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You don’t have to come with.
Becca glanced at each of her sisters in turn. We want to. This is the man who stole our lives and if we can help to bring him down, even in a small way, we want to do that.
Okay, then.
When she reverted her attention to Vaughn, she saw he was watching the girls. His gaze slipped back to her. “What did they say?”
“They’re worried about the mission, but they’ll be with us and will do what they can.”
His straight black brows were drawn tightly together. “All right. Sounds good.” He nodded several times as though regrouping his thoughts. “Brannick will be in the air above your house soon. He’s bringing my half-sword because we don’t know what we’re going to find once we’re inside. He’s in the process of coordinating back-up. He’s contacted a couple of trustworthy Elegance Border Patrol officers and Fergus in Savage wanted in on anything have to do with shutting Loghry down. We’ll have a mixed-force detail.”
She nodded. “I think this is fantastic.” Until last night, she’d thought she was alone in her battle against the perverse, brutal elements of Five Bridges.
He gripped her arms. “Are you ready for this, Em, for whatever we find?”
“I am.”
A smile touched his lips as he released her arms then glanced down at her feet. “Let me see you levitate.”
He probably thought she’d lift up a couple of inches. Instead, she shot into the air then came down behind him and jumped on his back.
He caught her legs so that she was essentially having a piggy-back ride. She surrounded his neck with both arms, then leaned into him and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Vaughn. Whatever happens, I love you.”
He caught her arms with both hands and squeezed. “Back atcha.”
When his cell made a soft ding, he pulled it from the pocket of his jeans while keeping her balanced on his back. He spoke quietly for a couple of minutes, then put it away. “Brannick’s not far, just east of your house. He said the skies are clear and he has my weapons. We’re ready to go.”
“Then let’s go.”
She eased off his back, but didn’t land on the ground. Instead, she flew straight up, moving through her security spell and into the sky. He joined her. The ghosts traveled near Emma, but were still somber and very quiet.
Sure enough, Brannick and five other Crescent officers were hovering above a house on the next street over from Emma’s.
Once she and Vaughn reached them, Brannick handed Vaughn his sword. Vaughn, wearing one of Max’s belts, clipped on the sword sheath and re-checked his Glock.
She could feel Vaughn communicating with Brannick telepathically. The entire team was tense but remained silent, each officer repeatedly checking the skies from all directions.
Emma did as well. But Brannick was right. There were no Elegance warlocks or witches out tonight, at least not right now, which matched the images in her vision.
When Brannick and his men took off west to meet up with Fergus and his squad, Vaughn met Emma’s gaze. Shall we get this party started?
With pleasure.
As she flew in the direction of Loghry’s mansion, she reached for Vaughn’s hand. He grabbed it and gave her fingers a squeeze, then released it.
She didn’t say the words out loud, but she didn’t need to. They both knew there was a good chance tonight neither of them would make it out of the labyrinth alive.
~ ~ ~
Vaughn had never been this torn in his entire life. He wanted Emma with him. But at the same time he wished she was heading anywhere other than Loghry’s fortress-like residence, complete with a labyrinth dungeon.
He forced himself to remember that she wasn’t just a woman he loved, but she was a trained Tribunal officer and knew how to use her weapon. She might not have had as much experience as he did in actual shoot-outs, but she had grit.
Her voice entered his mind. We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be according to the vision.
Good. What else could he say? He wanted to turn around, take her back to her house, and chain her up so she’d be safe. But that door was now shut tight.
As he flew directly over the mansion, he saw no sign of Brannick which was a good thing. The support team would come in from the opposite end of the property and hide in the trees to wait for the rescue. If Emma had seen any of them in the underground maze, he would have asked them to join their below-ground mission in a heartbeat.
