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Grey settled behind the helm of the boat and carefully directed them to the opposite side of the island and as far from the dock as they could get. Lucien’s stomach churned again as Calder’s hand squeezed his forearm. With the new addition to Gio to the landing party, the teams had been reshuffled. Calder was in team three with Clay and Cort. They were to use earth and water powers to create a diversion while Cort backed them up in case John was there warping the minds of humans.
“This will be quick. Gio’s got this,” Calder said, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Lucien.
“And what about you? Do you got this?” Lucien replied in the lightest voice he could muster.
“Yeah, I got this.” Calder flashed him a cheeky grin. “You just don’t burn the island down with us on it.”
Lucien leaned over and kissed his mate. “I’m more worried about you drowning us. This is a lot more water than you usually have to play with.”
“I know!” Calder bounced slightly on the balls of his feet. “This is going to be so much fun.”
“We are going to have a long talk about the definition of ‘fun’ when this is over.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” Clay muttered. “I’m not looking forward to this part.”
In the darkness, Lucien could barely make out the roll of Calder’s eyes, but the smile was still there, bright on his handsome face.
“Be careful.”
“Always,” Calder promised and then dove into the water followed by Cort and Clay. They probably should have been called the C-Team, but that trio would have had a lot to say about that.
They couldn’t risk coming in too close to the shore and tipping off the pestilents that they were there. As it was, they were running with no lights and killing the motor as much as possible to get even this close. They needed to hang on to the element of surprise for as long as possible.
The moment they were away, Grey jumped behind the wheel and gunned the motor enough to get them moving toward the dock. That was their exit point.
Their only exit point.
Great for keeping the pestilents in one place. Bad if they needed to stage a hasty retreat.
Lucien’s heart tripled its pace as they finally neared the long wooden dock. A small speedboat was already moored there as well as a fishing boat with an outboard motor. Both would need to be sunk as they left, but not before in case they needed to use them as well.
The second they were close enough, Grey cut the engine and allowed the boat to glide to the dock. Lucien and Dane hopped onto the sun-bleached boards, wincing at the rumble and thud of their footsteps as they started to secure the boat so it didn’t drift off during the fight.
Wiley stepped off the boat with Grey’s help. Over his shoulder was a leather bag filled with crystals and a variety of spell ingredients. He was prepared to at least pull together the same protection spell he’d used at the campgrounds after Grey had been blinded.
Grey, on the other hand, was loaded with guns and ammo. The bookish Soul Weaver resembled a good replica of Rambo, and it was all Lucien could do not to snicker. It was hard to believe this was the same guy who wrote mysteries and cuddled in the outdoor lounge chairs with his mate.
But then, Grey was all too happy to mow down any pestilents that even looked at his mate. So, yeah. Lucien got it.
Their job was to distract the pestilents, but also protect their escape route.
Probably not the best idea to put the guy with the fire this close to the wooden dock, but he did have excellent control of his flames.
Ducking low, they crossed the dock and headed onto the island, immediately moving off the gravel path and into the high weeds and brush. The house stood near the center of the island, sort of on stilts to protect the first floor from flooding and from the inevitable hurricanes that infrequently washed through the area. Even from their hiding place a few yards from the dock, they could see that most of the lights in the house were on.
“Did Clay tell you what the signal was going to be?” Lucien whispered.
Dane opened his mouth to answer, but the words never came out. A low trembling of the earth came up through the soles of Lucien’s shoes, and he nearly laughed. It almost felt like a train passing back, gently rocking the earth. That was as good a sign as any.
Lucien stepped forward and snapped his fingers, instantly conjuring up a small, flickering flame on the tips of his fingers. The energy danced and flowed through him, feeling eager to jump free and wreak havoc on the island. As fun as that sounded, he had to be sure that he didn’t scorch his mates or his companions. Flambéing a few pestilents was fine.
