14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The guards were all kitting up outside the front door while Mari watched, feeling restless and not quite useful. She didn't know anything about the equipment, so she couldn't even help them pack.

They had determined that the most likely location where Nova had been held was a paving company near the railroad tracks in an industrial area of the city.

"What's that frown for?" Rio asked as he holstered a gun along one thigh.

Mari shrugged. "Not sure if I'm going to be any help."

"Why'd you ask if you could come then?"

"Because the idea of waiting alone to hear if you or Cisco got yourselves killed seemed really shitty when I thought about it."

Rio watched her quietly for a moment, his dark eyes appraising. "The property is almost certainly warded. We don't have anyone else who can pick them on hand aside from Pris. I could go ask her if you want to stay here after all?"

She bristled at the idea of someone else being asked to safeguard them. They were hers . She very nearly growled out loud. "No."

Rio smiled. "Oh?"

"You did that on purpose." She wasn't sure if she should be mad at him or not for manipulating her.

"Of course I did." He picked up a crate and stacked it in the back of an SUV with dark tints. "You wanted to go. I helped you to realize that."

"You're not worried about me going?"

"Not at all." He stepped toward her and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close. "Because I'm going to be stuck to you like glue and anyone who wants to hurt you is going to have to go through me." He dropped a brief kiss on her upturned mouth.

Mari reached up to thread her fingers through his hair at the base of his skull. "Thank you for knowing me better than I know myself."

"You would have gotten there. I just sped it up because I kind of like that jealous streak."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not jealous."

He chuckled, dark and deep. "You are wickedly jealous. But that's okay because I'm yours and I don't want to be anyone else's."

The restless part of her settled back, understanding for the first time that he truly understood her. "I love you so much." She leaned up and rubbed her face against his jaw the way she knew he liked.

"I love you too. And I meant what I said." Rio took her hand, kissed her palm, and then rested it against his heart. "Para siempre."

"I don't know what this love fest is all about, but I want some," Cisco said as he wrapped his arms around both of them, kissing first the side of Rio's head and then hers. "We ready to go now?"

Rio smiled at him, positively glowing with affection. "Yeah."

"Entonces vámonos." He herded them toward the passenger compartment where Karma was already behind the wheel and Dasher was belted in at shotgun. "I'm flying overwatch. I'll see you on the other side."

Rio watched him take to the sky, and then sighed. "I hate when he's out of sight."

Karma shrugged. "He's the most bulletproof of all of us, but I'd probably feel the same." She pulled out after the vehicle in front of them.

"Is Tilly flying too?" Mari asked.

"Nah," Dasher said, looking over his shoulder at them. "She and Kima had a yelling match about it that only ended when Samar grabbed Tilly and pulled her to another vehicle still screaming."

Karma shook her head. "I can't decide if the makeup sex is going to be amazing or leave one of them hospitalized when it finally happens."

"Probably both," Rio said, still staring out the window.

Mari hoped they got it sorted out soon, because Tilly needed someone she could count on in her life, whether that was Kima or someone else. "Did you and Cisco ever have a time like that? Where on the outside it was all angry feelings?"

From the front seat, Karma snickered.

Rio met her eyes in the rearview mirror and smirked. "She's laughing because for a long time all we did was argue. About everything. Everyone but us knew why and when we finally got together it was…a lot."

"You guys full-on destroyed the barracks," Dasher scoffed. "Everyone who walked in and saw it all busted up just shrugged, because it was about time."

"Shifters can have difficulty admitting their feelings at the best of times," Karma said. "But given the climate around here until recently, it's no wonder Kima is stuck."

When Mari looked to Rio for an explanation of that he said, "The drive to protect what we care about is really strong and can manifest in weird ways when it feels like that person is threatened."

Karma shrugged as they exited the expressway behind the lead car. "I tried talking to Kima, but she really didn't want to hear it."

"She'll figure it out," Dasher said as he looked around for any threats now that they were moving slower.

It was late at night so the traffic was light, especially in the more industrial part of the city where they were headed. Not many people who weren't locals ever saw this part of Las Vegas where trains were unloaded and machinery stored, and they likely would never recognize the dark streets and shuttered buildings. It was a far cry from the glitz and glamor of the Strip.

They pulled in behind the lead vehicle along the curb of an unremarkable patch of street. Kima and Dancer and Nara poured out of the lead SUV and looked ahead of them toward a large poorly lit building.

Mari exited and walked to where the group in front of them waited.

Cisco landed beside her with a rush of wind. "Surrounding buildings are clear."

Kima glanced her way. "Dancer says wards start about ten feet out from the fence line."

Mari looked over the area. The presence of wards seemed to indicate that they were indeed in the right place. Ahead of them, the sidewalk was clear all the way to the enclosure. Magic tingled on the edge of her awareness, like something moving just out of sight.

"I need everyone to stay back here except Rio."

Cisco looked unhappy with her choice but didn't question her. He gestured to the group coming up from the last vehicle to hold back a bit. "I'm coming in to get you if anything so much as twitches."

She shook her head. "Not until the wards are down."

He frowned. "How long will that take?"

"Depends what kind of witch put them up." She unfocused her eyes as she looked in that direction, then shrugged. A witch whose power was substantially different than hers would be harder to read. Pricilla's magic was a simple matter to scan and unravel, Greta's too, but when she'd tried the same thing with Giselle's wards, it had been much more difficult. "Feels weird."

"Yeah," Dancer said. "They did something to camouflage it. Never seen that before."

Scanning the area in front of the fence, Mari moved closer, Rio walking at her side quietly. The noise of the guards talking behind them faded as they moved down the street. Rio's eyes restlessly swept the dead end ahead of them for threats.

Even closer, she couldn't really get a handle on the wards. They were there, certainly, but it was like her sense skipped over them rather than landing on them.

Mari took a breath, the night air feeling cool as it filled her lungs. She closed her eyes and inhaled again, then let the frustration fade away as she exhaled. There . A flicker of magic she could just barely sense. She followed the edges of it delicately, aware that any misstep would trigger the alarms. With a bit of patience and careful probing she found what she was looking for, a seam in the structure.

She picked at the place where the weaves were joined, grabbing onto the ends rather than letting them unravel. She still couldn't figure out what kind of witch had made the wards—they felt slippery somehow, almost not all the way there. Carefully, she began to peel the tendrils of magic back, slowly expanding the hole. A trickle of sweat ran down her spine.

The hardest part was making sure the hole was large enough, because she couldn't use her eyes. And if her concentration or her grip slipped, the whole mess would come undone and set off the alarms. Exactly how big was Cisco? How much clearance did he need for his wings on the sides?

She was bad at measurements, even with her eyes open. How was she supposed to figure out the sizing?

It occurred to her that she knew how large the hole was compared to her body and she knew intimately how Cisco felt up against her in various orientations. As soon as she started to think about the last time Cisco had been pressed up against her in the office the previous night, arousal bloomed inside her. Another type of witch might think that a distraction, but for a sex witch, it only improved her focus.

More magic also meant she could untwist the wards more quickly. When she knew she had more than enough room, she tied off the ends and opened her eyes.

Rio watched her with a smile. "I have no idea what's going on, but I know that you're pleased."

"I figured it out. Wasn't sure for a minute."

"Never doubted for a second, beautiful." He gestured for the rest to come over. "How big is the hole?"

"The whole gate."

Rio looked back over his shoulder. "Holy shit."

Cisco was the first to arrive, though the rest of the group was close on his heels. "What are we gawking at?" he asked as he glanced over the fence.

"A hole the size of a fucking tank," Dasher said. "I've never seen anything like that."

A murmur of wonder filtered through the gathering guards.

Cisco turned a look of such fierce pride her way that a thrill tickled through her belly. She firmly reminded her libido that they had a job to do and sexy fun times would have to wait until after they had freed anyone who was being held here. Cisco winked as if he'd read her reaction in her body language.

"Guess that means you're hired," Kima said as she checked her weapons one last time. When she was done with her routine, she looked over the group. "Hellwolf takes the front. Me and the rest of the cats in the middle with Rio and the witch. Fliers make up the rearguard and take to the air as necessary." She leveled a hard stare Tilly's way. "No unnecessary chances. Everyone comes home."

Tilly snorted, but it was mostly masked by the various expressions of acknowledgement of those around her.

The two hellhounds posted up on either side of the hole Mari had made—since they could sense it—and set about getting through the gate. They used brute strength and their hellfire rather than bolt cutters and were through to the other side in a matter of seconds. The rest of guards filtered between them so as not to set off the wards.

Karma was up front, scenting the air as she moved slowly, with Kima coming up behind her. Mari walked at the center of the grouping next to Rio with Samar on one side of them and Inés the ocelot shifter on the other. Cisco, Tilly, and Nara brought up the rear behind them. As soon as everyone was through, Dasher and Dancer jogged ahead to take their places flanking Karma.

This was a practiced crew, and everyone except Mari knew their place and what was expected of them. Maybe she should have stayed with the vehicles? When her anxiety reached the point of boiling over, Rio picked up her hand and squeezed it. She had no idea what type of magic Rio had exactly, but it certainly worked. The sharp edge of her tension eased away little by little as they moved through the yard.

Large machinery stood sentinel all around them, looming and quiet. The building ahead of them was well-maintained but shrouded in darkness. According to the research they had done this was an active paving company, at least during the day, though right now it was silent and empty.

Mari felt the pulse of magic right before the hellhounds shouted a warning at the same instant. The guards around her scattered in all directions in what had to be an orchestrated maneuver based on the even dispersal. Rio picked her up on the run and dashed behind a piece of hulking construction equipment just as all hell broke loose.

An explosion of magic rocked the vehicle they were taking shelter behind. The pressure wave of power made her senses ring in a disturbing way she'd never felt before. Gunfire broke out all around them a few moments later.

Rio's body pressed her firmly up against the machine. In another circumstance the closeness would have been nice, but now it just made her feel a bit claustrophobic. She couldn't seem to draw a full breath.

"Get down and stay still," he said into her ear.

Mari desperately wanted to look around to make sure everyone was safe, but she was so terrified that she did what he said without question, ducking down as far as she could. What must have been bullets rang off the metal all around them. Rio held onto her with one hand and stretched to peek around the side of the machine.

When he started to fire, Mari rushed to cover her ears. As she cowered there, she realized that something was wrong with her. The fear racing through her wasn't normal. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest and now she was really having trouble breathing.

She tried to take hold of Rio's arm, because she couldn't make herself speak, but she was far too frightened to accomplish even that.

Behind Rio she saw a figure wreathed in shadows coming toward them. It was like something out of a nightmare—all teeth and claws and viciousness. She tried to call out again, but she just didn't have the breath. Her heartbeat flailed out of control. Darkness encroached on her vision.

Just then Rio looked back at her. It took him precious time to register what was happening, and then he swung around, pistol held out. Mari would have laughed if she could. Nothing that scary could be taken down by bullets. She tried to summon the goddess, but realized at the last second that it was too late. Everything faded to black.