Creston launched onto Kade’s back, talons scratching his shoulders. Kade swung his dagger back and forth, unable to do more than whip the demon with the shards of magick. Violet came up behind its corded, muscular back. It whipped its tail at her, stinging her across her cheek. She snapped at it, biting it in two. Before the demon even had a chance to react to that, she sank her fangs into its back. Its spine cracked between her teeth, and it made a guttural sound before it disintegrated.
Behind her, something squealed in pain right before what sounded like a huge bug being squashed beneath an even larger shoe. Another demon evaporated under Jessup’s feet. She turned to Kade, finding him staring at the ground where Dune lay. Kade’s chest rose and fell as he caught his breath, blood dripping from superficial scratches. She followed his gaze to Dune’s body, the bizarre grotesqueness of it beyond anything she had ever seen.
“I’ve hated that son of a bitch for seventy years.” Kade’s voice sounded hollow. Not victorious. Not satisfied. Definitely in shock. Surely, he’d seen violence like this. But by killing one of his fellow officers, he’d officially severed his connection with the Guard. Gone rogue, in their eyes. He had thrown his career away to help her.
Kade stepped toward the corpse, rifling through the pocket and extracting a cell phone. He pressed the buttons, looked at the screen, then threw the phone down again. She could see him burying whatever he was feeling. The mist in his eyes swirled, though, giving away his pain. He turned, wiping his hand down his face. Blood was smeared down his arm.
She limped forward, picking up the phone. Her hand was shaking, and she had to hold it with both hands to read the last text exchange between Dune and Ferro:
AT THE TARGETS’ LOCATION NOW
ADVISE WHEN DONE
Targets. Two or more. The Guard had sent someone else, and he had also been a target. Kade had been telling the truth. He had also risked his life to help her. She wanted to see him as an emotionless killer, but she couldn’t get Dune’s taunts out of her mind. Or the way Kade had tried to dissuade him from killing her. His expression was raw. He’d just lost everything and probably destroyed his sister’s career in the bargain. He cared about Mia. Maybe he cared about Violet, too.
He threw himself between you and an orb. He cares.
Her brothers came up beside her, both breathing heavily as well. “He wasn’t acting,” Jessup said, looking at Dune’s remains.
“Nope,” Ryan said with a slow shake of his head.
Kade turned to them. “We have a small window of time before they realize Dune’s not coming back and send someone else. Or worse, more than one. Probably that Carnelian bitch, too. First, I have to warn my sister, try to keep her out of this. The only way to do that is to make her believe what they’re going to tell her.”
He pulled out his phone and dialed. “Mia, it’s Kade. Go somewhere you can talk in private.” He waited a few seconds, pacing, but Violet could see his mind working. He answered the phone when it rang. “I want you to hear it from me first. What I said before about not being in love with Violet.” He met Violet’s gaze. “I lied. You saw it before I did, at headquarters. It was just a crazy attraction then.”
Ah, Mia had seen that weird spark between them at the station. She spoke in a high-pitched voice but Violet couldn’t quite discern the words. She wasn’t happy, that was for sure.
“No, I’m not thinking with my wrong head. When I got here, I couldn’t do it. But because Violet Castanega is innocent, and she doesn’t deserve to die…yes, there’s something between us I can’t describe, can’t even believe. I’m crazy in love with her, and I’m going to do everything I can to protect her. Because of that things are going to get ugly.”
Violet focused on Kade. She swore her heartbeat slowed as she studied his face. He was telling the truth now. It was in his voice, his eyes.
He waited while Mia screamed something else. “Yeah, just like our father,” he said. “Impulsive actions on behalf of women must run in our genes. I don’t care who I take down with me?—”
“Even me?” Mia asked, her voice so shrill Violet could hear it.
Kade’s jaw ticked, his mouth stretching into a frown as he stared into the woods. “Yeah, even you. I don’t care about anything but Violet. When the shit hits the fan, tell Ferro about this conversation. And how you don’t agree with my actions at all. You think I’m crazy. Promise me, Mia. My life depends on it…Yes, they’re trying to have me killed…and yes, she’s worth it. I have to go.” He disconnected, his fingers tight on the phone.
Violet stalked over to him. She would have grabbed his shirt and shaken him if he’d had one. “You turned her against you?” The words nearly shrieked out of her.
“It was my only choice.”
Now he’d really lost everything because of her.
Something shimmered all around him, and suddenly she was staring up into Dune’s face. Dune, in one piece. She screamed and stumbled back. The image flickered, and it was Kade again.
“Illusion,” he said, fatigue in his voice. “Just like my life, like everything I’ve believed in up to now. Everything I’ve been. Now I’m going to sink fully into illusion and report in to Ferro about my mission.”
“As…Dune?”
“I can hold the illusion for short periods of time. Enough to get into the building.” Kade looked at his watch. “For the last three months, Ferro has gone out to lunch every day at two o’clock sharp. I’ll show up just past two, when he’s gone. All I have to do is get into his office and find something that proves what he’s up to. At the least, figure it out so we know how to fight back. I want to choke answers out of him, but I know better. The man’s a First Gen. Even if I survive long enough to get my hands around his throat, he won’t give up a word.”
“First Gen?” she asked. “First generation Crescent?” She remembered the painting in his office. “Drakos is his direct sire?”
Kade nodded. “And Ferro’s proud of it. Yeah, even though Drakos belongs to the Tryah.”
“But what if Ferro’s still at the building when you get there?”
“Then I’ll report in as Dune, personally tell him you and I are dead.”
