28

HAWK

MY hands clenched into fists as I followed Zeph into the basement. Ivy’s words played in my head on an unending loop, her touch seared into my skin. I’d thought holding her while her magic cooled down had been bad. That having her in my arms without being able to do anything had tested every bit of control I had. But having her so close, with her scent invading all my senses—that had tested me. The fire in her eyes had burned brightly with her need to protect her friend. I admired it to a degree. But I still didn”t trust the little blonde, and I’d make sure she didn’t come back to bite us in the ass.

The rest of my team was already waiting by the armoury when Zeph and I approached. Jessup nodded once before returning to his hand-held, one of the few older, more magically advanced devices we had access to. I had to give it to Queen Greer—she never shied away from advancing our world with the inventions of humans. And adapting them for our own needs with magic had been brilliant.

Konrad and Corbin shared a look, both leaning against the concrete walls. Konrad moved first to secure our little corner of the garage with a spell to enclose the perimeter and hide our voices. At the same time, Corbin did a quick check to ensure we were completely alone.

“So, we have a plan yet?” Jessup asked, finally looking up from his device. He was like the younger brother I never wanted but was stuck with. “Or is Grey hesitating to move?”

Under other circumstances, I would have told him off for speaking like that about a superior, but I shook my head. “We have a plan in motion. We should depart soon unless Her Highness has another power surge and is no longer stable.”

I had a feeling that more than one of them wanted to comment on what happened. I hadn’t given them any details about the extent of my involvement in helping her through the surge—if I had at all, really. I liked to think I played a hand in grounding her to reality rather than her emotions. But the rest of my team didn’t need to know that. I rarely kept anything from them, but for some reason, I felt like I didn’t need to reveal this to them.

Instead of giving them what they clearly wanted, I moved on. “We have the all clear from Grey regarding our original evac plan, so now it’s all about setting it up. We are cleared for five vehicles; more will be brought in within the next twenty-four hours, so we have the supplies we need.”

Corbin ran a hand through his hair as he glanced at me and then down at his feet. “Are we in full control of this plan, or are Grey and her team going to interfere?”

I stared at my tracker for a long moment before shaking my head. “Grey herself will have input, but we won’t have to worry about the rest of her team. Kingsley might fight us regarding his mate, but we have control here.” I understood why he was asking; he’d been on a team previously where his leader had ended up being second to another group of agents, and the mission they’d been on had ended with his entire team dead from piss-poor instructions.

The reason he needed to be on this team was that we specialised in smaller units with little to no chance of being taken over by a higher power. We were given instructions, an objective, and that was it. We were trusted to make the plan and carry it out.

This was different, and we all knew it. “We may be the specialists here, but our future Queen has made it clear she trusts her original team only.”

Zeph snorted and shook his head. “The same team that almost got her killed,” he muttered. “And from what I’ve gathered, she really doesn”t like us.”

I stiffened, feeling the weight of his gaze on me, the implication clear. Maybe, given the right chance, she might have trusted us. But I was the reason why she never would. It was probably for the best that she didn’t. It wasn’t our job to make her trust us.

Ignoring him, I turned back to Corbin. “You’re going on a scouting mission with the other shifters to clear the surrounding areas and make sure we’re safe to move. Jessup, you’ll double-check the roads we’ll take to the ferry. Make sure each vehicle has an alternative route.” I turned to Konrad next. “You’ll be working with Kingsley to prep the vehicles for leaving, and Zephyr, you’re on communications.”

I glanced around the circle, though my gaze landed on Zeph. “Keep your heads down and stay away from the future Queen and her family. We don’t need any distractions, and the last thing I need is for any of Grey’s team to think you’re showing interest in her.” I couldn’t help but direct that to the vampire, who had taken a chance to check Ivy out. It shouldn’t have annoyed me in the way it did, but I’d wanted to punch the smug smirk off his face.

“We’re responsible for getting them out of here safely and without any casualties,” I continued, crossing my arms over my chest as I swung my gaze over the team. “Let’s not forget our mission.”

Murmurs of agreement filled our little circle of privacy. I knew they wouldn’t do anything to overstep the clear lines Grey had drawn on day one. But I didn’t want them even thinking about it. I didn’t want them looking at her with those thoughts running through their heads.

The team started to move, the meeting clearly over, but my run-in earlier made me uneasy, the knowledge that no one could identify Thea making me speak again.

“One more thing,” I said, stopping my guys from leaving. “Keep an eye on her best friend. Thea Riley. I don’t believe she doesn’t know what she is. She belongs to something. Figure out what.”

Jessup was the first to nod, and soon the others followed. There was a chance she was some kind of hybrid creature, born from so many different species that she had no more use than a human. She’d exhibited nothing powerful from what I’d learnt, and as a halfling myself, I knew when a certain blood type won when another was in the mix. Sometimes, a more dominant species reared its head, like with me. Other times, the two lines mingled effectively to share power.

My gut told me that whatever that girl was, it wasn’t a half-breed. She wasn’t like me or the others.

I stepped out of the circle we’d formed, effectively breaking the sound-proofing spell Konrad had erected. There was another meeting I needed to have, one that shouldn’t have weighed so heavily on me.

~

I returned to the room Jessup and I shared, my body aching with the need to be free, though I clamped down on those feelings quickly. There was one more thing I needed to worry about today, and then, as soon as midnight hit, I’d be out in the forest and taking my own form for a few hours to patrol the boundary.

I could almost taste the promise of frost in the air and feel the wind on my face.

But first, I had work to do.

The magic I could do was limited, but I activated the shield around my bedroom regardless, following the steps ingrained in me. I checked the door and windows three times before finally sitting at the small desk in the corner of the room. This was one of the few twin shares on the ground level of the house; two single beds sat against the opposite wall with a simple table between them holding a lamp, while the desk was designed for single use. We had a small ensuite shared with the other twin room, which had a lock on the inside and outside. Konrad had made sure as soon as we arrived that the locks to our rooms couldn’t be touched by other mages or Fae, so I wasn’t worried about them.

Rolling my shoulders to loosen the tension, I headed for the shared bathroom connecting two bedrooms. The door to the second room was shut, so I flicked the lock and checked it to make sure it was secure.

Like Grey, I had an enchanted tablet, only mine wasn’t a gift from Queen Greer’s mate.

I entered the code I’d been given and waited three long minutes for the device to go through its security checks. It was perhaps one of the few things I hated about these things.

My mind wandered to the dark eyes of my future Queen. I still had my reservations about her and her ability to rule. She was so wrapped up in her emotions and worried about others that I feared she wasn’t strong enough to rule like our world needed her to. But I wanted her to be capable of it. I wanted to see her take the throne and thrive as the Queen she was destined to be. It went against everything I’d been training for, yet I found myself hoping she would do better.

I wasn’t sure if it was her natural pull or if it was something else. Her power was intoxicating, and Fae loved powerful beings. It was part of our basic nature. We surrounded ourselves with those who heightened our own status with their magic. It was why I was confident Thea Riley wasn’t a half-breed—she emitted a different kind of power, one so unfamiliar it almost seemed fake.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I blinked and turned towards the tablet I had angled to face me on the desk. The woman on the other end offered me a sly smile as she sat back in her armchair. Red hair hung in long curls and small braids around her face, and charms rattled as she chuckled.

I cleared my throat and shifted in my chair, taking in the darkened room she was sitting in, the silence that sent a shudder through me from her end.

“Seer,” I said, bowing my head.

Her grin made my stomach twist, and the glint in her eyes should have been enough to warn me of her intentions. I’d spent so long working to get to this place, and I wasn’t about to risk losing this position.

The Seer cocked her head as if reading my thoughts. “Shall we begin then, Hawk Nash?”