“He looked at me as though he hated me.”
“He does not know you well enough for hatred. You interrupted the shrine he had built around Leena’s memory, and he needed something living to blame for the interruption.”
Mary gently lifted Veya’s chin.
“Come. You will feel steadier after a bath.”
She folded Leena’s dress over one arm and guided Veya toward the bathing room at the rear of the suite.
Veya allowed herself to be led toward the warmth.
It was not safety, but for a few minutes, it came close.
Chapter 36
The report reached them before midnight.
A cluster of organized rogues had been seen feeding near the south end of the Quarter, moving with more coordination than starving civilians should have possessed. Rhen took Cole and Malakai to investigate while the compound continued preparing for the larger assault.
The rain had rinsed grime from the streets and left the pavement slick beneath the neon. Colors bled through the puddles in bruised reflections, while cars hissed over the wet road. Somewhere nearby, a bar door opened and released music and laughter before closing again.
Rhen noticed none of it.
His attention remained fixed upon the violence waiting in the narrower arteries of the city.
Rage lived beneath his skin with the measured patience of a device counting toward detonation. It was not hot or uncontrolled. Rhen stored fury the way others stored weapons, maintaining it until the exact moment it became useful.
Cole and Malakai followed a pace behind him. Any human observer would have recognized them as a single dangerous unit, three males dressed in dark coats and hooded clothing, moving with the same predatory purpose.
Malakai caught Cole’s attention and signed as they walked.
What kind of disaster are we entering this time?
Cole kept his hands inside his hoodie pockets but turned enough for Malakai to read his response.
“Does it matter? We handle it as we always do.”
Rhen offered nothing.
His jaw remained fixed, and his eyes turned pale silver whenever the light caught them.
Cole watched the tension in his shoulders.
“I know you are well past reasonable tonight, but we still need a strategy. These rogues are organized.”
Rhen glanced back.
The look contained both warning and promise.
Cole did not flinch.
“Strategy first. I do not need your death wish complicating the work.”
Malakai rolled his neck slowly before signing.
Where were they last seen?
“Near the river. The trail moved north from there.” Cole looked toward Rhen. “We strike quickly and leave none capable of reporting our numbers. The sooner we finish, the sooner we return to the compound.”
