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Kat’s wide-eyed gaze darted from Zee to Victor, then to me. He’d begun to realize he wasn’t getting out of this.
“All the people here working for Skrinde, raise your hands,” Victor said into the mic, using his voice. He could also see in the dark, so he had a great view of those who were here to harm us or others. “Drop your weapons.”
The clatter of weapons hitting the ground filled the club.
“Everyone working for Skrinde, kneel.”
The rustle of clothes sounded, and a pleasant little shiver ran through me.
“Ooh, I like this part.” Zee grinned, stepping back and letting Kat drop to his knees too.
“Remain in that position until I give you permission to move.”
“How long is that gonna be?” a meek voice called out.
Victor narrowed his glare on the speaker, and said, “Silence.” He stepped back from the mic and vanished. In his typically anticlimactic fashion, it was over. A few moments later, the club’s lights came back on, revealing at least fifteen people on their knees, with Skrinde hogtied and gagged in the middle of the club. So that was where Victor’s tie had gone.
After the nervousness eased, the music kicked in again and the crowd melted away, deciding now was probably a good time to head to a different bar, or home.
I returned to our table, and was soon joined by Victor and Zee.
“Sorry about Kat,” Zee grumbled, slotting himself in next to me while Victor sat opposite. “I’d say war changes people but he’s always been a flouncy fuck.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we were prepared.”
Zee and I both admired Victor for a moment, watching him lift his drink and take a sip. Power was intoxicating, and he had it in spades.
“I do believe the combined heat in your gazes has a slim chance of making me blush.”
“I’m just glad you’re on our side, Fancy McMurder Daddy.” Zee chuckled, reaching for his drink.
“It would not have been possible without Adam’s . . . intimate attention earlier.”
With a smirk, Zee reclined in the seat, dragging me with him. “Fancy words for Adam deep-throating your dick in the restroom, you kinky pair you.”
The club doors flew open from all sides—back and front—and a stream of armor-clad agents poured in and around Skrinde’s kneeling people, ignoring them and instead coming straight for me.
“By international order of the SSD, Adam Vex, you are hereby under arrest and must submit immediately or wards will be used to restrain you.”
Oh dear.
CHAPTER 17
“Yeah, we found them in the middle of some kind of weird ritual,” the arresting SSD Agent was saying into a phone. “Had some innocent trolls on their knees.”
“That’s not what was going on,” I tried to explain. But nobody appeared to care. The SSD raid was early, and this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. We weren’t the bad guys. But while Victor, Zee, and I were being escorted outside, toward the waiting warded vans, Skrinde and Kat stood nearby chatting with an agent, explaining how innocent they were.
We hadn’t yet been cuffed, but as we approached the vans, nearby agents readied pairs of cuffs for each of us.
“Call Agent Leomaris in San Francisco. They know what’s going on,” I urged.
The arresting agent took the phone away from his ear and looked me in the eyes. “Who do you think authorized this?”
My veins chilled, heart turning to ice.
Oh no.
My brother had gotten to Leomaris.
