AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I want to arrest one of them so I can track down the leader. I have a plan to hunt them down.”
Her forearm tensed, the tip of her stilo cracking off.
“Oh, God above,” she mumbled, throwing the broken stilo onto the table. “Keep going, I’m listening.”
My eyes trailed her as she moved across the room, opening the top left drawer of her desk and rummaging through it for what I could only assume was a new stilo. Was that the drawer she had stored them in?
“I wanted to prove to the High Faction that we’re doing everything we can,” I said, my pulse pounding in my ears. “I just know that once we discover who some of these accomplices are, we’ll be able to take them all down. I just need my Faction to listen.”
“I see,” she mumbled, returning toward her seat, arms behind her back.
I needed to push her. I could lure her in, I just needed to be a bit weaker.
That was the only reason I turned my back to her, rubbing my forehead like I couldn’t bear the stress anymore. “I just can’t wait to arrest these terrible people.”
Silence fell at my words, the tension pressing into me, attempting to drown us, time falling still as I waited.
And waited…
My skin prickled, alerting me to danger right before I caught sight of Vanessa’s clamped hand fly right for my throat.
I grasped her wrist just in time, the shining tip of a needle protruding from the side of her fist. A full vial connected to the end, a swirling, milky-white liquid inside that could only be one thing: wolfsbane.
She had tried to drug me.
Well, I wasn’t expecting that, but attacking an Onyx Guard was certainly cause for arrest.
Vanessa didn’t even hesitate, taking advantage of her towering form over my sitting one, ripping her wrist from my hold. Taking a few steps backward and raising her arm again, she swiped the needle in an arc toward me, a growl escaping her lips, eyes shifting to the deep burgundy red of a Shrivika.
I jumped to my feet just in time to miss the dripping tip of the needle and slammed my fist into her open solar plexus, her body doubling over as she coughed for air. It gave me an opening to slam my elbow into her wrist, the needle flying from her hand. I rushed forward, intending to take her down, but she recovered quickly. Her lips curled upward in a snarl as she rushed me, fists bared and ready to fight.
“Close in!”I screamed.
The entire team confirmed all at once how long it would take for them to get there, a few of them promising to be there within a minute.
I just needed to hold her off that long.
My feet moved quickly, arms raised to protect my body as she kept throwing punches. I let her take the offensive stance, not wanting to risk her safety when she came at me.
I didn’t want to hurt her. Partially because I didn’t want to wait to interrogate her and the other, quieter part that was still telling me to keep her safe. Could I have pulled my weapon and easily overpowered her? Yes. Could I have thrown a few well aimed punches and knocked her out? Also, yes. But that wasn’t the point of this mission. The point was to get answers, and hurting her would just delay that. I couldn’t risk it.
So, I kept the defensive lie up, letting her think that she was winning the fight, when in reality, she had already lost.
It would be a lot easier to overpower her when the rest of the team arrived, but the least I could do was set us up for success. I kept dodging, moving with each throw she took, inching us around until her back was to the door. She didn’t even notice the trap I’d set, too preoccupied with trying to take me down.
“Stop fighting, Vanessa.” Her name tasted like acid on my tongue; I pushed away the thought that it most likely wasn’t her true identity.
“Never.” she growled. “I can never stop.”
She threw another flurry of jabs, one of them connecting with my side.
I growled; this was not how I’d expected things to go.
“Anytime now, team,”I yelled.
The door slammed open after far too many moments, my Faction pouring into the room. Beckett and Millie were the first to get to Vanessa, taking both of her arms and ripping her away from me. She flailed as she tried to break Beckett’s hold, but his grip was relentless, holding her wrists behind her back and pushing her over so her torso and head rested on top of her desk. She snarled at him, legs kicking, body writhing against the surface.
The violence escaping her perfect facade stunned me; I couldn’t turn away from the whole ordeal unfolding in front of me, dizziness overtaking me from the adrenaline coursing through my veins and overwhelming my whole system.
