Chapter 18
Zera
Maverick’s network of spies proved to be reliable as they assembled at the penthouse within a few hours of being contacted.
Felice, the boutique owner and mastermind behind every inch of breathable leather Zera wore, was the first to arrive.
Zera sat perched on a stool at the kitchen island, waiting for the rest.
“So, this is where the happy newlyweds live,” Felice said when she entered, wearing a broad smile as she took in the living room turned training room.
“Welcome to our humble abode,” Maverick said with a smirk that told Zera he was back to his arrogant self.
Zera had almost forgotten about their ruse.
She guessed they’d still have to play a married couple for a little bit longer.
The idea sent a pang of guilt through her chest. She still couldn’t get a read on where Maverick was.
She regretted the lie, but she didn’t regret the night they’d shared or the bond that had grown between them.
She just wished she could do things over again, to be open and honest with him like he had been with her—despite Maverick acknowledging that he understood. That almost made it worse.
“Dane, are you teaching your new bride to fight?” Felice asked, motioning to the training mat that took up most of the room and the rack of weights and weapons that lined the window wall beyond.
“Well, she is my wife, so learning to defend herself is a given,” Maverick said, his voice dripping with amusement as he continued their charade. “And who better to teach her than the most skilled man she knows?”
Zera rolled her eyes at his theatrical display.
It was such a faeboy thing to say. Well, if he could pretend there was no issue between them, then so could she.
She squared her shoulders, obliterating any thought of Maverick or their connection.
She had to focus on the mission. Her shot at finally bringing Gareth down and reuniting with her son depended on it.
The topic of arrogant, hot werewolves and any potential romantic future could wait. Possibly forever.
Felice took a spot next to her at the kitchen island. Quill arrived shortly afterward, making himself at home as he plopped down on one of the couches shoved against a wall.
The next to arrive were two that Zera didn’t recognize—a slender, black-haired vampire Maverick introduced as Cillian, who Zera would avoid at all costs, and the Kobold goblin who was supposed to have been Maverick’s date at the Crystal instead of Zera.
The tall woman with high cheekbones, full lips, shoulder-length brown hair, and cunning eyes barely acknowledged Zera’s presence.
From the nasty smile Felice shot at the spy turned agent for the Faen Bureau of Investigation, Zera got the feeling there was some history between them.
Irdeel solidified this suspicion with the equally dirty looks she shot at Felice while pretending to be interested in the weapons Cillian was studying from the array of knives and magical devices secured on one of the shelves. There was definitely some bad blood there.
The spies all cluttered around the living room and kitchen, as if this was home, and perhaps they had been here together at one time. From what Maverick had told her before they arrived, though, it would have been years ago.
“Now that we’re all here, why don’t you get on with it?” Quill said, breaking a silence that bordered on awkward. The demon yawned lazily as he draped his legs over the arm of a love seat, his wild blond curls pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
Zera’s gaze darted to Maverick, who took point at the top of the training mat.
His expression held a mixture of anticipation and irritation with the others.
If he had any thoughts about Zera or their future together, he didn’t let them show on his face.
His walls were up, so she couldn’t even get a read on him through their bond.
Maverick cleared his throat, and all eyes turned to him.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice. I know some of you have gone straight, so I appreciate you being willing to help me and… my wife, Charlotte, out with this mission.” He motioned toward Zera, who forced herself to cover her nerves with a look of sincere admiration for her fake husband.
It was the part she had to play, but she wanted to grit her teeth every time he looked at her with his cocky eyes while wearing a self-important smile.
“We’ve got a lot to cover before we can infiltrate Gareth’s stronghold,” Maverick continued. “Quill, I believe you’ve got some floor plans for us to look at?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Quill said, flashing a devilish smile. He snapped his fingers, and a holographic image of what looked to be a six-story fortress appeared in a puff of smoke.
The floor plan hovered in the air in the center of their group so that they all could see exactly what they were up against.
“As you can see,” Maverick said, “Gareth’s stronghold is not something to scoff at. It’s a highly secure, state-of-the-art fortress that’s nearly impenetrable.”
“It’s not ‘nearly impenetrable,’” Quill said, sitting forward in his seat. “It is utterly and totally impossible to break into.”
Zera winced. That wasn’t good news. This was supposed to be their in, the breaking of the last straw keeping her from returning to her quiet life with her son in Havenwood.
“But if it’s not possible to break in, then what are we doing here?” Felice asked, crossing one long leg over the other. The siren’s blue silk jumper swished with the movement.
“We’re not going through the front door, obviously,” Maverick answered, his tone confident and daring. “I have a plan.”
Zera’s heartbeat quickened. From the architecture of the stronghold displayed for all of them to see, it was clear this wouldn’t be an easy feat.
A steel-and-stone wall surrounded the structure built into the side of the mountain, thick enough that no grenade could penetrate it.
And if the wall wasn’t obstacle enough, the raging rapids that ran in front of it were enough to deter even the most powerful of fae.
It would take more than a plan to get past all of the obstacles that stood between them and wherever Gareth would be holed up in the belly of the stronghold.
She now understood why it’d been nicknamed the Steel Titan.
Even if they were able to get in, find Gareth, and kill him, it was going to take every bit of their wits, cunning, and magic to make it out of there alive.
Zera could feel the weight of the challenge pressing down on her, but failure was not an option.
“Now,” Maverick continued, “each of you have been chosen for your unique abilities, and together I think our plan might work.”
Felice flashed a smile, her siren beauty almost distracting enough to make one forget her dangerously enchanting voice.
The designer twirled a lock of her fiery red hair between her fingers.
“I assume I’ll be playing the seductress in this little game of yours?
” she purred, her eyes glinting mischievously.
“Of course she is.” Irdeel snorted from where she stood near one of the cabinets of weapons, her slender body nearly towering over the vamp beside her. The four-inch heels on the boots she definitely didn’t need for height made her even taller.
Zera bit back a laugh at the look Felice shot the goblin. Whatever was between them, it was a feud they’d been fighting for a while. Maverick seemed to ignore it, probably to keep the peace. Zera hoped it wouldn’t cause a problem with their mission.
“What was that?” Felice asked, daring the goblin to say something to her face.
Irdeel just flashed her a vicious smile before returning her attention to the vampire and her fellow FBI agent, clearly more interested in the collection of weapons than the conversation at hand.
“Focus, people, please,” Maverick said, shooting Irdeel a look of warning. “We will have to act as a single unit—one team—if we’re to succeed in our goal to locate and kill Gareth inside his own stronghold along with anyone else who would fight to avenge him.”
Zera gulped. When he put the plan that way, it sounded reckless. Only a fool would hunt someone on their own ground.
The goblin’s ears twitched, but she gritted her teeth to cut off the apparent retort she wanted to throw back at him. She made a crude gesture directed at Maverick and Felice before returning her focus to the next weapon the vamp was studying.
“Each of you are masters of your own crafts,” Maverick said, ignoring the crabby goblin.
“First, Felice, you will act as the infiltrator and use your siren abilities to manipulate the guards surrounding the stronghold. Persuade anyone you need to, in whatever way you must, so we can have a clear path to the only potentially weak point in the wall of the stronghold.”
Maverick nodded at Quill, who snapped his fingers. The floor plan shifted so they were now looking at a small door in the wall that was heavily guarded. And that was the weakest part of the wall. Dread and nerves settled in Zera’s stomach, as if they were there to stay.
Maverick nodded to the diagram of the door and to where guards were stationed on either side of it as well as on top of the wall. “The stronghold is designed to become a sealed tomb if even a single scratch occurs to the wall. This doorway is our only entrance.”
Zera didn’t like the sound of that. What if their plan went sideways and they were stuck in that place and left to rot? She shuddered at the thought.
“But with Felice taking point during this first half,” Maverick continued, “these guards won’t know what hit them.”
The siren nodded, an approving glint in her eyes.
“Next up, we have Irdeel,” Maverick said, nodding to the goblin who was still inspecting the weapons with an unnerving interest. “Irdeel is a Kobold goblin with a specialty in alchemical sciences. She’ll be our saboteur.”