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Lena groaned, but I shot her a stern look before she could argue. “I’m not being impulsive. I’ve texted and called her and Angela since yesterday with zero response. Adam hasn’t heard from her, and Thane only got a text that she was okay. No one has actually talked to her.”
Frowning, Thane rubbed his chin. “It is unusual for her not to respond for so long.”
He would know, too. They worked together for a month while I hid from the necromancers in Arizona and when I disappeared to Mirognya. Both times.
Man, I had a record.
“Let me tell Adam we’re going to check on her.” Thane stepped toward the conference room door, his arm raised to open it.
Blinding light exploded around us, followed by a deafening boom that shook the floor and nearly knocked me off my feet. A fast wind swept down the hallway, tugging at my clothes and hair and threatening to topple me over along with the shaking floor.
Raising my arm to cover my face from the wind and light, I reached for the wall to steady myself.
What in Dazhbog’s name was happening?
Just as I called on my inner fire, the wind and light ceased abruptly, as if they’d never occurred. Lowering my arm, I blinked away the spots in my vision.
Dense fog surrounded me, and somehow I knew I wasn’t in the DEA building anymore. A chill crept over my body, goosebumps rising in its wake.
“Hello?” I took a cautious step forward, squinting into the fog.
The grey mist swirled around my legs and dissipated, revealing a sidewalk in downtown Miami. A full moon shone brightly in the clear night sky between two towering buildings, and several couples walked by, holding hands or locking arms.
My thoughts were fuzzy and sluggish like I’d just woken up from too short of a nap. A quick glance showed I had dressed in high heels and a short black dress, and I held a black clutch in one hand. I frowned.
Where had I been going?
My phone buzzed, and I read the message from Kit, “Have fun on your date.”
Oh, that was it. I was heading to Azul Restaurant with Thane. Spinning around, I didn’t see my mate anywhere, and I didn’t even know why I had stopped. I shrugged and kept walking, smiling as I thought of the night to come.
An unlit alley opened on my right, and a snarl came from deep within the shadows. Pinpricks skittered across my scalp as I recognized the sound. Flipping on my avian vision, I approached the alley.
My lungs seized with fear. Bathed in a red glow from their heat signatures, Thane and Maddox knelt at the end of the alley, bound and gagged as they stared up at the man facing them. Their eyes were wide with fear.
The other man turned to me and grinned, his white fangs glinting even in the shadows. His brown hair brushed against his chin, and his dark eyes focused on mine.
Xavier.
My blood ran cold. I reached into my clutch and grabbed the stake I knew would be there. After my first encounter with the Master Vampire who’d tried to capture me, I never left home without one.
Moving faster than I could blink, Xavier’s teeth were at Maddox’s throat, ready to rip him to shreds. In his other hand, he held a gun to Thane’s temple.
“You’ve got a choice to make, little bird,” the vampire said, his voice dripping with honey. It was all a lie, a facade. There was nothing sweet about this monster. “Your brother or your lover.”
My heart lurched. That wasn’t a choice I could make. No one could. Maddox was my little brother, my blood, and I loved him more than life. I couldn’t lose him.
But Thane was my everything, my heart and soul.
I needed them both.
I gripped the stake tighter. “Let them go, and I’ll make your death quick.”
Xavier’s eyes gleamed. “Dealer’s choice then.” He opened his mouth and sank his fangs deep into Maddox’s neck, ripping through tendons and muscle. My brother’s eyes widened more while he screamed in agony behind his gag.
I lunged forward, but I was too late.
A bullet exploded from Xavier’s gun and drove into Thane’s head, traveling straight out the other side, embedding blood and bits of brain matter in the alley’s wall. My mate toppled to the side and fell, his eyes lifeless.
