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After about five minutes, we hear muffled noises outside and footsteps on the roof. They’re surrounding the building. The place is pretty secure. Only a few emergency exits, and we’ve locked and barricaded those. There aren’t many windows. I glance up. The ceilings are two stories up, and the only windows are small ones near the ceiling. Some of the underworlders with flying capabilities could come through, but there aren’t many of those that are dangerous, and not many others could come in that way.
“Are you sure they’ll come in and fight us fairly?” Charlie asks, eyeing the roof with trepidation. “What’s to stop them from burning the building to flush us out, or just blowing it all together?”
“They’ll come in,” Parker says confidently, eyes fastened on the front door.
“They can’t risk hurting Kat or me,” I say. “They won’t do anything that could jeopardize us.”
I barely finish my explanation when the front door is ripped off its hinges. The man who steps inside is a shifter, but not one I’ve ever seen before. He’s a cat shifter. A cougar, I think. He’s got a cocky strut and a self-satisfied smirk. Either he’s incapable of dying, or he doesn’t realize the threat my clan poses. He’s clearly not from around here. He’s too confident.
My siren burns with indignation at his arrogance. She wants to devour this man, and I want to let her. Maybe I should let Parker lift my compulsion. I almost suggest it, but then I look around me and just can’t do it. What if I lost control and hurt the men I love? If my siren, caught up in battle, started sucking souls, would she stop when I asked her? Would she know the difference between friend and foe? Would she care? I can’t say with certainty, so I leave her locked away. She’s pissed at me for that, but I ignore her and pay attention to the small army that enters the club behind the cougar.
There’re nearly fifty of them by the time they stop coming in. They’re all different species. Some look rough and scary while others look sophisticated. Some are ugly while others beautiful. I know better than to think the nice-looking ones aren’t dangerous.
As the room fills, my guys shuffle in just a little tighter around Kat and me. Henry’s vampires pull in on either side of us as well. With them, we’re only outnumbered about two to one. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m grateful for Henry’s presence.
The overconfident cat shifter stands in front of the group. “Is this all you have?” He laughs.
Terrance, in full badass troll mode, replies in a no-nonsense tone, “Are you the collector? The one who put out the bounties on my clan?”
The guy smirks. “Nah. I’m just the guy who’s going to kill your clan and capture those bitches.”
Before he can even point in my direction, a small silver dagger flies across the room from a dark corner where a person can’t even be seen and stabs the asshole right in the heart. He falls to the ground, dead. None of my clan flinches. We’ve seen Illren’s stealth, aim, and speed before. But the group of mercenaries shifts uneasily, and a few murmurs spread through them. A few of them nervously lift weapons Illren’s direction, but he’s probably already moved locations.
“Anyone else?” Terrance asks, having not moved a muscle. No one makes a peep. “Who is your leader?” He growls. “Let him show himself.”
The mercenaries all look around, but no collector steps forward. Coward.
“We don’t care who the boss is,” someone near the back of the group shouts.
“Yeah,” another agrees, sounding a little more confident since he wasn’t the first to speak up. “We don’t care who wants you dead. All we care about is the million dollars apiece we’re going to get for killing you.”
“Assuming you can do it,” Wulf grumbles. I’m not surprised his alpha wolf doesn’t like being talked down to.
“He’s not here,” I murmur, my heart sinking. The whole point of this suicidal showdown was to end the threat once and for all.
“He’s here,” Parker says quietly. “There’s no way he’d stay out of this when everything he wants is right here.”
“It could be any of them,” Ren says.
Rook growls. “Then we’ll just have to kill them all and send a message to the entire underworld that you do not mess with our clan.”
Someone laughs. A large werewolf with brawny shoulders and a scraggly beard carrying two swords in either hand laughs. He steps up to the front of the group, kicking aside the body of the werecat. “You’re awfully confident.”
“And you’re not nearly wary enough,” Parker tells him calmly.
“Ofyou?” the wolfman scoffs. “We’ve all heard of your clan.” He sneers. “The siren who was raised human and collects outcasts. You’re a mish-mashed group of underworld rejects. All exiled from your own clans or”—he gives me a pointed look—“orphans with no one else to love them, so you had to form this disgraceful excuse for a clan.”
My siren roars in my head at the insults against her men. Her clan isnotdisgraceful. She may not be able to unleash her power on these people like she wants to, but her anger and bloodlust are seeping into my own feelings. I was nervous, but I don’t think I’ll have any hesitation when it comes time to kill the enemy. My siren is as bloodthirsty as Illren.
A hiss escapes me, and the werewolf’s gaze fastens on me. His smirk turns dark. “And you all share the little slut,” he spats, pointing his finger at me. “You just pass her around like the whore that she is.”
His words don’t affect me, but every member of my clan growls. The man laughs evilly, his disgust growing by the second. “She’s got you all so whipped, you don’t even realize how pathetic and weak you are. You’re a disgrace to the underworld.”
“Then come at us!” Rook shouts, the control on his temper starting to snap. “Let us show you how weak we are.”
There’s a beat of silence, and then a man shouts a word, sending a glowing red fireball straight for Rook. It explodes against an invisible shield, and then a blazing white fireball is shot back, nearly vaporizing the sorcerer who tried to kill Rook. One more body drops to the floor.
Again, none of my clan is fazed, but the unease grows amongst our enemies. Pride swells in my heart for Oliver. If any of the guys were worried he might not be confident enough with his magic, they’re no longer concerned. Oliver will protect us with everything he has in himself.
