Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
The sky was painted with rich, dark blues and blacks, the stars glowing above our heads like diamonds. It was cold, but not a gust of wind blew. Everything was still, as if the city was holding its breath.
The distressing sensation flourished in my stomach like weeds, wrapping and killing off the joy I felt at seeing my family. Hope was suffocated by my growing fear.
“Killian?” I whispered his name in the dark, knowing he could hear and feel the anxiety in my voice.
He turned to me, his eyes meeting mine. The slightest movement of his chin was enough for me to recognize he felt the same, his gaze darting around with wariness.
Humans could feel magic, the air thicker with electricity, but this was different.
It dug into my gut, itching from the inside out.
Calling and repelling. Familiar but strange.
The uneasiness skated over my nerves, bending them into kinks. “What is it?” I asked.
His teeth were set, his senses alert. “I don’t know.” His brow wrinkled with annoyance. “And there’s not much I don’t know.” His hand reached for me, hastening me along. “Let’s hurry.”
When the Lord of the Fae tells you to hurry because something is unsettling him, you fuckin’ hurry.
We got back to Carnal Row quickly. I had no idea what day it was, but there was never a time it was not flooded with people and debauchery.
But tonight, it was almost a ghost town.
There were only a handful of people in the clubs or loitering in the streets.
It was as if everyone experienced the same uneasiness, instinctively seeking safety.
My stomach rolled with fear. An omen hung over the still night sky as Killian and I ran up the steps of Kitty’s.
Many of Kitty’s girls and guys were milling around the main room, restless and muttering loudly among themselves, everyone feeling the strange energy descending on the city.
“Luv.” Rosie broke away from the crowd, coming up to me, her hand taking mine. “Glad you are back.”
“Have you seen Warwick?” I asked, peering around, seeing Kitty in the background.
“No.” Rosie shook her head. “I haven’t seen him.”
My nerves bundled tighter.
“Do you know what’s going on?” She peered around, her eyes landing on Killian before turning away. “All the fae workers are freaking out, and even I feel something is off.” She shivered.
“No.” I pressed her hand in mine before letting go. “But I think everyone should stay inside tonight and lay low.”
“Sweetheart, lying low is what I do every night.” She winked, trying to be playful, but we were all too on edge for jokes.
Killian huffed through his nose, irritation adjusting his stance behind me.
“Is it a problem for you, Lord?” Her voice was sweet, but thick with contempt. “Too unbecoming for a human whore to say? Did I not flounce or overact it enough?”
He glared at her. She glared back.
“If you see Warwick, let him know we’re up in the room.” I grabbed Killian’s jacket, leading him toward the stairs, wanting to part them before it got uglier.
“I will,” Rosie responded.
Once on the top floor, we entered the room. Sloane was pacing back and forth.
“Az istenit!” Sloane pitched for us, his gaze moving over Killian, assessing his boss was all in one piece.
I couldn’t imagine it easy for Sloane to let Killian go without him.
His duty was to protect him at all costs.
He already lost two of his comrades under his watch.
“About time! I was about two seconds away from hunting you down.” He bristled.
“We’re fine,” Killian assured him, his eyes darting to the box still on the bar. Exactly where we left it. Safe.
“Something’s going on. There is an odd energy.” Sloane’s hand ran over his weapon on his hip.
“I know,” Killian replied quietly as I strolled over to the bar, my pulse tapping in my ears, my fingers grazing over the top of the box.
When I was a child, my father gave me one thing of my mother’s.
A tiny jewelry box with a ring inside she had worn.
Young and careless, I lost the ring. I had been devastated.
I wished for it back over and over and never stopped going to the box, hoping when I opened it this time, it would magically be inside again.
The nectar’s power was like the ring. Even if your brain told you it wouldn’t be there, and you felt the stab through the thin layer of belief you held, you had that moment of suspended hope.
I lifted the top, the solidified honey substance laying in the middle. Staring at it, my head tilted, blinking to clear my vision. Was it slightly brighter? My mind was probably trying to see something there wasn’t. A trick of the light. My own desperate hope coloring my eyesight.
Something prickled at my skin right before the door swung open. Killian, Sloane, and I reeled as Warwick and Ash barreled in.
Warwick’s eyes found mine, assessing and running over me.
“We need to run.”
His words made me falter.
The wolf, the legend, looked at me with alarm. He had never run from anything in his life, diving headfirst into death and carnage. His weighted stare told me running was the only option . . . to protect me.
“What?” I dropped the lid of the box, rushing to him and Ash. “What’s going on?”
“How many men does HDF have?” Warwick’s almost demanding tone jumbled my anxiety even more. “Trained soldiers?”
“Oh, umm . . . several hundred, maybe. Over three hundred, including the men behind a desk who have been trained as well. But counting classes not yet graduated, probably four to five hundred, max. Why?”
Ash and Warwick shared a look.
“What the fuck is going on, Farkas?” Killian came up next to me.
“There are over a thousand soldiers out there,” Ash spoke for Warwick, jerking our heads.
“Over a thousand?” I bellowed. “There’s no way. We barely have over a thousand people in Léopold, which counts everyone, including kids.”
“Well, they’re there, and . . .” Ash tapered off.
“What?” Killian grumbled.
“Something’s off.”
“Yeah, we know, there’s a thousand soldiers coming for us.” I flayed my arms.
“No.” Ash shook his head, his bright green eyes zeroing in on me deliberately. “There is something wrong with them.”
Inhaling so sharply it hurt, panic started to ripple off me. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t describe it. Aggressive, but very robotic. Controlled monsters.”
I whirled to Killian, our minds going to the same place. “Have you—”
“No!” He shook his head. “I stopped all experiments not long after you left. It became pointless. None survived, except you. In a rage, I destroyed all of it.”
“Right,” Warwick growled, getting into Killian’s face. “I haven’t had time to thank you for drugging and almost killing my mate.” He shoved at Killian.
My body stilled.
I blinked at the same time Ash echoed my thoughts.
“Whoa, hold on. Did you say mate?” His mouth opened in shock, but a gleeful smirk lit up his eyes. “Just want to confirm I heard you right.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Me too.”
Warwick rolled his head toward us, giving us an annoyed look.
“Right. Not the time.” I waved my hand. “But we are revisiting it.”
“We get through this, princess,” Warwick rumbled, his eyes heavy on me. “We can revisit it as many times as you want.” His sexual implication was clear.
Killian elbowed Warwick, straightening his shirt. “This has nothing to do with me. Plus, all those I tested could never be trusted out of a cage. They were unpredictable. More feral animal than soldier.”
I thought of the woman trying to attack me through the cage, her teeth bared, her eyes wild and empty at the same time.
I was pretty sure she would have broken every bone and crushed her own head to slip through the bars to kill me.
Much more a wild animal than you’d see dressed in a uniform, holding a gun.
“Dr. Karl said they had improved the formula.” I centered on Ash, the only one who saw what I had.
“What scares me is it didn’t sound like they weren’t stopping there. They were hinting at something even grander.”
Like pumping fae essence straight into humans.
Istvan was a scrupulous man. He would have strategies in place until his main plan, the nectar, came to fruition. He became the leader of HDF for a reason, and even if they were humans, my father, Andris, and Istvan had won many battles because of their meticulous tactics.
“We can’t stay here.” Warwick moved to the bar, grabbing the box and stuffing it into the pack already on my back, next to the fae book.
“Actually, it sounds safer to stay here if they are flooding the streets.” Killian motioned to the outside.
“They are breaking down every door searching for us.” Warwick bristled. “I will not put these people in danger. Not to protect us.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Kitty has too much to lose and has already risked a lot for us. I will not be the reason these people are hurt.”
“And it only takes one to let it slip that we’re here,” Ash piped in, his gaze sliding to Warwick. “One who might be a little pissed and vengeful.”
I tilted my head at Warwick. He grumbled under his breath.
“What am I missing?” I asked.
“Seems a certain siren was a wee bit peeved he turned her down, several times, and kicked her out of his room.” Ash winked at me.
I won’t lie. The elation I felt hearing that made me want to rip off his clothes right here and show him.
“Can we fuckin’ focus?” Warwick barked. “We need to get out of here. Slip south through the city. After that . . .”
“We can hide out in my safe house,” Killian declared. “It’s protected and spelled. We will be safe there.”
“Where Eliza and Simon are?” Warwick asked.
“Yes,” Killian answered. “In the Gerecse Mountains. You will need me to get past the barriers and find it.”
Warwick flicked his chin. “Guess you live another day, fairy.”
Killian snorted.
“We need to find some kind of vehicle since you blew up mine,” Killian added.