she’d scribbled on the door frame with chalk. And the pictures she’d hung on the walls, we had to take them down. Anybody coming into her shop could see them. That’s probably how she drew the demons’ attention to herself.”

He sighed. “Anyway, Logan was supposed to go in and slip her the poison, kill her quickly. I was waiting in the car outside, and I saw the demons break in. I rushed after them as quickly as I could. And when I got there, Logan was fighting them, and the psychic was still alive. He hadn’t killed her.” He looked at his colleagues. “We fought the demons together. Killed them all except for one, who escaped through a vortex. But I knew they’d come back. We’d been lucky to defeat them at all without them snatching the psychic. So I figured, I’d do the deed myself, since Logan hadn’t managed to.”

Manus huffed angrily. “And what the fuck does he do when I’m about to slice her throat? The asshole attacks me! Me! And puts me in a chokehold until I lose consciousness.”

“Mmm,” Aiden hummed. “I don’t understand why he would do that. I mean, it was an order from the council. They voted, right?”

Manus nodded. “Five to four to eliminate the psychic.”

“Bit odd that they’d vote to kill her, when she could be of use to us,” Enya threw in.