AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You are their queen,” my father said, the words a challenge. “Make them believe.”
Claudia walked back to him, and my mother moved a hand to her katana, just in case.
“Your blade is not needed,” Claudia said, without looking at her. She looked down at her scrubs. “But I need garments befitting royalty. Something that will... inspire him.”
“That,” my father said with a slow smile, “can be arranged.”
TWENTY-THREE
Claudia was escorted back to her room, and we got to work on the details.
“We need a location,” Yuen said. “We need to ensure that area is evacuated. We need CPD personnel in place to capture the fairies, and transportation to get them to the facility.”
“Faster to just kill them all,” Miranda muttered.
“Mass murder isn’t the most diplomatic solution,” Gabriel said.
“We have time,” I said. “Because this is our con.”
“And I think I have a place.”
We all looked at Theo.
“Lake Shore East Park,” he said, gaze on the monitor.
He’d pulled up a satellite image of downtown Chicago that showed the small park north of the river and just west of Lake Michigan.
Walkways swept through a rectangle of grass in dramatic arcs. There was a playground near the lake end, and a water feature that moved downhill toward it. The walkways were lined with trees and shrubs, as were the outer edges of the park.
“It’s over the north-south ley line. It’s a manageable area, and it’s bounded by buildings. But it’s also near Lake Shore Drive, so most of the humans have already been evacuated. We’ve got the lake nearby if we need to make a quick escape. And it’s fancy.”
“It’s fancy?” my father asked.
Theo lifted a shoulder. “It’s a nice park. A modern park. It looks like the kind of place Ruadan would want to take a stand.”
“Now that you mention it,” my father said, nodding his agreement.
Yuen was already working on his screen. “I’ll contact Dearborn. Then we’ll work on getting everything else in place.”
“I’ll help.”
We looked back.
The prince of wolves stood in the doorway in jeans and a T-shirt, leather motorcycle jacket over it. Helmet in hand, Connor strode toward us, but kept his gaze on me. The look in his eyes was like lightning, and it sent a bolt of heat through my body and a frisson of magic into the room.
That magic was matched by Miranda’s rage.
She strode forward and grabbed his arm with painted fingers, fury radiating in her wake. “What the hell are you doing here? You were supposed to leave hours ago. You have responsibilities!”
Connor’s expression went hard, his gaze very cool. “I’m well aware of my responsibilities, Miranda. And you’re going to want to remove your hand. As much as you might want to be, you aren’t Apex of this Pack.”
Her eyes fired, but she pulled back her hand. “Neither are you.”
“I’m aware of that, too.” He looked back at his father, his competitor. “If the Pack determines they don’t want me, that will be their decision to make. But I’ll be damned if I’ll run away now.”
Miranda pressed on. “So you’re abdicating your responsibility to lead them to Alaska?”
“No. I’m taking on the responsibility of leading them here. There’s a battle to be fought on the road, and there’s a battle to be fought in Chicago.” He looked at me, his gaze searing right through my soul. “I’m joining this battle.”
