Page 54 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

Just not until the portal closed, until I knew my men were free and clear of this place. After that? Well, I didn’t much care what happened to this nightmare or me. Maybe the best thing for everyone was to hope another swing destroyed the dungeon so it could never harm another person again.

Corsa’s warning struck me again. Was he just mad?

Another world? One I’d never heard of? It didn’t seem possible, but I couldn’t deny it, either. I knew better than to think the Guild would tell us everything, that they didn’t have their own secrets.

Still, it struck me as too fantastical, too different from what I’d understood.

My foot moved before I wanted it to, before I even realized I’d taken a step, bringing me into the open clearing and toward the heart.

I won’t touch it, I repeated in my head. I just needed to see it closer, see if I felt any different about it, if I could sense the energy from it.

Except before I could take a second step, a beast larger than Spot or Pear came down in front of me from the sky, its huge wings spread out, larger than the length of my body, its clawed feet sinking into the dirt in front of me.

I stumbled backward, hitting a tree behind me that kept me upright.

The monster didn’t continue, didn’t come at me, but its snarl said it wouldn’t allow me any closer.

Well, it seems Corsa told the truth about that at least.

I wasn’t going to be getting anywhere near the heart anytime soon.

Chapter Thirty-One

Ingram

I cursed as I got a lay of the land around the place Corsa had created for himself. I couldn’t get too close, didn’t want to tip him off, but we needed some information.

I had gotten a glimpse of Yun, and not grabbing her had taken everything I had. She didn’t limp or show any signs of injury.

I reminded myself she was tough, that she could handle this, that it was more important to stick to the plan. Even if we rushed in there and got her free of him, we still had to deal with the heart, and we couldn’t do that without taking Corsa out of the equation.

It meant doing this the smart way, and Carter was always the best source for good plans.

The shadows welcomed me each time I slipped from one area of his little camp to the next, comfortable and familiar. They allowed me to stay out of his focus, to see the heart, the clearing, the little fucking house like they were some married couple.

What I hadn’t seen yet was Corsa.

Where is he?

Yun sat outside the house, on the front step, her arms wrapped around her legs. She stared off into the distance, worry on her features.

She should be worried. When this was all over, when we got her alone, the things I’d do to her to make it clear she was never to risk herself again…

It felt like we had just gone through this with her and Mr. Yorn.

Fuck her and her willingness to put herself in harm’s way for us. Sure, it pleased some small part of me that liked that she gave a damn, like it was proof that this stubborn, prickly woman actually loved us, but that didn’t mean I liked what it did to my heart.

She was going to put me in an early grave if she kept this bullshit up.

Leaving her took all the self-control I had, but I returned to where Carter, Shear and Kenyon were, far enough out that Corsa couldn’t sense us.

My fingers went to the device behind my ear, a dampener that was supposed to help hide our brain waves from Corsa. If he saw us, he could still use his powers, but it was intended to mask us well enough that he couldn’t feel our approach, or notice us as anything other than background noise.

“Is she okay?” Kenyon asked.

“Yeah, she seems to be. The fucker built a whole little house there, like he’s a fucking newlywed or some bullshit. The heart is right next to the house, and there are at least ten different monsters there.”

Carter nodded, eyes doing that slight twitching thing that said he was thinking, plotting, planning. “Will his death hurt Yun?”