Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
WARWICK
“Bitzy! Be careful . . . that one wakes up biting.”
Chirppppp.
“I never said I liked it! That was a total misunderstanding.”
A groan boiled up the back of my throat, my lids squeezing together, wishing the voices were a dream.
Chirrrrrrpp. The imp slurred.
“Lies!” A foot stomped into my ribs, and my lids flew apart, seeing the tiny figure on my chest.
“Fuuuck,” I muttered, my eyes slamming closed again.
“Master custard launcher!” Opie cheered. “You’re awake.”
“No, I’m not,” I grumbled, turning on my side, feeling him scramble to my shoulder to stay upright.
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then how am I talking to you?”
“You’re not. Fuck off.”
Chhhhiiirrrpp!
“I did not fuck myself off already . . . twice.”
Chhhhirp!
“Okay, four times,” Opie huffed. “Again, that was a total misunderstanding! The wool was just itchy there.”
My eye twitched. It was too early for this shit.
I had barely gotten any sleep due to paranoia we’d be found. My mind also relentlessly went back to Kovacs, wondering if she’d been caught. It took everything I had to wait for Gawel’s return instead of running out into the night, heading for Ukraine to track her down.
Though I could feel her, she was still able to block me, which drove fury through me like nothing else.
The only reason I hadn’t lost my shit was because I knew if Kovacs was in serious trouble, I would know it.
I’d feel it in my bones. She marked her way through every fiber, branding herself through me.
Which made me the one she should actually fear.
The moment I found her, she would pay.
“Warwick, your pets are annoying me,” Ash grumbled from a few feet away. “This one is freaking me out.”
Taking a deep breath, I pried my eyes open again to see Bitzy sitting on Ash, her head tipped to the side, staring at him like he was a god, her prong fingers petting him.
Chhhiirrp! She blinked slowly at him.
High as a fucking kite. And by the poppy buds circling her head like a crown, I had no doubt what she was on.
I peered at the figure on my shoulder. Opie was shirtless, with sheep wool for shorts. He also had a poppy crown, but he had straw in his, spiking up in points. Butcher paper served as a cape, and his cheeks, eyelids, and lips were stained red, his beard braided with more poppy buds.
A sound vibrated in the back of my throat. “Don’t tell me that’s blood.”
“No, of course not!” Opie gasped. “I’m 99 percent sure it was red dye.”
“Red dye in a butcher’s shop?”
“Okay, maybe 70 percent sure.”
“Did you find it in near-dead animals?”
Opie’s face twisted with slight disgust. “I’m sticking with a strong 15 percent.”
Snorting, I scoured at my face again, sitting up, trying to wake myself up.
“Go away. I don’t have any mushrooms.” Ash waved at Bitzy to move.
Chirpppp . . . She batted at his hands, giggling.
“That is so fucking disturbing.” I reached over, plucking Bitzy off Ash, making her twitter and squeak like she was on some amusement ride. “You are cut off.” I took the crown of opium off her head.
Her lids narrowed, sobering in a blink. Chipchirpchirp chirpchirpchirpchirp . . . . She heaved in a gulp of air, her middle finger flying in the air. Chirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirp!
“Ohhhhh.” Opie blinked at me with fear and horror. “You know what she does when you take her happy medicine away?”
Yeah. I did. Setting her down, I tossed the crown back at her with a relenting sigh.
“Softy.” Ash snorted, sitting up. “What would Brexley say?” Ash tsked, shaking his head. “Giving in to your kid’s demands. Not very parental of you.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered, pinching my nose.
The fact that I was even in this situation, waking up to an imp and a Brownie sticking fingers in places I didn’t want to think about, and not killing them, told me all I needed about how much that woman had changed my life.
Looking at all the figures asleep in the straw scattered across the room, I realized it applied more to just them.
I wouldn’t have been here at all. As a lone wolf, I already had my pack of Ash and Kitty, my sister and nephew.
I didn’t want, need, or care about anyone else. Yet here I was.
“When I find you, Kovacs . . .” I growled in my head, knowing she couldn’t hear me, but maybe she’d feel my wrath.
Darkness still leaked through the boarded-up windows, but I sensed dawn was arriving. The animals were stirring, getting ready for their breakfast, which was most likely their final one. Rising, my body already itched to move, to get the hell out of this city. We’d been here too long.
After Gawel came back with clothes and food, locking us in for the night, we settled down and discussed what we had seen at the old prison and what Killian and Rosie had learned at HDF, going through the files they stole.
The ones on top were more of this Dr. Rapava’s insane theories, but down a few files were the building plans for the lab in Kyiv.
Located in the Podil’s’kyi district, it was at least ten times larger than the one here.
Caden had visited Kyiv enough to know this location was close to the river, train station, and palace.
A perfect collection of industrial and abandoned buildings to create an army underground.
When the little prince himself finally returned after his tantrum, he was much calmer. From what we all heard and felt, this place echoing everything, the dickhead should be more than placated. And of course, I got more insight than most.
“What’s wrong, Farkas?” Scorpion smirked at me from his spot in the hay, Birdie’s cries reverberating down to us, their energy riling up the animals.
“Nothing.” I paced back and forth, their magic wrapping around my cock, burning me with more rage, blistering me with excess energy.
I needed Kovacs now.
“Someone getting a little firsthand knowledge of someone else’s love life?” He shredded a piece of straw before plucking it in his mouth and chewing on the end with a smirk. “It’s a bitch, isn’t it?”
I glared at him.
“Welcome to my world, asshole.”
Fuck. If this was permanent, I would kill captain one-pump within a week.
The connection was different from what I had with Kovacs. I could feel his energy, recognize it like my own. I never had a blood brother, but that’s what it felt like. An annoying twin brother you could sense and understand without even looking at them.
I resented what he was to me. I hated that he took magic from me, loathing this need I had to protect him.
The door banged open, my body rising instinctually. Gawel’s huge form filled the doorway, his gaze going straight to me. I had known him a long time. The guy never showed much emotion besides annoyance. Today I saw a flicker of alarm cross his face, which moved me straight to him, Ash at my side.
“What?” Apprehension prickled over my shoulders, rolling them back.
“There is word that there are already checkpoints on major roads in and out of the city, and troops have spread through the Savage Lands, killing anyone who tries to fight back. They’ve been raiding homes and assassinating anyone they consider a spy.”
“Fuck.” I ran my hand over my hair, wrapping it up.
“And you.” Gawel nodded at Killian, who had stepped in beside me. “Are her number one bounty.”
“How much?” I asked.
Killian’s head jerked to me, his lids lowering.
“I’m just curious.” I shrugged.
“Like I trust you not to turn me over for free.” Killian lifted his lip.
“You have a price on your head too, Farkas.” Gawel flicked his chin at me. “I might turn you both in.”
“And I might just slip regarding an illegal opium den downstairs, operated by someone who also runs a drug operation through his meat orders.”
Gawel’s jaw locked, his eyes tapering.
“What I thought.” I scoffed. “Did you find what we needed?”
“Took a lot of fucking favors, which I’m putting on your tab, but I found six bikes at your request.” Gawel huffed. “Can’t say how great they are, but it was the best I could do. They’re in the abandoned building down the alley.”
“Get them going,” I shot to Ash. He instantly got the group moving, filling bags with the last bits of food and drink.
Ash picked up his bag, and I dipped my chin, lowering my attention to it, asking for him to make sure two sub-fae were inside.
Ash and I knew each other so well, he understood exactly without me opening my mouth.
He nodded, trying to hide a cheeky grin in response to my unspoken question.
“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered.
“Didn’t say anything.”
“Didn’t have to.”
“It’s okay to admit you’re becoming a softy.”
“Said the guy carrying them on his back.”
“I don’t want to deal with Brexley’s wrath.” Ash pulled on the backpack with the two stowaways inside. “Now she actually scares me, you big ol’ teddy bear.”
“I will kill you.”
Ash chuckled, then turned his attention back to the butcher.
“Thank you, Gawel.” Ash dipped his head in appreciation.
It was always Ash who did well with dealing with people in our past business endeavors.
The charmer. He smoothed shit over while I was the one who would threaten your life if you didn’t pay up, and Kitty was the brains.
That woman knew how to run a business, and we had many of them back in the day.
Gunfire thudded off the buildings only a few blocks away, reverberating through the plywood-covered windows.
“You have to go now,” Gawel growled, pulling a key ring from his pocket. He jogged to the far wall, unlocking a sliding wooden door used to bring in the animals. Another round of shooting popped through the pre-dawn morning, scrambling the eleven of us out the door.
“You got everything in place if things go down here?” I asked Gawel. For operations like this, we always had precautions in place. No matter what, it could never be discovered. Not in one piece, anyway.
“I do.” He nodded, tension lining his forehead.
“Be safe, friend.” Ash stopped next to him, everyone else sprinting out.