Chapter Fifteen
Marcus
All right.” Rob spreads his hands flat on the tabletop. He’s cleaned off the morning’s makeup, and his tight curls are held off his face with a black hair tie and, given the shine on the surface, a fair amount of product. “We need to come up with a plan.”
Nasir makes a noise halfway between a cough and a snarl. “We have a plan. We’ve studied their interior and exterior defenses, we know how much manpower they have, and once Tucker, Alec, and Fritz get here, we slip in, grab the diamond, and get out.”
Rob dismisses him before I can point out that it’s not much of a plan.
“That was our plan, yes, but that’s not how it’s going to go.”
“Why not?” Sonny’s tone is soft, like he saw how fast Rob shot Nasir down and is trying a different tactic.
“Because I’ve new information. Our good friend de Lisle will be visiting Prince tonight to make the purchase. With John on the inside, we’ll infiltrate, swap out the diamond for a fake, and get away before anyone figures out we’ve been there.”
Everyone around the table nods, like that skeleton of an idea amounts to something that’ll actually be successful.
Everyone but Nasir, who mutters, “Doesn’t leave us with any kind of backup.”
Rob‘s only response is a quick, sharp look that shuts Nasir right up. Me and Jen share a glance and the crease between her brows says she thinks they’re as insane as I do.
She’s got piles of dried plants laid out on the table that’ll somehow strengthen the wards, and if we were alone I’d tell her how glad I am that I’m not the only one who hasn’t been alive since the fourteenth century.
“Where are you going to get a fake diamond?” she asks.
Rob grins like he enjoys being challenged. “Will?”
“Working on it,” Will says. His finger is tracing a slow pattern on the tabletop, though I’m unsure whether it’s part of his magic or simple boredom.
“We also need to pull John out.” Nasir’s annoyance is obvious, but Rob just laughs.
“Of course,” he says.
My heart starts racing at the mention of John’s name.
Somehow he got tangled up with Prince’s security team, or at least he missed the planned rendezvous.
Rob has said more than once that he knows John is still alive, and for some weird reason I think he’s right.
My bones say John is alive, my gut says he’s in trouble, and the whole thing makes me want to crawl out of my skin.
I didn’t even get to give him a kiss goodbye, and I can’t decide if I’m an idiot for not making more of an effort or for wanting to in the first place. “How’s that going to work?” I ask, managing to keep most of my distress hidden away.
Rob grins and gives me a small nod, a signal he heard more than I intended him to. “Do you have any tracers, Nasir?”
“Three.”
“Coded to John’s signature?”
“Of course.”
“Good.” Rob inhales and lets the air go slowly.
As an indication of nerves, it’s not much.
It’s also the first time he’s looked less than completely sure of himself.
“Our friends at the Securitas are good about sharing their toys, Marcus. A tracer is a small device that, once given a target, propels itself through the air and drops a sensor so that we can then find who we’re looking for.
Unless they’ve already killed him, of course. ”
Unless they’ve killed him? WTF?
Rob continues like he hasn’t just said something outrageous. “Will brings his replica of the necklace and his bag of tricks, and once we find John, we’ll come up with assignments.”
“I’ll pack as much as I can,” Will says, “but Nasir should bring toys too.”
Nasir sits back in his chair. “We’ll need to go in armed, because in addition to Prince’s scions and whoever else owes him allegiance, de Lisle will bring his own crew.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from saying something inflammatory. Jen doesn’t have my self-control. “You know that those words you just said don’t amount to an actual plan, right?”
Lips tight like he’s either fighting a grin or a sharp retort, Rob simply nods at her.
“There are, what, five of you?”
“Four.” Rob answers. “Marcus stays here.”
She flips her hair out of her face, nostrils flaring as she inhales. “So four of you are going to sneak in without knowing where you’re going, what you’re going to do, or how many people you’re going to find when you get there? Sounds like a good way for four of you to get dead if you ask me.”
“We didn’t,” Sonny says. His eyes are so bright they’re almost white, and the tips of his fangs are visible. “We’ve done this before, you know.”
“Well, excuse me.” Jen stands, gathering her bundles of herbs. “I’ll just be outside strengthening the wards you’re not going to need once you’re dead.”
From the kitchen doorway, Cherie clears her throat. “I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, so anything you could do to prevent that would, uh, be very much appreciated.”
There’s a flash of . . . something between the two women, and Jen gives her a sharp nod. “Absolutely.”
Cherie’s broad face is pale except for bright spots of color on her cheeks. “Whatever y’all are up to, I’m not sure it’s worth any amount of money.”
Rob stands, his expression uncharacteristically sober. “You have my word, Cherie, that no harm will come to you or your home.”
“Great,” she says, with no change to her expression. “That and five dollars will get me a cup of coffee.”
“I’ll request backup from the Securitas for the time being.” Nasir’s already got his phone out and he’s tapping away at the screen. “They can keep an eye on this place until things calm down.”
“Don’t know what the fuck that means.” Cherie tosses her head like she can chase us all away with a glance. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen cooking dinner and getting ready to die.”
She whirls around and the door swings shut behind her. “Strong work, y’all,” Jen says, and she takes her herbs and leaves the room.
Meanwhile, I’m still stuck on Marcus stays here. “Why?”
Rob’s staring at the kitchen door like he can open it by the force of his gaze, and it’s Will who asks, “Why what?”
“Why do I have to stay here?”
Rob jerks, like my words have pulled him back into the room. “Because, as you and the witch have so accurately pointed out, we don’t have much of a plan, but the four of us have gone in with less and come out the other side. You, despite your many gifts, do not have that kind of experience.”
There’s a resignation to him, a sense that he half expects me to put up a fight.
I don’t.
“Guess I’ll entertain the dudes from the Securitas.”
He gives me a small bow. “And perhaps work on finding a way into de Lisle’s computer network.”
Oh yeah. The thing I was actually hired to do. “Sure.”
“We leave at dusk,” Rob says. “That gives us less than an hour.”
Between disappointment at being left behind and worry about John, I’m not hungry at all. Cherie comes out with a stack of plates and says, “I made lasagna,” in such a flat voice that I may never eat Italian food again.
Feeling like Cinderella getting left home from the ball, I push away from the table.
“Thank you, Cherie. I’ll eat later.” I look around at the other men.
Nasir’s still swiping his phone screen, Will’s smudging his harlequin makeup, and Sonny’s studying the backs of his hands.
Only Rob will meet my gaze, and the sympathy in his eyes chases me off faster than anything he could have said.
So much for never again doing what I’m told.
I escape to the backyard, flash my palm, and let myself into the barn. It’s quiet there. Calm. Rolling up to my supercomputer, I slip in my earbuds, start a playlist of singing bells and assorted massage-studio tracks, and try to let my mind go.
Ha. Good luck with that.
The bells are quiet—meditative even—but my mind is going a million miles an hour. I might be calmer if Rob hadn’t said John might not be alive. That’s fucking me up. If David was at risk of death, I’d do whatever it took to—
Oh, except I hadn’t. When Dad said, “We’re going to cut him out of the pack,” I went along with it. How fucked up is that? David Collins was my best friend, and I helped my father make him a lone wolf, even though by every fucking rule we knew, it should have killed him.
Only David Collins could wake up a lone wolf and make himself a new pack with a vampire and a half-Danaan sidhe.
I fold forward onto the desk, hands clasped over my head.
As soon as the bonds were broken, I knew I’d done the wrong thing.
Felt it in every cell and sinew. We were in the basement of a large warehouse, and David was in a cage, strapped to a metal chair under a single bulb, bruised and bleeding and burned because my father wanted us to torture him first.
It was sick. Sickening. I remember falling to my knees like it was me who’d been cut up and beaten. I remember my father yelling at us to stay, to fight the Securitas crew when they showed up.
I remember Trajan Gall, David’s vampire lover, diving into the middle of a gunfight and somehow coming out alive, David in his arms.
With only that single bulb over David, there were plenty of shadowy corners. I’d crawled off into one, literally covering myself with a filthy canvas drop cloth, and had thanked God or whoever was listening that the Securitas crew didn’t look under it.
My father escaped, too, although a couple of his lieutenants didn’t make it out. Liquid seeps out of the corner of my eye and pools on my forearm. I didn’t leave that warehouse until well after sunrise the next day, and I didn’t go home.
I couldn’t.
We’d cut my cousin out of the pack for one simple reason. He’s a strong, gay man, and my father couldn’t deal with the fact that David’s wolf could take anyone in a fight any damn day of the week.
Which made my act even shittier. Dad was just homophobic enough that I couldn’t let him see a hint of softness. Bad enough that he’d sired a beta, but a gay beta?
Yeah, Dad would have killed me himself. I’ve only really been out since the day I watched him die.