Chapter 13

We stopped in a town called Williamsport, Pennsylvania, just after two in the morning. There was a tiny airstrip—private by the looks of it—that we used as our landing pad.

Mario was out first, barking orders. Most of the abnormals stayed in the helicopters. I pulled Killian up and over my shoulder and hefted him out. He was not a small man by any means, but I'd kept my body in good shape while I'd been locked up in the fucking labs.

The second my foot hit the tarmac; I was joined by someone I'd honestly thought was dead.

"Cowboy, you made it." I barely glanced at him as I fought to keep moving. Maybe I wasn't in as good a shape as I'd thought.

"Phoenix." His voice was the same as before only . . . no, there was something different.

I laid Killian down on a patch of grass and sat next to him. "Dinah, I've got to call up my fire, and then . . . heal him."

Even I could hear the disbelief in my voice.

Before Dinah could answer, Cowboy did. "I can help you do that."

He crouched beside me, his blue eyes serious, only they weren't really his eyes. I moved without thinking, leaping on him, tackling him flat to the ground with my arm pressed up against his windpipe.

"Eligor."

He didn't fight me. "Let me help." He mouthed the words as his face lost color and then his lips began to go blue.

I had a choice. I could let him help as he suggested and have a better chance of bringing Killian back, or I could go it alone and probably lose the one man who could stand with me against anything.

I eased up on my hold and allowed Cowboy—Eligor—to sit up. "You'll help me and then you'll tell me what the fuck you did to Cowboy."

He nodded and coughed. "Of course."

Eligor

Even in herferocity she was a sight. All fiery and determined to protect those she cared about. He admired that about her, more than he should have.

"Put your hands on his chest," he instructed. "Find his heartbeat."

Phoenix never questioned him—another thing he liked about her. Once she was on a path, she didn't deviate from it. She slid her hands under the man's shirt—he wasn't sure he liked that—and settled them over his chest. "Now?"

"Now you call up your power and sync it to the rhythm of his heart. Each pulse you will send a pulse of your own energy into him, clearing out the damage." Eligor let himself put his hands over hers. She didn't flinch, just looked up at him with those eyes that he could not forget. She was worth helping. Worth saving if he could.

Eyelids fluttering closed, her breathing evened out and then her body went very still. Eligor didn't dare move. Her hands began to warm under his and he slowly pulled away, feeling the fire in her rise.

A split second later her hands lit up and the abnormals around them all stopped to watch. He was proud of her. She literally burned through the bonds that had been placed on her. He'd made her stronger.

The fire on her hands crawled up her arms and the heat off it raised her hair so that it swirled up around her face.

"Beautiful." He spoke without meaning to, and blamed it on the soul inside of him, the one that lusted after her. Eligor would never do that.

The red, orange and gold flames began to pulse through the man under her hands, ten beats and she pulled her hands away.

Eligor moved to hug her, to congratulate her on a job well done.

But the man on the ground opened his eyes and she was leaning over him.

The man lifted a hand and stroked it across her face. "Lass, I knew you'd save me."

Anger crackled through Eligor so fast he gasped with it. This was not him; he was sure of it. The boy's body was too strong, too full of lust.

This could not be him.

Phoenix

My body thrummedwith the flames that had burst out of my hands, and it took a fucking lot of effort to tamp them back down. Killian's hand against my cheek was cool and I helped him sit up.

There was no time for anything other than a moment of looking into his eyes, of knowing that he was alive. That we'd get through this together.

I blinked, breaking the connection before he leaned in for a kiss. "I knew you'd need me to save you," I said. "That's how it goes, isn't it?"

His low, dark chuckle sent more than a few shivers through me. "Lass . . ." His eyes widened. "Bear and—"

"I've got them covered," I said as I helped him stand. "I sent a Hider to them. Can you walk?"

Killian's legs wobbled as he stood and then his eyes changed, bleeding from green to blue.

His smile shifted and he ran his hands over my arms. "Phoenix. You did save him. Well done."

Ipos had taken over. Fuck.

Eligor gasped.

They locked eyes and Ipos went for Eligor, tackling him to the ground.

"You bastard!" Ipos snarled as he swung a fist. "I'll fucking kill you!"

I caught his arm. "You might not like it, but he's on our side too. Pull your shit together. I don't care what your past is." I tightened my hold on his arm. "Killian, you should be able to take control."

Blue eyes looked up at me and then they bled back to green. "Lass?"

My jaw ticked. "You have a demon." As if I was telling him he had a tapeworm. "He's going to help us or he'll be removed."

He frowned and put his hands to his head. "He is talking to me."

I nodded. "They do that."

He pushed to his feet, took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "Where are we at?"

There he was, the man who gave me every reason to trust him. Back to business, not questioning how he'd managed to acquire a demon. We'd reacquaint ourselves with each other later, when the world wasn't coming apart at the seams, and I'd have to beg forgiveness for the demon part. I kept him moving back to the helicopters, because I knew that no matter what I'd said about leaving a sign behind for Gardreel, he was actively hunting us now. And if we stayed too long in one spot, we were good and royally fucked.

I would face him. But not yet. Not yet.

"We are sending the others west to a place that Gardreel won't know about."

Eligor was behind us, and I could damn well feel him there. He'd taken Cowboy's body somehow, I didn't understand it, but it didn't matter. We couldn't take him with us any more than we could have taken the other handler. They were fucking tracers straight to Gardreel.

I spun, pulling Dinah as I turned so that she was pressed right into the center of Cowboy's head.

"Did you kill him and take his body?" I asked.

Killian stood at my back, a hand on my shoulder.

Eligor's eyes went to him and the hardening in them told me a story all on its own. He hated Ipos too.

"No, of course not. He was dying, I saved him," Eligor said. So strange to hear Cowboy's voice with Eligor's inflections, with the softness to him that Cowboy did not have.

"You saved him. And Gardreel, he can find you?"

His hands shot up and if he'd been anyone else, he'd be dead. But he waved them side to side in denial. "No, no, you don't understand. I could only take over the body because it was on the brink of death, there was no other way . . . I couldn't do it otherwise on my own. And I could heal him, it's one of my gifts."

Something in his words was teasing a thought out of the back of my head, but I pushed it away for the moment. "You didn't answer me about your boss." I moved Dinah back to the center of his head.

He swallowed hard. "He can't. That was the other reason. I was . . . in between. I could feel Gardreel calling to me and I had a choice . . . I chose to come to you, Phoenix. To help you. To help stop Gardreel."

His eyes shot to Killian again and there was that same hardening. I'd known that Cowboy had a bit of a crush on me—I didn't care about that. But what Eligor had going on was something much deeper, at least on his side. He'd been in my head for over a year, and he thought he knew me. He believed the mask I'd shown him.

I lowered Dinah. "I don't trust your motives. Nor do I trust you. Which means I can't let you out of my sight."

His jaw dropped open. I doubt he ever thought I would say such a thing to him.

Killian's hand squeezed my shoulder gently. "Are we not going with the others then?"

The others. I turned and looked over my shoulder at the two helicopters.

Being that it was the middle of the fucking night, and no one in Williamsport had taken any note of us, it wasn't long before the two helicopters were fueled up.

Mario stood off to the side, far enough away, smoking a cigar.

I went to stand next to him.

"What is he giving you, for handing over all these abnormals?"

Mario laughed. "You think I'm handing them over? Take your blinders off, Phoenix."

I looked at him and stared hard. Killian came to stand next to me and I found myself wondering what he saw in Mario.

"You remember him?" I asked.

"Little guy on the block." Killian nodded. "But he's survived when no one else managed to. Interesting."

He came to the realization that Mario was on Gardreel's payroll faster than I had. "Yeah, my feeling too."

Mario shook his head as he took another drag on his cigar. "You know what? Go ahead, kill me. See how far you get. My people won't follow you. And right now, you have a man on the inside. Me."

"I don't see you denying that you're working for him," Killian said.

Mario closed his eyes as he blew smoke into the air. "I am a very good liar. Gardreel knows I have pull, and he's banking on me handing over the stronger abnormals. I suggested putting the Magelore out front, to keep him close. I suggested saving Killian so you would come to me. I am doing whatever the fuck I can to keep the abnormals safe." He opened his eyes and pinned me with a stare. "That includes you. Our one chance."

The bitterness in his voice was heavy, thick.

"You want to switch spots?" I offered.

His shoulders tensed. "No. I'm not strong enough."

"Then tell your friend that you're headed west. That I'm with you, and that you aren't sure where I want to go," I said.

Mario held his cigar, watching me closely. "And?"

"Head to the Grand Canyon. At the river's juncture there is a place, you'll feel the pull of it, I'm sure."

He eyed me up. "How do you know?"

I didn't trust him, which meant he would have to figure that part out. Our grandmother thought I should give him a chance, which was stupid but . . . "Go. I'll take my team and we'll head in another direction. You tell Gardreel I'm still with you. Keep his eyes on you as long as you can."

His eyes narrowed as he stared at me through the smoke of his cigar. "You can't stop him. I tried. The spell is . . . it's wrapped up in our mother's mind. He tried to have me pull it out of her, I couldn't do it."

My heartbeat smoothed out. "You know where she is?"

He shook his head. "He brought her to me, then took her away."

Truth. He wasn't lying.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Eyes and ears." He crushed the end of his cigar on the sole of his boot and then tossed it. "That will work, they will know I was here."

Subtle.

"Are you going to hand them all over?" Killian asked.

Mario sighed. "Not if I can avoid it. But like you, I survive no matter what. Even if it means leaving someone behind." He winked at Killian as if they shared a secret. Killian frowned hard at my brother, and I walked away from them both.

Dinah sniffed and spoke low. "Check my barrel, the crack is aching." She sighed. "Also, men are asses. I don't like them."

I pulled her clear and checked the chip that had been taken out of her. "It's not bad. You aren't going to blow apart. But I'll get it fixed as soon as we can."

She grunted as I slid her back in her holster. "We going to where I think we're going? To pin down the one we're looking for?"

The one we were looking for—aka my mom.

"Yeah, that's the plan."

I had it in my mind that a single pit stop would help us pin down which facility my mother was stuck in. One stop, one bargaining chip. If the cranky bitch would bargain with me. She was known for not wanting to help anyone over a certain age.

"What if you don't stop them?" Mario called, pulling my attention back to him. "What then?"

I looked him over, really looking at him. He wasn't as strong as me, hell, he wasn't as strong as Bear. "Find my son. Help him finish the job." I could have told him that Carlos's wife had Bear hidden, but I didn't. Because I didn't want him looking before I was dead.

Fuck, I hated that I was handing this over to Bear if I died.

Killian caught up to me.

"I hate this shit," I muttered. "Feelings and emotions just get in the way of the job."

Killian slid an arm around me. "But they make you stronger too. You've never fought this way before Bear. And you're right. If you die, Bear has it in him too."

Mario didn't have it in him to do what had to be done. And I knew my son's heart. It was stronger than mine when it came to getting shit done.

As if thinking about him brought him closer, there was a moment where I felt him beside me, leaning his head against my shoulder. I stopped and just absorbed the moment.

Mario coughed and when I turned to him, he was looking at where I'd felt Bear. He gave me a slow nod. "He's a good one."

I nodded back, not really understanding how I could feel Bear, how Mario could see something of him. Familial connection again? "You'll know if I don't make it."

The brother I'd never known, the brother I didn't trust, narrowed his eyes. "Don't die, Nix. I'd rather like to get to know my sister. See if she's worth getting to know."

He turned his back on me and I just stared at the broad span of his shoulders, at the way he motioned for everyone to follow him. Mario had an easy grace to him with the other abnormals. He would do good if we could clean this fallen shit up.

Of course, that would be if he wasn't about to fuck us all over.

"And if you don't turn out to be a total asshole, I would like to get to know you," I said. A quick intake of breath, and I was refocusing on the task at hand.

Motioning for Pete, Carlos, Easter and Cowboy to follow me and Killian, I walked away from the tarmac. The first thing we needed was a vehicle. Just one that would carry all of us. Ruby loped along ahead of us, nose in the air. Someone had taken her flak jacket off.

A cry erupted from the helicopters, and we all spun. The blond woman who'd hovered over Killian stood watching us go.

"You need to handle that," I said.

Killian shook his head. "Nothing to handle. She thought there was something for her with me, and there never was." He turned away without so much as a nod in her direction. My guts clenched.

"Seems like you're getting good at walking away from women," I said.

Dinah sucked in a sharp breath. Easter, Pete and Carlos backed up. Eligor was oblivious.

Killian stopped in his tracks. "Right now?"

I nodded. "Right now. Yeah. Right now."