Chapter 20 #2
Ayo darts out to fire four concussion balls at the fae, but they vanish the moment they cross the ward. “Shit.”
Ethan growls as he pulls Ayo back behind us, then activates his comms. “Romeo two-five, Romeo one-eight, we’re under attack. Stay alert, over.”
“Romeo one-eight, do you need assistance, over?” Skye asks over the comms.
“Negative. Maintain position for now, over,” Ethan says.
“Roger that, over and out.”
If anyone could get a tranq bullet past these spells it would be Skye, but I can understand Ethan’s unwillingness to leave only one person to guard the perimeter. Still, I can’t help my snarl. These fae are between me and Bryn. We need to drop them now.
The fae closest to us sneers. “The BSG can’t possibly hope to get through us. Might as well go home, pathetic Earthians.”
Fuck this guy.
I ready a flashbang and glance at Ethan.
At his nod I press the safety lever, remove the pin, and once I’ve confirmed that Jet, Cal, and Ayo have clocked what’s about to happen, I throw the stun grenade down the stairwell.
Our headsets give us a decent level of noise reduction from the intense bang, and with our location behind the wall as well, we’re protected enough that we’re able to rapidly move into the doorway and finally tranq the disorientated fae.
Ayo grabs my shoulder before I can try crossing the ward again. “Hold still.”
“We can’t wait any longer,” I say, trying to move around him. The need to get to Bryn is like a set of claws raking down my spine.
Ethan grips my other shoulder tight enough to hurt. “Hold position.”
Fucking fuckety fuck. I stay where I am, jaw clenched.
Ayo lightly touches my shield charm. “This won’t take long. I analysed the ward while all that was going on. I think I know what to do.” Less than a minute passes before he smacks my bicep, then shakes his hand out. “Done. Ow.”
“Secure the stairwell,” Ethan says to me as he steps up to Ayo. “Mine next, sweet thing.”
Ethan taps his earpiece and updates Skye and Kit while I carefully cross the ward. Cal and Jet hover just on the other side, ready to grab me back if needed, but my tiger growls and I breathe out a sigh of relief.
“It worked,” I say, then tense as I recognise the scents of all four fae from Bryn and Milo’s flat.
At least that confirms we’re in the right place, although I have to resist the temptation to kick the bastards as I step over them all and race down the stairs then listen at the bottom, my back pressed to the wall next to the open door.
There’s no sound of movement or voices on the other side, and I’m itching to get moving.
Still, I hold position, ready to fire immediately if anyone comes through.
Fortunately, Ethan soon joins me at the bottom of the stairs, shortly followed by Jet, then Cal.
As agreed on the way here, Ayo heads out to join Kit and Skye in guarding the perimeter—preventing anyone from getting in, or out.
Although our young alpha-mate can definitely handle himself, he doesn’t really have enough training with combat in confined spaces, so Ethan wants him in a more open area.
It also means Ayo can now adjust Kit and Skye’s shield charms as well, just in case.
The moment Ethan gives the signal, we move. I’m first through the door, rifle raised, with Ethan behind me followed by Cal, then Jet bringing up the rear. We’re straight into a long, narrow corridor with poor lighting and three plain doors on the right-hand wall.
Ethan signals for Jet and I to check what’s behind the first door.
I give Jet a countdown, then we burst through the door into a room that’s empty of people.
On workbenches there are dozens more of the swords the fae who attacked us were carrying, and on the other side of the room, boxes and packing materials.
“They’re not messing around,” I murmur as we move towards the door on the far side of the room.
“No shit,” Jet says in a low voice. “Nothing in here suggests these weapons were made in this room, though. This looks more like a packing station.”
“Agreed,” I say.
Even with Ethan and Cal remaining in the corridor to guard our backs, I don’t want to linger too long. Despite the weapons being the evidence I’ve been searching for since I started my undercover work, there’s no joy in the find. We have a far more urgent mission.
When we repeat the silent countdown and burst through the next door, we encounter two fae I don’t recognise, hunched over workbenches. Their wings are such a faded pale green that they’re almost translucent, masks cover their noses and mouths, and their dull eyes widen when they see us.
“BSG Task Force. Step away from the swords,” I say.
Rather than complying, both raise the gnarly swords they were sharpening and rush us, so we tranq them before they get close enough to test the effectiveness of Ayo’s strongest shield spells against fae craftsmanship.
There are more swords on the workbenches, although these vary in size and design, and there are whetstones for sharpening them. Since there are no other doors in the room and the fae will be unconscious for hours, we rejoin Ethan and Cal in the corridor.
“Two fae tranqued and more seriously fucked up swords,” Jet reports.
The next room on the corridor contains no fae, and seems to have been a storage room judging by the shelving. A quick search turns up a single remaining grenade, painted vibrant purple for some reason.
I’ve seen hundreds of grenades in my life and I’m well aware of what they can do, but this time there’s a sense of the unknown. Was this the type of weapon that caused the explosion Bryn and I were both caught in? Or is it designed with different magic?
Jet picks it up. “This could come in handy.”
I sigh impatiently. “Put it back. We don’t know what it does.”
He carefully slips it into a pouch on his vest. “Emergency use only, I promise.”
“Jet.”
“Nope, you’re not my alpha. You can’t make me.”
We don’t have time for this. “Ethan would tell you the same thing.”
He gives me a stubborn look. “Raj, if these people have been testing swords and grenades and who the fuck knows what else on those five missing shifters, they deserve a taste of their own medicine.”
My gut tightens, my tiger snarling at the thought of the defenceless shifters, kidnapped and brought somewhere they can’t access the animal side of themselves, facing down whatever weapons these fae have chosen to test on them.
Now that we’ve finally found the base of operations, part of me is holding out hope that when we rescue Bryn and his siblings we’ll also find the men and women I’ve spent months searching for.
That maybe that’s what the ‘alive’ part of Bryn’s message meant.
Yet each new weapon seems to make the chances of that smaller and smaller.
“Fine, but if we die because of that thing, I will find you in the afterlife and murder you.”
He shoulder-bumps me. “Deal.
Back in the corridor, Ethan gives the signal for us to open the third door. We burst in on three fae working at computers, their wings the grey of a thunderstorm, who immediately shoot to their feet.
“BSG Task Force. Where are the dragons?” I snarl, rapidly running out of patience.
The closest two exchange a glance before firing air blasts at us, presumably in an attempt to push us back, while the one at the rear reaches for her computer.
“Stand down or we will open fire,” I say, to no effect. I belatedly repeat it as best I can in Alandrian in case there’s a language barrier.
The fae on the right screeches and rushes at us, his hands raised and wings fluttering madly.
The ceiling is too low in here for any of them to fly, but we’re similarly restricted because Ayo didn’t put our charms on cords long enough to fit around our necks in our animal forms. If it wasn’t so mission-critical to wear one, I’d be shifting anyway and introducing this fae to my fangs.
Instead I look the fae dead in the eye and shoot him in the forehead.
Oddly, the other two fae seem to run out of magic quickly and within minutes all three are unconscious and we’re moving on.
Through this room is a server room with no other exits, so we return to the corridor and continue around the corner.
If this basement is as big as the warehouse above, searching it could take a while.
My tiger urges me to hurry, as if I actually need the prodding. I will search every single room down here until I find my dragon, his siblings, and any of the missing shifters left alive, no matter how long it takes. And I’ll unleash fury on every single fucking person who gets in my way.