Chapter 23

“Stop.Lift your hands nice and slow,” a man behind Kaine said.

Malcolm was a few meters ahead with the woman. There was no one else on the floor. The computer screens were blank, and only half the lights were on.

Was this the security guard?

Had he been watching over the woman, waiting for something to happen?

Kaine lifted his hands as he was asked. He drew up the shifting heat so it was close to the surface, but he didn’t let it bloom on his skin, not yet anyway.

Malcolm took a few more steps and disappeared into the stairwell with the woman.

Kaine frowned. From what Gerrit had said, Malcolm’s hearing was exceptionally good. He must have heard the man. Which meant he was working with him or preparing his own surprise attack. Kaine hoped for the latter, but he would act as if he were alone.

He turned slowly until he saw the man and confirmed it was indeed the bribed security guard.

“So what now?” Kaine asked, buying as much time as possible for his people, though unfortunately, that also bought time for the Shadow Board.

“You finish what she started. Only this country has been affected. Fix it.”

“Affected by what? The power outage?”

The man swung the gun towards Kaine’s head. He caught the strike with both hands before it connected, breaking the man”s elbow and then smashing his own elbow into his face. As the man folded, Kaine brought his knee up. There was another satisfying crunch of breaking bone and the scent of hot blood. Before the man recovered, Kaine had the pistol pressed hard against the man’s skull. His other hand gripped the man’s collar.

There were flames on the back of his hand now, threatening to burn everything they touched. Via the bond, he was aware of some shit happening with Quentin. As much as he wanted to do something, he pushed it aside for later.

For two heartbeats, he was tempted to pull the trigger. But he wanted the man alive to question him. They needed to pick this apart once and for all. “I want names. Who’s paying you? Who contacted you? How did they contact you? Everything.”

The man’s shifting heat rippled over Kaine.

Fur pushed through the skin of his face as it elongated into a bear’s muzzle. Getting eaten by a bear was not on his list of things to do today.

Kaine fired twice into the shifter’s skull. Blood and brain matter splattered over the floor and desk and him. The noise echoed through the office.

“Fuck!” He dropped the corpse.

The man hadn’t shifted to fight. He shifted because he’d known Kaine would kill him. Because he’d wanted a quick death versus the slow and painful death his employers would give him if he talked.

The stairwell door flew open. Kaine turned, pistol ready, as Malcolm stepped out. “Are you here to finish the job or to help?”

Malcolm lowered his weapon first. “Help. But I see you’ve taken care of it.”

“You heard him, then?”

“Of course I did. But I didn’t want him to realize or to take out the prisoner.”

Kaine gave a single nod. “Next time, give a signal. Let’s go.”

His phone pinged. He pulled it out and read the notification. “Someone is trying to access the system from the basement.”

“Can they do that?”

“There’s only a handful of people who have clearance.” And he was one of them.

“If they hack in, is that going to fuck things up?”

“That depends.” What he’d done wasn’t meant to be a permanent solution. He’d contained the country, limiting the virus’s reach. But it wouldn’t take much to release it. “If they hack in and have enough time, they will find what I did and go around it.”

“So we’re going to the basement?”

“We are. But I don’t want bullets flying around. Bullets and computers don’t mix.”

“I’ve found bullets don’t play nicely with most things.” Malcolm holstered his pistol. “Plan?”

“Not yet.”

Malcolm lifted his hand and made a small circle. “This is all backed up in the cloud or something, right?”

Kaine lifted one eyebrow. “Yeah, it’s all backed up.”

When the power went out, everything would’ve been locked down. The first thing that happened when the power came back on was a backup.

“Does it matter if we ping a few things?”

Data-wise, no. Equipment replacement-wise, yes, even though any damage would be covered by insurance. “I’d really like someone left alive to question.”

Malcolm glanced past him to the body on the floor. “You need to work harder on keeping people alive.”

“You’re still alive.” He studied Malcolm a little harder. Malcolm wasn’t only ex-military. He was a shifter. “Shift and use some of that snow leopard sneakiness.”

“It’s not sneakiness. It’s invisibility.” Malcolm said, as he took off his bullet-proof vest and his shirt without undoing any buttons.

“Sure.” His phone pinged again. “Shit. They’re in.”

He glanced up from his phone, catching Malcolm mid-shift. Plenty of shifters didn’t like to be watched while shifting, and it was always a little disconcerting, watching a human body morph into something else. Malcolm gave a shudder, resettling his spine, then trotted towards the door.

Kaine opened it for him, and they took the stairs to the basement.

With everyone downstairs in the lobby and only the lights on, the building was quiet. Malcolm moved silently, slipping in and out of the shadows, and even though Kaine knew what to look for, it became hard to track him. He didn’t want to be impressed, but he was. Malcolm could’ve been a very dangerous assassin.

They reached the basement and found the door closed. Perhaps they weren’t expecting to be bothered, but as soon as he opened it, he would be a target.

Kaine took a moment to assess which way it opened, then moved to the side with his pistol held close.

Malcolm looked up at him. Kaine held up three fingers and counted down. Then he opened the door. Malcolm slipped through the gap on his belly. Kaine waited another heartbeat, then peered around the corner.

Malcolm had already disappeared into the shadows.

There were two men. One standing guard, the other working.

“Get your hands off the keyboard and keep them where I can see them,” Kaine said as he stepped through. He didn’t recognize either of these men. Were they why the security guard had been brought on, to let them into the building?

That meant they had an unknown number of hostiles inside, as Kaine doubted there were only two.

“I’ve been waiting for you to join us.” The man standing guard said in English with the British accent.

Kaine stayed where he was. “I don’t know who you are, but you shouldn’t be in here. It’s restricted.”

They wouldn’t care about legalities and technicalities like that, but he was buying time so he could figure out his next move and for Malcolm to get close. He could shoot one of them, and maybe he’d be lucky and not damage anything. If he shot first, he assumed Malcolm would attempt to take out the other guy, who hadn’t looked up and was busy getting deeper into the system.

“Login.” The man waved his gun as if indicating for Kaine to come and take a seat.

“No.” They could waste time hacking in.

“Then I’ll shoot you.”

Kaine shrugged. “You kill me, and you’ll never get in.”

“I didn’t say I’d kill you, just shoot you.” The man waved his gun again. People who were trained didn’t wave guns around. They kept them aimed at their target.

“You think shooting me will make me cooperate?”

“People will do anything if you cause them enough pain.”

That was partially true. Some people would do anything. He sensed Malcolm moving around the edges. His own weapon was still held close to his body. In the dim lighting, perhaps the witch didn’t see it.

“Login and undo what you have done.”

“I don’t work for this company. Why do you think I’ve done anything?”

The man turned to him. “I know you duplicated the system.”

That hurt more than a bullet. That little lie he’d told had travelled. He hadn’t duplicated anything. “Your virus took out power to the country. As a result, everything is in lockdown. You can’t get in and do anything. It’s called security protocol.”

“For a man who doesn’t work here, you know a lot about the set up.”

Kaine smiled. “I’m the Chief of Security; I’m supposed to know.”

“I know who you are. And I know what you are.”

“I don’t know who you are, though, witch. Perhaps you could enlighten me?” If the man on the keyboard was good enough and had enough time, he would find a way in. Nothing was ever one hundred percent secure. And the Shadow Board had a head start on what they were looking for.

There was a twitch in the man’s arm as he glanced at something to the side.

Kaine dropped to the floor, aimed, and fired up at the man’s chest. The witch took a couple of steps back, crashing into equipment. His pistol clattered to the concrete floor.

Kaine kicked it away from his hand and turned to the other man. “Stand up and step away from the keyboard.”

Sparks formed on the man’s fingers.

Oh shit. Electricity witch. He did not like getting shocked.

Malcolm lunged out of the shadow, his teeth clamped onto the man’s calf, and he dragged him out of the chair. The electricity witch scrambled to hold on to something as he screamed.

Kaine’s heart gave an odd beat as if it had forgotten what to do.

“You feel that?” the witch on the ground rasped.

Kaine turned and put his hand over his heart. He struggled to swallow. What the hell was wrong with him?

The witch had his hand over the gunshot wound. Dark blood leaked between his fingers. “I’m a blood witch. And you’re a bag of blood. Login.”

The other witch had gone quiet. Perhaps Malcolm had smothered him. Maybe he’d ripped out the man’s throat. Kaine didn’t care.

Kaine took the seat, mostly because he needed it. His blood was too heavy, and his head too light. His heart wasn’t working…it was failing. He was dying.

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you live long enough to see the end of the human age and the beginning of the age of witches. Next time you are reborn, you will be in the service of a witch. Your brothers, too.”

Kaine inhaled in a shaky breath as pain radiated through his chest and back and down his arms. Is this what it felt like to have a heart attack? Was Quentin also feeling it? He put his hands on the keyboard. There was only one thing he could try, and it may not work.

Did the shifting heat flow through his blood, or did it just feel that way? And if it was in his blood, would the blood witch control that too?

“You’re losing a lot of blood. You’ll be dead before I get in,” Kaine said, his voice strained.

“I can control my blood flow. Reinforcements aren’t far away. I suggest you make a start.” The witch drew in a breath, and Malcolm let out a howl of pain.

Kaine cleared what the other witch had done, backtracking and unraveling as he brought his shifting heat back up to the surface.

As he did, he reached for Quentin. He wished they’d had more time to work on the bond; then perhaps he’d be able to read the blood witch”s mind.

If they’d had more time, he could’ve gotten to know Quentin so much better. For a moment, everything they hadn’t done consumed him. They hadn’t even gone on a proper date. He hadn’t introduced him to his brothers. He hadn’t put Quentin’s name or magic in his book. How is he supposed to find him in the future if he didn’t remember him?

There were so many things he should have made time for instead of thinking he always had more time, if not in this life, then in the next one. It didn’t seem fair to have found someone he wanted to explore the present with only to have it taken away before he had the chance to live.

He wanted to make the most of this life.

He didn’t want to wait for another.

His eyes prickled, and he wanted to blame the magic slowing his heart, but it was a lie.

He’d wasted his life…and also Quentin’s. He reached for his mate, and for a moment, he didn’t know where he was. He stood in a corridor, confused by all the doors. Where was Quentin, and what was he doing?

He turned and saw Everest, but his brother was different, and there was something terrifying about him. It took him a moment to realize they were in Everest’s mind. What were all the doors?

Kaine? Quentin’s voice filled his head.

I’m sorry.

He wrapped his fire around Quentin to protect him from Everest. He should never have asked.

Did he deserve a mate? He talked of the Fates and how it was meant to be, but he felt very mortal, and he didn’t understand how they could do this to Quentin. To them. It was cruel to bring them together just to have them die.

Why, once again, he was doomed to die young?

“Why are you doing this?” He kept his fingers moving, but they were slow.

The heat increased, but he wasn’t ready yet, and he’d only have one chance.

“The age of secrecy is over. If we don’t want to be hunted, we need to be the hunters.” He did something that made Kaine’s heart squeeze too tight.

It was hard to breathe. He needed to shed this body.

I…was it love? I want the chance to fall in love with you.

He didn’t know if Quentin was receiving the thoughts. Write my book for me. Do something amazing with the weeks you have if I don’t make it.

“Why enslave shifters?” He forced the words out.

“Why not? There has to be a villain for witches to be seen as the heroes.” The blood witch moved as though to get to his feet.

Kaine let the heat bloom, fast and brutal. His clothes ignited as he broke free of flesh and blood and the witch’s magic.

The fire alarm sounded, and the sprinklers overhead burst to life.

Kaine let out a cry and flapped towards the door. He hated the rain, and he hated being indoors when shifted.

All he wanted was his mate.

Find me.