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“Another legend?” she asked.
Gabriel nodded wearily as he unfolded the blueprint, some of which stuck together from splashes of blood. Lucas’s blood.
“I knew she existed. She’s a gun for hire. One of those far-off threats that you never think is going to come knocking.”
Lily gazed around, her heart still raging in her chest. Ava had escaped through the opening where they had arrived. For all they knew, she could be hanging in the trees and taking her aim. It was black enough. She could easily use that to her advantage.
Gabriel touched her shoulder, and she turned back to face him. With a look of indifference painted over his face, he placed the blueprint in his pocket.
“We have to keep moving,” he said softly. "I am going to call in some of my enforcers to help us out and send others in search of Lucas. We have to find the piece of the relic before they do.”
Lily nodded, feeling her throat dry up in despair. She had only been a member of the community for a few weeks, but during those few weeks, she had been immersed. She had come to care for them all in relation to Gabriel, who was the tiger patriarch. He was trying not to show any emotion concerning Lucas’s disappearance, but Lily could see through him like rice paper.
She took Gabriel's hand before he had the chance to turn away.
“I know we have to go on, Gabriel, but …” she swallowed, avoiding his eyes. “How did they take him? I mean, without us knowing, and why…”
Lily trailed off. Gabriel lifted his head in the direction Lucas had been moving, his nostrils flaring. A quietness crept over the forest and between them.
Then, a sound crystallized as if Gabriel’s focus was contagious. There was water flowing, as loud as applause.
When Gabriel spoke, it was faint, as if not wanting to lose the connection.
“Humans can be conniving creatures. They likely snatched him while we were tussling. Or by some other means. I’m not entirely sure. I was distracted.”
Lily’s heart dropped. “Were you distracted because of me?” she posed into the dark.
He snapped his head to look at her, as humorless as she had ever seen him.
“What made you think that?"
“You were protecting me. And maybe that took you away from …"
Gabriel jerked her into him by the forearms, her breasts smashing against his chest and briefly hitching her breath in her throat. He was even more serious than before.
“Let me make this clear," he said, his body vibrating as he cupped her face into his palm. “This isn’t your fault. None of it is or will ever be. You enhance me. You make me better. Got it?"
The sea-green foam of his eyes churned like a storm brewing. But Lily wasn't unsettled. His hand on her waist, the rich certainty in his tone, it was all so intense.
But it was enchanting. She had never felt so reassured in her entire life.
“Understood,” she said, stifling the urge to smirk and slide one of his fingers between her lips.
It wasn’t the time nor the place, but something warm coiled inside her loins. His cock pulsed against her, and he parted them, turning away toward the path Lucas had begun.
“Later” was all he said.
* * *
A few enforcersmet with them along the way … Levi, who had retrieved Sebastian's body and looked bothered the entire journey to the waterfall, and Frederic, a younger brawny shifter who was best buddies with Mark. They arrived at their destination in record time. Fireflies floated innocently along the piles of brush in bioluminescent beats of striking yellow-white, dazzling lime green, and ghostly blue.
The fireflies dissipated once they arrived at the brook, then trekked up the side of a barren waterfall just as the blueprints had instructed. It wasn't too steep, and Lily was well-suited for walking great distances. She had her genetics to thank for that.
“What now?” Levi asked as they stood at the mouth of the cave.
Once they were all on even ground, Gabriel pulled out the blueprint. It certainly depicted a piece of the relic being wedged in some ancient waterfall, but it wasn't the waterfall they were looming over.
It was one that was hidden within the caves, concealed within the lining of a few narrow tunnels.
