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“Yeah, because the organization you work for has their priorities way the hell out of whack.”
As I spoke, I began to subtly shape shift, hoping he wouldn’t catch on to what I was doing until it was too late. Along with being able to alter my appearance, I could also change my size, and I began making myself bigger—slowly at first, and then all at once in a rush. I rolled us over as I shifted, landing on top of Kyle and pinning him down with my heavier weight. I was nearly twice the size he was now, and even though he struggled and grunted, he couldn’t throw me off.
I pinned his wrists too, stopping him from getting a grip on me and injecting his pain magic into my veins.
As he struggled beneath me, I finally became aware that the sounds around us were fading out. I glanced up, my heart hammering in my chest. The fallen who’d been chasing us were all down, taken out by Hannah and my guys—and maybe by the Custodians too.
It looked like one Custodian had been killed fighting a smoke demon, and one was unconscious. The remaining two were being pinned down by my mates and my friend.
Thank fuck.
“Pipes,” Jayce called, his voice strained. “We gotta go. We can’t hold these guys for long.”
He was in his hellhound form, and his muzzle dripped with blood. His paws were pressed to the chest of a Custodian—the one who’d shot lightning at us—who stared up at him with an angry expression. Hannah stood over the woman too, her hands held out threateningly.
I turned back to Kyle quickly. “I’m sorry you lost one of your own. Maybe you wouldn’t have if you’d teamed up with us and let us help you instead of wasting your time fighting us when we’re not the threat.”
His lips curled in a sneer, and I leaned more of my weight onto him, sort of hoping I was cracking a rib or two. This guy was a dick.
“Let me repeat that, fuckhead. We’re. Not. The. Threat,” I said slowly. “Gavriel is. He’s planning a massive attack on earth—way bigger than we anticipated, and soon. Like, within days soon. He hasn’t just been sending more fallen to earth. He’s been mustering an army in the underworld, and he’s not fucking around about this. Why don’t you tell your higher-ups about that, huh? Tell them to go after the real enemy, not a bunch of fallen who aren’t even on Gavriel’s side.”
The angry expression never left Kyle’s face, and I had a feeling I might as well be talking to the broken chunks of what’d once been a gargoyle nearby. The stone would be just as likely to listen as Kyle.
I swore under my breath and turned to glance at the others. As I did, I caught the Custodian with the lightning power staring at me, her dark eyes thoughtful.
Huh. Maybe someone had listened to what I’d said, even if it wasn’t Kyle the fuckhead.
I could only hope she’d believe me. We couldn’t afford to go to the Custodian headquarters ourselves, at least not yet. But maybe she’d at least deliver the news about Gavriel’s plan to attack. Maybe they’d be at least a little prepared to defend earth from his planned invasion.
“We need a portal, guys,” I said, dragging my gaze away from the woman to look at my bond-mates. “Same place we went last time, okay? On three.”
They all nodded, and Hannah bobbed her head too.
Projecting persuasion through my voice, I murmured to the Custodians around me who were still alive and conscious, “We’re going to stand up, but you keep lying right where you are. You’re sleepy. You’re hurt. You need a little rest, right?”
Kyle’s body went limp beneath mine, all the tension bleeding out of it. The persuasion had been easier since it was leaning in to how they probably felt anyway.
I counted down quietly, and then all of us abandoned the Custodians we’d been pinning down, gathering into a circle and linking hands. A second later, a portal opened up and sucked us through space, dumping us back into an alley in Seattle.
Home, sweet home.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Our landing was a lot less rough, since we all knew exactly where we were going this time, and we weren’t teleporting across dimension barriers, just across a large distance on earth.
We’d be drawing Custodian attention by using a portal, but after the melee we’d just had on the streets of Toronto, I figured we were about done with the “lying low” portion of this mission. We were out of time for that. Now we just had to move fast enough to stay ahead of our pursuers—both Custodians and Gavriel’s minions—until we were ready to face them.
“Everybody okay?” I asked quickly, shrinking back down to regular size and glancing around the rough circle we’d formed.
All my mates had shifted back into their human forms, and since we were all dressed in regular street clothes now, I was hopeful we’d blend in better than we had the first time we’d come here a few days ago.
“A little beat up, but what else is new?” Jayce shot me a little grin, which made him look innocent and boyish despite the trickle of blood running down the side of his face from his hairline, and the smear of other people’s blood that still coated his lips.
“You’ve got a little something…” I pointed to my own mouth, and Jayce cursed, lifting up his shirt to wipe his face, baring his washboard abs for a moment.
Kai did the same thing. His most effective method of attack involved literally tearing people’s throats out with his teeth
—which was a bit horrifying if I allowed myself to think about it too much—so he also has blood smeared over his face.
