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Then his voice fades from my head. I rock back on my butt, my mind reeling.
For what might be one minute or several, I stare blankly at the wall across from me. My cheeks cool, and I touch them to find they’re wet.
Tears are leaking from my eyes. I drag in a breath that’s almost a sob and swipe at them.
I’m not going to give in to the hopelessness. Wearegoing to save the shadowblood kids, no matter how hard it is.
Even if some of them aren’t clear anymore on whether they want to be saved.
I insisted to our shadowkind allies that we had to protect all of the younger ones. What are they going to do if those teens outright attack them in a fit of temper or misguided aggression?
How the hell do I make this right?
As I stew in my frustration, Ajax’s words come back to me.Some days I actually miss the guardians.
No kidding.
A bittersweet smile twists my lips—and inspiration sparks in my head.
I leap to my feet, my heart pounding. Could we really— Is it too crazy?
It’s a chance, an angle we haven’t tried yet, and one Balthazar will never be expecting.
I hurry down the hall to the lounge where I can sense most of my guys have gathered. Their quiet conversation falls away completely when I burst into the room.
Jacob’s eyebrows shoot up. “What’s going on, Wildcat?”
I brace myself. “I’ve got an idea. But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
Twelve
Jacob
When Riva finishes speaking, her words bounce around inside my skull, refusing to totally sink in. Every muscle in my body has tensed as if preparing to fight off the enemies who aren’t even here.
“You want us to ask theguardiansfor help?” I spit out, the idea sounding even more absurd when I say it out loud. “The assholes who kept us in cages and treated us like lab rats?”
Riva folds her arms over her chest, looking totally unfazed by my reaction. She was probably expecting me to be at least this pissed off, if not more. “Not exactly asking, and not exactly help. But bringing them into the mix could be useful to us.”
Annoyingly, Dominic has to make it all sound reasonable in his usual thoughtful tone. “I can see her point. Balthazar was part of the Guardianship for decades, since they were founded. There’ve got to be people there who know him way better than we do.”
I swivel toward him. “Better than us maybe, but we’ve got his closest assistant on our side. What could they know that Toni doesn’t?”
Not that I like relying on the bitch who stood by while he tormented and killed shadowbloods either, but at least she’s admitted she fucked up. And she’s already here.
Andreas rubs his jaw. “She saw one side of him, but they’ll have seen others. There’d be people there he interacted with more like equals than a superior.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Who the hell cares? We can’t trust them farther than we can kick them! Didn’t we all learn our lesson when we ran to Engel for answers?”
The memory of our creator turning on us merges with all the moments the other guardians hunted us down, and anger crackles through my nerves.
Several of the books hurtle off the nearby bookshelf to smack against the opposite wall.
I close my eyes, my hands clenching. I’ve got to simmer down. No one’s going to pay attention to my opinions if my talent is going haywire like a toddler having a tantrum.
Griffin takes a step closer to me. My twin’s voice comes out so gentle it almost makes me angrier. “I don’t think Riva has any intention of trusting them. But it makes sense that you’d hate the idea. None of uswantto have anything to do with the guardians.”
“I know,” I mutter, willing my body to relax. “I just don’t—I don’t want to see us make another mistake.”
