11. Gracie
Gracie
My gaze moved over each building and boarded-up window as Bram led us back through the residential quarter at a pace that felt purposeful, if not rushed. The rebellion members folded in around our forces, even carrying our fallen soldier.
Sable continued his ranting, making me wonder why they didn’t quiet him—but maybe the point was to be noticed.
Eventually, after one last turn, they knocked him out with a blow to the head.
Bram brought us to a stop in front of a building that looked like every other on the block.
Mossy stones covered the front wall, and a faded, broken sign hung over the door.
The facade disappeared into the world around it, which I had to assume was the desired effect.
Bram knocked twice, paused, knocked three more times. The door opened. “Inside, quickly.”
My mates and I stepped inside, the dark entrance giving way to a four-story structure lit with warm lanterns and brimming with organized chaos.
Maps and tapestries covered every wall, and laundry hung from the third and fourth floor railings, visible from the atrium. A low hum of interested voices filled the space as we entered.
There were easily twenty people on the first floor alone. A weapons rack stood off to the right of the room, rebellion members racking their guns as they passed before heading back to the central living space.
But at the center of it all was one individual—someone I was guessing was the Fox.
She was bent over the center table as she examined a map, but her gaze rose to us.
Specifically me, then my mates, and finally Bram.
She was younger than I expected—maybe early thirties—but the way she was the epicenter of the activity in the room spoke to her authority.
She also looked familiar, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who she reminded me of.
Her black hair was pulled back from her face and her slight frame was covered in dark green tactical gear, a gun at her hip. Her fingers were stained with ink, and she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her gaze at Bram. “You’re back,” she said. “And with guests.”
“Ravik Gentry,” Ravik said by way of greeting.
“Bram told me his father was gathering forces outside, but we didn’t realize you would come into the city itself,” she said, stepping around the table and leaning against it. “Who are you?”
That question was directed at me. “Gracie Holloway.”
“Edie.” She didn’t bother with introductions past that. “Either way, I appreciate your efforts. We’ve been preparing for this moment for over a year now, though we thought we’d have to do it alone.
“It worked out well that we managed to take Sable into custody before the fighting broke out. We’ve been trying to get him alone and somewhere we could actually make a move on him for over eight months.”
“I’ve made sure he won’t be going anywhere fast,” Bram said easily, sitting down in a nearby chair. “I shot him in the leg.”
Edie offered him a look that bordered on amusement. “Was that necessary?”
“Yes.”
Edie gave a small sigh, opening her mouth to continue when Ravik’s comm crackled to life. He stepped back, his expression shifting as he listened. When he looked up, his eyes found mine first.
“The outer ring is moving,” Ravik said. “All of them. Nightstar, Bloodrose, Scarlet Sloth, Ironsun. Stark Flight just went airborne.”
The first floor went silent. After years of fighting alone, five territories were coming to the rebellion’s aid, moving to take Grimfur Skulk territory by force.
“How long?” Edie asked, already moving toward the weapon wall.
“Twenty minutes, maybe less,” Ravik said.
She nodded once, like that was exactly what she’d planned for. “Then we move now.”
Her gaze cut around the room—to her people, then ours—before landing back on my mates and me.
“Considering you made your way into the city, I’m assuming the plan was to attack from the inside and the outside simultaneously, correct?
We know every weak point in this city’s defenses.
Every guard post, every rotation, every street they think is secured. ” A beat. “Let us lead.”
Ravik made a gesture, conceding command of the operation.
Edie was already moving.
So was Basir. His hand found my arm before I’d taken a step toward the door, his grip firm but not rough, already steering me toward the stairs at the back of the building rather than the exit everyone else was flooding toward.
“What are you—”
“Roof,” he said. Ravik and Thornar each dropped a quick kiss on my head as they passed to join Edie’s people. They moved without hesitation, like they’d already decided where each of us would go—and maybe they had, in the space of a look between the three of them while Edie was talking.
How had I missed that?
“I can fight,” I said as I followed Basir up the stairs. “And don’t you want to—”
“I want to be with you, and I promise we will do our part.”
The roof access was a narrow door at the top of four flights, and when Basir pushed it open the morning hit me like a wall—chilled air, smoke, and the distant sound of the city beginning to explode into battle.
I stilled when I stepped outside, taking in the view.
I understood right away why Basir had chosen for us to come up here.
A low layer of smog coated the streets of the Grimfur Skulk’s capital, but from up here I could see above it—I could see how the city was laid out.
How the residential quarter bled into the warehouse district to the west. How the central road cut straight through the city to the capitol building, which was walled off in a section of development more luxurious than the rest. How soldiers were stationed in posts every four or five blocks, all of them now alert to the fight breaking loose.
Above I watched as three massive dragons swooped over the guard posts surrounding the city and landed on the main street, stone flying up in a cloud of smoke. Basir let out a low whistle of surprise. His comm crackled to life, and he handed me a second one without a word.
Then I understood exactly what Basir’s plan was. The two of us moved to stand at the edge of the building, scanning the streets below. I lifted the comm to my lips. “Ravik.”
“On the ground,” he responded immediately. “What do you see, lux mea?”
The perimeter push was already visible at the edges of the city, Stark Flight coming in from the air above.
The pressure of them flying so low in altitude made the wind whip up.
It was only seconds later that on the ground, the allied forces made their way through the main entrance of the city, their crests flashing brilliantly against the armored trucks that made their way through the stone streets.
Grimfur Skulk soldiers and Cinder Ring units began to flee toward the center of the city, away from the incoming forces.
This city ran on terror and profit. In the face of a real threat, both were going to crack—there was no structure underneath, nothing holding their loyalty together but the fear itself.
“Eastern road, third intersection from the capitol building. Their group is breaking. Two of the units are already moving back toward the warehouse district.” I watched the rebellion move through the streets below, fluid and fast, threading through corridors the Grimfur Skulk soldiers didn’t even seem to know existed.
“They’re distracted and scared,” Basir agreed. “If you cross them now, there will be no fight.”
“Copy,” Ravik said, and below two figures peeled away from the group and went exactly where we’d sent them.
The moment lodged itself in my chest. Not pride, exactly, but something quieter.
This morning I’d been down in the sewers, counting my footsteps to keep from panicking. Now I was standing on a roof, calling out enemy placements to help bring a city down.
For so long, my identity had been tied to my captivity, and then to becoming my mates’ mate. I’d never once thought of myself as someone who could take command.’
Over the next two hours, the city folded faster than any of us expected.’ Sharp’s soldiers weren’t dying for this. Most of them were standing down, weapons lowering, hands coming up. Others ran. But the few who tried to hold their positions got overwhelmed in minutes.
“Southeast corridor looks clear,” I said into the comm.
“Confirmed,” came back a voice I didn’t recognize—one of the rebellion’s leaders.
My gaze never stayed in one place for long, always sweeping the streets and the skies for information I could pass on.
The Cinder Ring’s warehouse was burning, smoke rising in columns against the morning sky.
Scarlet Sloth and Bloodrose soldiers made their way haltingly down the main street toward the capitol, stopping to clear the area ahead before moving forward and doing it again.
Nightstar and Stark Flight flew overhead, and Ironsun worked its way in from the outer perimeter, cleaning the streets of any coordinated resistance.
It was done so perfectly it was hard to believe these individuals had never worked together before.
It gave me hope for when we fought Ivan.
Basir stood at my left, so close that I could feel the heat of his frame. His hand pressed against my hip, as we watched the city together. I could feel through our bond the satisfaction and optimism he felt watching it crumble.
It seemed almost counterintuitive, watching a city burn and thinking of it as having a future—but Grimfur Skulk did. One ruled by something other than fear and pain.
Below us, street by street, the city stopped belonging to Graeme Sharp.
The capitol building fell with less resistance than any of us expected.
The gates gave way in minutes, allied soldiers flooding into the luxurious section of the city.
The contrast from up here—seeing what the elites lived in compared to everyone else—felt like an insult.
I was captured by that thought until my comm crackled to life.
“Sharp isn’t here. Staff and soldiers are confirming he left for Cold Moon Pack two days ago.”
Shit.
My chest grew tight, frustrated that despite our win over the city, we wouldn’t be able to remove the Cold Moon Pack’s largest ally from the equation. Instead he’d be standing right next to Ivan Rivers, preparing to sacrifice thousands in the name of power.
“Sharp will never be able to return here,” I said to Basir. “He may be able to hide behind Ivan for now, but that won’t last forever.”
Basir nodded, taking a long moment before adding, “He’ll wish all of this had ended here for him.”