16. SIXTEEN

sixteenAstorm was gathering in Liam’s eyes. It was made all the more frightening because of his utter lack of expression.

“I’ll explain later. For now, watch yourself.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I always do,” Nathan said. “What should I do with this bomb?”

That was what I’d like to know too.

He’d better not say set it off. I hadn’t had Gwyneth 2.0 nearly long enough to part with her under these circumstances.

“The djinn should have a method for handling this,” Liam said.

“She’s not going to be happy about that.”

Our altitude began to drop as the harpies arrowed toward the Gargoyle’s roof.

“Remind her that the bomb is an attempt to kill her patron and its placement happened on her territory,” Liam bit out in a loss of patience. “Then get back to the Gargoyle.”

There was a click as he hung up.

Rather than aim for the ground, the harpies deposited me on the only flat part of the roof. A narrow ledge between two stone arches that was no more than a couple feet wide and about six feet long. The ground was three stories below, the stone steps leading to the mansion’s entrance promising a painful death if I fell.

I caught my balance as Frankie and Leah set me down.

“You can handle it from here, right?” Frankie said with a twisted smile as she stepped off the ledge without waiting for me to answer. Her wings snapped out to carry her away.

Leah waved, following her friend into the air.

“Is this payback for Alches?” I shouted after them as their friends deposited Liam next to me and took off without a word.

Alone, I grumbled to myself, eyeing the steep, upward slope of the roof behind me and the long drop in front. “How are we even supposed to get down from here?”

If I jumped, I’d break bones but probably live. Not an appealing option unless there was really no other way.

Natalia streaked out of the sky to land on the dormers next to me. “We’ll have your prisoners delivered in a few hours.”

“I’ll make arrangements,” Liam responded with a tired wave.

“How about a lift the rest of the way to the ground?” I asked.

Natalia’s smirk was playful as she fell off the dormer, her wings flaring to allow her to glide after her sisters.

“I’d like to say I’m surprised she abandoned us on our own roof, but I’m not.”

And that was a little sad.

I guess that was the price you paid for flying Harpy Air.

Liam’s response was a low moan as he collapsed. I caught his arm as he folded forward, nearly losing my footing as he almost went over the ledge.

“Hold on, Liam,” I whispered in his ear, wrapping my arms around him as I pulled him back to safety. “Thomas! Help!” I screamed, feeling like an idiot for shouting from the rooftop. But desperate measures and all that.

Liam was shivering, the force of his trembles threatening to rip him from my grasp. I shifted my grip, lowering him to the roof and putting myself between him and the edge.

“I thought you were better after you drained those hunters,” I hissed when I checked his wound to find it and the skin around it entirely black.

“I’m fine.”

Insufferable, arrogant man.

“This doesn’t look fine to me,” I snapped, digging into his back pocket for his phone.

I inputted the pass code, opening his contacts and scrolling to the person who was almost always in the Gargoyle.

I pressed call.

“Aileen, I’ve already sent Makoto and Daniel up there.”

“Rick.” Not the person I had called.

I glanced at the phone to see if I’d dialed the wrong number by accident. Nope. Makoto’s name was still on display. I put my ear against the phone again, no less confused than I was before.

Rick was an enforcer like the rest, but I didn’t know him well. He had a tendency to wander, turning up at the oddest of times. Usually when he was needed most.

Until this second, I’d thought he was out of state.

“They should be there now,” he said.

A window opened under us. A man with chin length, multi-colored hair and a shaved head on the lower part stuck his head out of it to look up at me. “Found them!”

“Thanks, Rick. You’re right. I see them.”

Makoto crawled out of the window and up the wall like he was a spider. Daniel followed him. Another of Liam’s enforcers, the man always reminded me of a tall, blond Viking.

“I promise Liam will be fine,” Rick assured me as the enforcers pulled themselves onto my rapidly shrinking ledge. “As soon as he expunges the silver nitrate from his system, he’ll be right as rain.”

Rick hung up before I had a chance to respond.

I lowered the phone, nodding a greeting at the other two.

“This is a first.” Makoto let out a low exclamation when he spotted a slumped over and unresponsive Liam.

“What happened?” Daniel asked.

“We were ambushed by hunters.”

Daniel knelt in front of Liam. “How did they get the drop on him?”

“They had a sniper.”

Daniel slung Liam over his shoulder and rose.

“How did you end up on the roof?” Makoto asked, patting the head of the gargoyle hiding in the shadows of the dormers. It was an odd place for the statue, invisible to anyone standing on the ground. Even I hadn’t noticed it until Makoto called my attention to it.

“Harpies.”

Makoto pursed his lips. “That would do it.”

Daniel walked toward the edge of the roof, not pausing even when he reached the end. I jolted forward as he dropped out of sight.

“Don’t worry. They’re fine,” Makoto assured me as I leaned over the edge. “Us older vampires are pretty sturdy.”

To my relief, Daniel and Liam were fine. Daniel’s steps didn’t even show a limp as he walked into the mansion.

Makoto held his arms out to me.

“Would you prefer princess carry or being slung over the shoulder?”

“Neither.” I pointed at the window they’d climbed out of. “What’s wrong with going back through there?”

“This way is quicker. Up to you, though. If you prefer the slow method while your boyfriend is in peril, we can use the window.” Makoto’s shrug said he didn’t care one way or the other.

“Princess carry it is.”

Someone had been reading too many romances. Princess carry. Such a ridiculous name. Still, it beat being slung over Makoto’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Makoto swept me off my feet and dropped over the ledge before I could react. His demented laughter echoed in my ears as I caught my breath on a scream.

Stupid, crazy vampire.

We landed with a hard jolt three stories below where we’d started. Makoto released my legs, letting them drop to the ground. I steadied myself.

Somehow, transport across the city via harpy was less terrifying than a three second fall in Makoto’s arms.

I forced my shaky legs to carry me up the stairs. “Let’s never do that again.”

“You have to admit—it was quick though.”

I marched down the hallway. Vampires didn’t often need doctors or healers due to their quick regeneration, but every once in a while, one of us bit off more than they could fix on their own.

That’s when they were sent to Joseph. A man who reminded me of a caged tiger with the arrogance to match.

To check on Liam, I’d have to breech Joseph’s inner sanctum—and hope the tiger didn’t feel like eating me.

The low groan of pain from the room ahead had me moving a little faster. I reached the end of the hall, pushing open the door to a room I was more familiar with than I should have been considering my short tenure as a vampire. Most enforcers see Joseph a handful of times in a decade. That was the number of times I’d ended up under his care in a single year.

A vampire leaned over Liam, digging into his shoulder with a set of implements that looked more like torture devices than medical tools.

Liam flinched as the vampire dug deeper. “Easy.”

“Patients should know better than to complain when someone is kind enough to save their lives.” The vampire didn’t look up at my entrance, twisting one of the instruments a little deeper.

Veins bulged in Liam’s temples as he endured.

“They should sit quietly and hope their doctor doesn’t decide they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

The scent of Liam’s blood was strong and getting stronger.

I breathed carefully through my nose, lust and hunger making it difficult to think as my fangs snicked down.

Stand down, libido. Now isn’t the time.

The response was an instinctual one, but that didn’t make me feel much better about my horny self. Liam was hurt and here I was thinking about blood and sex.

Nice way of showing empathy, Lena.

Even if it wasn’t the height of insensitivity to feed/fuck my injured boyfriend, it would probably kill me to ingest blood tainted with silver nitrate.

Joseph made one last tiny movement, drawing another low sound from Liam. “Got it.”

He withdrew a mangled bullet from Liam’s body and held it up to inspect. Covered in blood, it looked misshapen and smashed.

Liam struggled to sit up. “Your bedside manner is just as shitty as I remember.”

Joseph pressed him back down, his gaze still on the bullet. “People who let themselves get shot don’t deserve my bedside manner.”

Makoto crossed the room to the desk Daniel was standing in front of before turning to sit on it. “I’m pretty sure your bedside manner never existed.”

“If your ass touches that desk, you’ll have to heal your next wound on your own.” Joseph’s smile showed his fangs and his eyes glittered with a menace that suggested he’d be responsible for inflicting said wound.

Makoto froze in the process of lifting himself up. He dropped back to the floor and pretended he’d never thought about it in the first place.

Joseph tossed his instruments into the bowl beside him. “I’ve extracted the bullet. For now, what he needs is blood. The more powerful and plentiful the better.”

Joseph had a face that invited sin. His hazel eyes were striking against his brown skin. Healer or not, he gave off an untamed energy that made it feel like his humanity was only skin deep. As if his civilized veneer was an illusion that could shred at a moment’s notice.

Thomas swept into the room while Joseph was still giving instruction on Liam’s care. “How is he?”

“Alive.” Joseph reached for a towel to clean his hands. “Which, given the extent of his silver poisoning, is quite the feat.”

“He’ll recover then?”

“As I told your idiots, all he needs is blood. Sex would also help,” he added as an afterthought in my direction.

I made a strangled sound as several pairs of eyes landed on me.

“What’s wrong?” Joseph asked in a querulous voice. “Aren’t you two together?”

Makoto bit his lip, staring at the ground while his shoulders shook with silent laughter. Daniel was an impassive statue, his expression unchanged. Thomas looked like nothing surprised him anymore when it came to the healer.

“Was I wrong?” Joseph asked, looking around the room when no one answered him.

A tired smile hung on Liam’s lips as he watched the exchange. He rested his head on the pillow behind him, his eyes alive in his exhausted face. He was still ghostly pale, but I was relieved to see his wound no longer bled black. The trickle of blood was already slowing. It was a sign his healing was returning.

That was good. Very good.

“Why sex?” I asked, distracted by Thomas using a silver blade to slice a line along his wrist before offering the wound to Liam.

Joseph didn’t immediately answer my question as he moved away from the bed to give the two room. Liam pounced on Thomas’s arm, drawing a tiny wince from the Master of the City at his roughness.

“No matter how civilized we might pretend to be, vampires are simple at heart. Two things drive us. Blood—and sex. Both are necessary for healing of this nature. Thomas and the others can fulfill one need, but you’ll have to take care of the second.” Joseph stopped to frown at me. “Unless that is a problem for you? We can find someone more willing if you’d prefer.”

Liam pushed Thomas’s arm away, finished with him. Daniel was next to offer his already bleeding wrist.

Liam fell on it with a ravenous growl that pulled at things in my core. Or maybe that was because of the way his gaze remained fixed on me like a starving man looking at his first meal after an eternity of deprivation. It seemed to say that he couldn’t wait until it was me under his fangs.

Shivers of arousal moved down my spine. The masculine look on Liam’s face sending a heady wave of desire through me.

“I see it won’t be a problem after all,” Joseph quipped, picking up on the rising tension between us. “My part here is done. Ensure he feeds from all the enforcers before moving on to Aileen.”

Thomas touched my elbow as Joseph gathered his bloody instruments and departed. “You should come with me.”

I hesitated, not wanting to leave Liam’s side. “What about him?”

Seeing me next to Thomas, Liam’s gaze grew more possessive. A growl warned of his unhappiness as he pulled Daniel’s arm more fully toward him.

“This is going to take a while, and it may be best for his control if you’re not here in the meantime,” Thomas said.

I could see what he meant. Rather than helping, my presence seemed to be a source of agitation to Liam. If I remained, there was a chance he would get more volatile and hurt himself.

I nodded my understanding and followed Thomas out with one last look at Liam. A crash came the second I stepped outside. Daniel and Makoto raised their voices in an effort to subdue Liam.

Thomas’s hand wrapped around my arm when I turned to go back. “Shh, now. He will be fine. They have him.”

I didn’t resist as Thomas led me away, knowing he was right. We didn’t go far, entering a room I suspected belonged to Joseph. In one corner was a desk with glass beakers like you’d see in a chemistry lab. The walls were a rich navy color that should have felt oppressive but instead looked opulent.

“How did Liam get into that state? You two were supposed to be pursuing a lead. Not risking your lives,” Thomas said unhappily

“We were. At least fifteen hunters ambushed us. They had a sniper, which was how they got Liam. We were lucky to get away. If the harpies hadn’t intervened, one or both of us would be dead.”

Saying all that out loud made me realize just how close it had been. I steeled myself against the aftershock of fear that a brush with death always brought.

“Did you learn anything?”

I nodded, telling him what the harpies had told me. About how Dominick and his vampires had been here longer than they’d led us to believe. About how the harpies had seen the vampire and hunter working together to place a bomb under my car. Everything he needed to connect Dominick with the hunters infesting the city.

“Well done, Aileen,” Thomas said as the sounds of Nathan’s arrival came from the hallway. He looked over as Nathan entered the room. “That might protect us if the council decides to involve themselves.”

“Might?” I asked. “We have eyewitness testimony that Dominick’s vampire conspired with a hunter. Shouldn’t that be enough to kick him out of this territory?”

Thomas watched me with a steady gaze.

“You don’t want to make him leave,” I said in realization.

A faint smile touched Thomas’s lips. “This battle has been brewing for a long time. I’m not willing to let this opportunity pass from my hands.”

I looked from Thomas to Nathan in wordless disbelief. The enforcer didn’t appear surprised by Thomas’s statement. His expression accepting as he met my gaze.

“Does this have anything to do with your sire being in play?” I asked.

Thomas’s face hardened as he remained leaning against a corner of the desk. “Knowing Dominick and his master have targeted my sire makes me want to rip them apart with my bare hands, but that’s not my sole reason for letting this situation play out.”

Thomas pushed off the desk, his passage slow and steady as he crossed the room to me. “They targeted you. They shot my brother. Dominick and his people won’t leave this city alive.”

I held very still, conscious of the predator in front of me.

Thomas’s gaze didn’t leave mine as he spoke to the enforcer behind him. “What is it, Nathan?”

“There’s something you ought to know. A couple of harpies dropped off some hunters on our way back. They said Aileen would know what to do with them.”

Thomas lifted an eyebrow at me. “Friends of yours?”

I tugged on my ear. “I had Natalia and her sisters collect any hunters still living. I thought we could interrogate them to see what else they have planned.”

At the time, I’d been hoping to use the information to force Dominick out of the city, but since that was no longer a possibility, maybe we could learn something that would help protect us.

Honestly, I was surprised Natalia had delivered them so fast. I’d been sure she’d want to do her own interrogation on them first.

“The flock leader also said she wanted to be kept in the loop if we found anything interesting,” Nathan added.

“Shall we, then?” Thomas asked me, offering his arm.

I blinked in confusion.

“If you don’t think you’re up to it, you can sit this one out,” Thomas said when I didn’t move. “I know how much you love humans. I wouldn’t want to offend your sensibilities.”

Nathan didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “He’s got you there, A.”

I shot Nathan a quelling look. “They shot Liam and tried to take us captive. Any squeamishness I might have had went out the window after that.”

They were going to regret hurting him. Human or not.

Buzzcut, Gray Hair and Braces hung in a row, their faces swollen and streaked with blood. It was hard to tell if their bruises came courtesy of the harpies’ care or if they were a product of their encounter with the sentinel. Likely both.

They’d been strung up until their toes barely brushed the floor, their whole weight supported by their shoulders and wrists. From that position, it would feel like their muscles were threatening to rip and their joints to dislocate.

Buzzcut’s wrist looked slightly mushy, the swollen, purple mess making me think it was broken.

He and Gray Hair’s expressions were impassive as they squinted against the bright lights Thomas’s people had aimed at their faces. Braces nearly hyperventilated in fear, his breathing fast and rapid.

At our entrance, Anton pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against.

Thomas nodded at him to begin.

Anton acknowledged the order with an incline of his chin before prowling toward the prisoners. He circled them, making sure they could hear his passage even if they couldn’t see him.

It was an intimidation tactic, since I knew very well that he could move undetected should he wish.

It worked, too. Braces flinched with every footfall, quailing as much as he could with his arms locked over his head.

“I hear you guys like to hunt my kind,” Anton purred, still keeping out of sight behind the lights. “Must make you feel like big men, huh?”

Anton shoved Braces.

Whimpers filled the room. Braces’ toes scrabbled for purchase on the ground as Anton’s push set him to swaying.

“I asked you a question,” Anton crooned.

“No.”

“Really?”

“Okay, yes.”

Anton’s chuckles made me hunch over. Why did he have to be so damn creepy every time he did this?

“Let’s start with an easy question, shall we? Tell me your names.”

Buzzcut and Gray Hair stared forward with stony faces.

Anton’s sigh slithered through the room. “I figured you wouldn’t make this easy on me.”

“As if he would want that,” Nathan muttered in a low voice only the vampires would hear.

“You have no idea what’s coming your way,” Gray Hair spat.

Anton stopped in front of him. “Enlighten me.”

The man’s throat worked as he hocked up a wad of spit. Before he could expel it, Anton caught him by the neck and wrenched. His spine snapped, his body going limp.

“Such a pity.” Anton wiped his hands off on the man’s clothes as if touching the human had left them dirty. “He could have lived if he’d simply been civil.”

Braces struggled against his chains, whining like a terrified animal.

Anton moved toward him, giving him another push. “How about you? Do you want to tell me your name?”

The boy broke. “Clive. It’s Clive.”

Nathan let out a guffaw. “Talk about a stereotype.”

“And your friend?”

“Elliot,” Clive answered without hesitation.

“Shut the fuck up, Clive. You shut your mouth or I’ll kill you. You don’t tell them anything. Nothing, do you hear?”

Anton’s arm flashed, opening up four cuts the length of my forearm on Elliot’s chest. Blood quickly soaked his shirt front.

“I wasn’t speaking to you, Elliot. Good boys stay quiet until it’s their turn.” Anton’s face gentled as he looked back at Clive. “Now, tell me why were you at Easton.”

Clive gulped as he took in the amount of blood spilling from Elliot’s wounds. His eyes were wide enough to see the whites around his irises. “W-we were told that our target would be there.”

“And who told you this?”

“I-I don’t know.” Anton’s expression made Clive sob. “I really don’t. One of the other squad leaders was responsible for that part.”

Anton erased the unhappiness from his face as he nodded soothingly. “Let’s try something else. Do you know who your targets were?”

“Just some chick named Aileen and some man she always has with her.”

I came to attention.

Anton was already on top of it. “So, you weren’t targeting the person your friend shot tonight?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” Clive whined. “All I know is Isaac got really excited when he saw this Liam person and said we weren’t going to wait for the other. He said Liam was on our list of targets anyway. The older members of the clan agreed with him. Someone said they’d been after him for a long time but he’d always been protected until now.”

Anton and Thomas shared a look.

“The council has a ban on enforcers being hunted.” Anton’s jaw tightened as fury lit his eyes. “The clans know if anyone touches an enforcer they’ll be eradicated. That’s the agreement.”

“If they’re declaring open season on us, the council might not care about any evidence we present to them about Dominick’s involvement,” Nathan said.

“That’s a problem for later.” Thomas tilted his chin at the two hunters still living. “Get the rest of what we need.”

Anton turned back to Clive.

By this point, Elliot was barely hanging onto consciousness due to blood loss.

“How did you know to be at Easton?”

“We got a tip.”

My fists clenched. “Kat.”

She must have caught a glimpse of Natalia while leaving the bar and put the pieces together. The fucking bitch. I was going to kill her.

“How did she realize we were going to be at Easton though?” I asked. “That’s not harpy territory.”

“Kat has a talent for understanding the political climate of the city,” Thomas responded. “There’s a reason I kept her at my side for as long as I did. Her problem lies in her arrogance and the foolish belief that she is superior to everyone else. I blame Sofia for that. She spoiled the child.”

I was incensed, wishing I could hunt that woman down immediately.

“Calm down, Aileen. It isn’t her time yet,” Thomas instructed. “This situation is delicate. We can’t afford to make enemies of Davinish. We’ll need them on our side since Sienna has found evidence that several of the smaller houses have decided to side with Dominick.”

“Kat’s already betrayed her,” I snarled.

“Yes, but she’s also her many times great grandchild. It makes the situation complicated.”

I settled back with a frown. Frickin vampires and their “complicated”.

I didn’t want to be patient. I wanted to kill the bitch before she became even more of a problem.

Elliot forced his eyes open a crack. “You’re a coward, Clive. We never should have let you join us.”

“It’s not my fault. I don’t want to die like this!” Clive blubbered. “I’m not like the rest of you guys. I’ve never killed any of them before.”

“Do you really think they’ll let either of us live?”

Clive’s eyes were pleading as he focused on Anton.

The enforcer patted him on the cheek. “There’s no reason we can’t work something out. That is—if you really haven’t killed any of us.”

Clive shook his head frantically. “I really haven’t. I swear.”

“Then tell me more about this man you were supposed to catch. The one you said is always with Aileen.”

“He’s blond and has blue eyes. That’s all I know.”

My sire was deathly still as Anton checked with him. We all knew Connor was the original male target, but knowing something was different than hearing about it firsthand.

My sire stepped away from the wall. “This man you were supposed to capture. What were you planning to do with him?”

Clive searched to see who was speaking. “They wanted to use him to send a message.”

Elliot chuckled. “That’s right. We were going to torture him and the woman.”

The enforcers in the room were very quiet.

“We were going to do it slow. Take our time over several days. Make every cut hurt as much as possible.”

“Why?” I asked when everyone else remained silent.

Elliot’s face moved in my direction. “Because it would be fun.” His sneer showed his blood-stained smile. “And because we know your kind can sense when your progeny are in pain. Can you think how amazing that would have been? Torturing their sire with their pain without ever having to set a hand on him?” Elliot’s eyelids fluttered as he gave an orgasmic exhale. “I can’t think of anything more pleasurable.”

Nathan caught my arm, his eyes on Thomas as he eased me away from my sire.

I followed the direction of his gaze, freezing at the expression there.

Wrath engulfed his face. Pure, all-encompassing rage. An emotion so overwhelming it obliterated everything else.

It was hard to believe the entity before me had ever been human. There was nothing of humanity left in him. He was the primordial terror we’d buried in our subconscious but were reminded of in situations like this one.

“We’ve just gotten started,” Elliot ranted, spittle flying. “You and your demon spawn—”

I didn’t see Thomas move. Just heard a wet gurgle and saw the spray of blood as Thomas ripped out his throat.

“Should one of us stop him?” Anton asked, appearing next to me as if by magic.

“Be my guest. I won’t get in your way.” Nathan paused to think. “It might be amusing. Why don’t you do that? Aileen and I will wait.”

Anton’s glare was interrupted by Clive’s sobbing. He sighed at the teenager. “Will you stop that?”

The question only made Clive cry louder.

Thomas lifted his head from Elliot’s throat. Blood covered his jaw and neck. His white dress shirt now looked like a Rorschach test. Thomas licked his lips, his gray eyes like liquid silver.

To my surprise, Elliot wasn’t dead. His heart beat was slow and unsteady, but still there.

“You couldn’t have waited until I finished the interrogation?” Anton complained.

“Feed him some of our blood. Keep him and the other alive.” Thomas’s expression was dismissive as he glanced at Clive. “Do to them what they wanted to do to my children.”

Clive pulled on his chains, struggling to get free. “You said you’d let me go if I talked.”

Anton’s look was cool. “We lied.”

The devastation on Clive’s face should have made me feel some kind of empathy for him. But hearing how they’d planned to torture Connor and I as a means to weaken Thomas had left me in an unforgiving mood.

Thomas paused beside me, his gaze seeming to ask if I was going to object.

I might have if I didn’t remember the excitement in Clive’s eyes when he first pointed his gun at us. The fervor of a zealot burning bright in his face. He hadn’t felt any doubt about his cause then. Not even a second of hesitation.

“Please,” Clive moaned. “Please save me.”

If I’d been the one begging, would he have given me respite?

I knew the answer without having to think. No, he wouldn’t have. He’d have laughed in the face of my pain.

Seeing my answer, Thomas looked at Anton. “When you’re done, make them vampires. I want them to feel despair over knowing they’ll never get into their heaven before you kill them.”

Mental note—never make Thomas my enemy.

He was vicious, not even sparing the idea of their souls. If they really existed.

Thomas guided me outside. Nathan followed.

“You said a bomb was discovered under Aileen’s car?” Thomas asked.

“That’s right.” Nathan looked at me. “It’s likely Aileen and Connor would have been in the car when it blew if the hunter and Dominick’s vampire weren’t murdered.”

“Strange way for them to capture us,” I said.

A blast like that would have ripped me apart. I’d have died. Connor might have survived though.

“It would have been difficult for them to take Connor otherwise,” Thomas said. “They assumed his torture would affect me worse than yours.”

Should I be offended that they were probably right?

“If you did manage to survive, they would have had a second bargaining chip,” Nathan said.

“It seems Ahrun’s intervention saved you both. Perhaps he’s not as far gone as we feared.” The last part was said in a low voice as Thomas’s gaze turned distant. “Inform the clans to search their territories for signs of explosives. From the number of hunters Aileen saw in Easton, it’s likely this isn’t the end. They’ll try a multi-pronged attack next.”

Nathan cursed. “You think they’ll drive a wedge between you and your allies?”

“They will certainly try.” Thomas’s lips quirked. “It’s kind of them to weed out my enemies for me.”