Chapter Twenty-Six

Never once had Henri ever thought he would be in a position where he had to reason with a mob boss.

“Have you ever performed your magic with a fae before?” If he had then maybe Henri would trust no hostage would get harmed.

“I don’t see where it matters.” Not that he answered the question.

“There’s no way for us to know how effective you and Echo are together. If you leave even one of them out, they could kill a hostage. Or perhaps you’d accidentally include one of the hostages.” It wasn’t a risk Henri would take, but it wasn’t up to him. All he could do was argue his case.

Echo leaned over and whispered in his ear. Inside Sylvain’s vehicle, the sound traveled pretty far. “Don’t argue with the mob boss.”

Sylvain chuckled for reasons Henri couldn’t comprehend.

Henri rolled his eyes. When he spoke, he spoke aloud. “What’s he going to do? Kill me. We’re probably already dead anyway.”

Echo gasped. His eyes widened. He darted a glance to Sylvain, as though gauging his reaction to Henri’s statement.

All Sylvain did was smirk. “I won’t do anything to him.”

They had little time before they had to come up with some sort of plan. They couldn’t hide out in the car forever. It wouldn’t be long before Rocky got there, and they had to figure it out before then.

“Timing is everything. At least in our current situation. You haven’t tested your magic together. Not like Echo and Lucas have. For that reason, we should at least wait for backup.”

“We won’t need backup. But I’ll concede. We strike at the right time. When the humans are distracted.”

“The dragon shifters can create a distraction. They are huge and noticeable. And the sun is going down, so they’ll create a bigger shadow on the ground, which could benefit us,” Echo added. It was a good plan.

Sylvain nodded. “I rarely compromise.”

“But…” Henri met his gaze with his eyebrows raised.

“But.” Sylvain drew out the word. “I’m willing to make an exception because it’s a better plan than the one I had. And you’re right, we should be cautious, considering innocent lives are at stake.”

Henri had a feeling Sylvain didn’t deal with innocent people very often, at least not directly.

We have a plan. Of sorts. We need you and the others to create a distraction.

What sort of distraction?

Something to avert their attention away from the hostages. Echo thinks you should fly overhead. But I don’t want you to get injured again.

Got it. We’re close. You’ll see us in a couple of minutes if all goes well.

Shit. They were closer than Henri had thought.

Henri met Sylvain’s gaze and then Echo’s. “They aren’t far away. Maybe we should get into place.”

Was Henri the leader of this thing? Because he felt as though he was. He shouldn’t be leading a mission in which violence would occur. The majority of his days involved reading. He had zero experience with anything else. But he had read countless books on wars of the past.

Sylvain exited the vehicle, so Echo and Henri did the same.

While in the car, Henri had seen little of the driver beyond the back of his dark head. His hair was shaved at the sides but longer on top. His eyes were a remarkable shade of violet. Henri had thought violet eyes didn’t exist except in books, but there they were, and they glowed as though he were a vampire, except normally vampires didn’t have eyes that color either. He had a thick chain hanging from his jeans pocket. He looked as if he were more suited to riding a motorcycle rather than driving a luxury car.

He waved his hand as if there were something he intended to fling into the atmosphere. Everything became blurry but went back to normal almost as quickly. Okay, not everything. Echo hadn’t been blurry and nor were Sylvain and the driver. But the forest had been. And the house they had parked next to had been blurry as well. Even the for sale sign in the yard had been.

Sylvain nodded, as if someone had said something to him. If Henri were to guess, he was in communication with the driver. “We’re invisible to everyone except your mates. They can see you, but not Florin and I.”

Henri saw the driver in a new light. His eye color made sense in a nonsensical way. In the same way Sylvain was special, so was Florin. Maybe it was why Sylvain had become a dangerous person. Had he built a reputation as a defense mechanism?

Don’t think about it too hard, Turtle.The ‘or else’ didn’t have to be said. Henri understood he shouldn’t dig too deep or question Sylvain. There may be consequences.

Sorry.Henri wanted to make sense of the world. It was why he’d devoted his time to studying history and science. When something didn’t make sense, he wanted to understand why.

A familiar roar distracted Henri. The sound of it was a punch to his heart. His chest ached. He had to fight the urge to run toward Rocky.

Tears gathered in his eyes because it felt as though it had been years since he’d last seen Rocky. That morning, they had showered together and brushed their teeth at the bathroom sink after breakfast. If he had known how their day would have gone when he’d kissed Rocky goodbye and watched him pull his truck out of the driveway, he might have held on a moment longer.

A shadow fell over them. When Henri glanced at the sky, he saw Rocky’s pretty scales shimmer in the dying sun.

Rocky wasn’t alone. Bandos and the alpha were with him.

Rocky shrieked as if in distress. Henri didn’t understand why until he realized Rocky couldn’t see anyone but Henri.

Sylvain’s driver is some sort of warlock. He cast a spell so the humans can’t see us. I’m not alone. Echo, Sylvain, and Sylvain’s man is with me.

Rocky shrieked again. The second time, it held a note of acceptance. Do whatever you have planned before they shoot at us.

No sooner had Rocky spoken of it than gunfire cracked through the forest.

Sylvain nodded, as if it was the affirmation he needed to execute the plan. “I don’t think we’re going to get a bigger distraction than three giant dragon shifters flying around overhead.”

Sylvain held out his hand to Echo. When Echo took it, they walked through the forest together. Henri and Sylvain’s driver followed.

They didn’t have to walk far before they were next to the barricade the humans had erected. It consisted of cars they had driven into the road and left there. The hostages sat next to the cars as if they were a part of the barrier. They had their hands tied behind their backs.

Sylvain and Echo met each other’s gazes. And then Sylvain said, “I know it’s difficult, but you’ll have to trust me now.”

Echo nodded. “I know. I do.”

Sylvain smiled and then he focused on the dozens of soldiers with their gazes and their guns raised toward the sky and Henri’s dragon.

Henri had sympathy for the soldiers who were doing their job until the moment they fired at his mate.

Henri wasn’t sure what he expected. Some sort of grand affair. Something way more dramatic with huge balls of light. The kind Lucas could conjure. But nothing happened.

One minute the soldiers were alive and the next they had crumpled to the pavement. There was no fanfare or drama. It wasn’t like in the movies where the hero set the world on fire and killed all of their enemies in various forms of bloody fury. The drama came when the humans fell at the same time. Their guns made clacking noises when they hit the pavement.

He never thought about what someone sounded like the moment they died. Hearing it made his stomach turn. Henri fought the urge to puke as he made his way out of the forest. “Can you please take the spell away? I want to untie the hostages without scaring them.”

Henri didn’t wait for Florin to answer. Instead, he made his way to the closest hostage and untied him. Henri knew when he became visible to the hostage because the man sucked in a breath.

“It’s gonna be okay. If you could help untie the others, we can make our way to Mother Estelle’s sooner.”

Vaughan and Sully, in wolf form, came from the forest on the opposite side of the road.

Echo cried out. Henri watched as he ran straight to Vaughan. Vaughan shifted and caught Echo when he launched himself at him. Echo wrapped his legs around Vaughan’s waist and his arms around his neck, clinging as he cried.

Tears pricked Henri’s eyes. He fought his emotions as he untied the next hostage. It wasn’t until Rocky landed on the road and shifted that Henri lost it. It happened much the same way it had with Echo. Henri rose from his crouched position and made his way to Rocky. Henri shook even before he touched Rocky.

Ladon and Bandos passed them.

Rocky enveloped Henri into a hug. He whispered words of comfort and let Henri cry.

It took Henri a while to speak. The emotions clogged his throat. But he was able to say what he wanted to say to Rocky. “This has been the longest day in recorded history.”

Rocky smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s not over yet, baby.”

They were together again. Nothing else would ever matter more than that.