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Two of the men appeared behind Eddie and Roger, plunging a pair of knives into their chests. The feed had no audio, but I saw Violet and Tori’s faces as they screamed when the other two burst out of the enclosure and tried to grab the girls. I think Violet’s shield fell over them both, because one of them men was pounding something invisible, but fourth man was within its radius and fighting them. Eddie was on the ground, unmoving, while Roger was still struggling with the other two men. Violet and Tori were scratching with shifted claws, trying to fight off their own assailant, unable to shift because they were in public.
Tori took a punch to the jaw and went flying backward, taking the man with her when her claws buried into his neck. Moments later, Roger went down, and Tori’s unconscious body was picked up by one of the men, a knife held to her neck while the one who had hit her bled out on the ground. Violet stopped struggling, and must have dropped her shield, unwilling to let Tori be killed, because the man outside her shield stalked forward and hit her in the temple with the butt of his knife.
The three men were bleeding in places, but otherwise still okay. The fourth one was now lying still on the ground. They put Violet and Tori into the back of their SUV, deposited their friend in the back of their SUV, and then dragged Roger and Eddie’s bodies into the trash enclosure before hightailing it out of the parking lot.
Tears were flowing down my face as I continued to look at the dark spots of blood on the now empty feed.
You have to tell Cory. They need to be prepared, Tozi pushed through my shock, and I cleaned the tears off my face and grabbed my phone.
Cory picked up on the first ring.
“Did you find them?” he asked. My lip trembled, not wanting to be the one to give them the bad news, but there was no one else who could. “Evie?” he asked again, his voice cracking.
“Yes. It was Tezcatlipoca’s men. They were ambushed on the way to their car. Eddie and Roger’s bodies were hidden in the trash enclosure. They took the girls. They were still alive.” I forced the words out, hearing with a wince how callous and monotone it sounded. There was silence on the other side for the longest time, and I looked down to see if the call was still connected.
“I’ll send James to find you. D-don’t tell Jo anything yet. We need to be sure. We are almost there.” Cory’s voice sounded as monotone as mine, and I understood that he and I were both compartmentalizing right now, trying to make sure we kept it together for the sake of the rest. He didn’t wait for a response. The call disconnected, and I sat in the silent room. I pressed play on the feed again and reset it to live streaming, needing to see Cory come into the picture.
Eddie or Roger might still be alive. I had definitely felt the pain of one tether snapping, not two. At least, I hoped it was only one. The night of the massacre, I was overwhelmed and didn’t understand what was happening, so I couldn’t remember if I felt all five snaps at once or separately. This pain felt... was distant, which meant the pack member who passed wasn’t within the pack grounds at the time. At least one of these men might be alive, bleeding out as I sat here doing nothing.
I was still watching the stream when James showed up with Zi holding Molly right behind her.
“What’s going on Evie?” he asked. I looked at Molly and opened a mind-link with them, motioning to the live feed.
‘Tezcatlipoca ambushed Tori and Violet coming out of the mall. They took them. Eddie and Roger were with them. We don’t know if they’re alive. They’re inside that trash enclosure.’
‘Roger? Jo’s brother?’ James asked. When I nodded, he cursed out loud. ‘I have to tell him.’
‘No. Not yet.’ I grabbed hold of his arm before he could move away. ‘Cory and I felt a tether snapping, but we don’t know which one. We don’t know if he’s alive or dead yet. He said to wait.’
“Fucking hell,” James slumped against my office wall while Zi held Molly tighter to her chest.
We watched the stream silently when both of the pack SUVs screeched into the parking lot. Aunt Nat jumped out of one first, then Markus and Elias pulled Roger and Eddie out of the enclosure and James sucked in a breath. They both looked dead and had knives still sticking out of their chest. Cory was at Eddie’s side, feeling for a pulse and shaking his head at Markus. Aunt Nat was on Roger, feeling for the same. She said nothing, but grabbed the hilt of the knife, a look of pain blossoming on her face as she pulled it out and dropped it like it was poison when it was out. Roger’s foot twitched, and everyone in the room let out a breath. He was alive, and Aunt Nat already had her hands over his wound, healing him. We watched numbingly as Aunt Nat continued to heal him for a while. She looked drained when she was done but nodded over at Markus. Uncle Helios helped her up and led her back into the SUV. The rest filed into the cars, Cory giving instructions to some of the warriors they’d taken with them before he lifted Eddie’s body and put it in the back of the second SUV. Three warriors stayed with the parked SUV Violet and Tori had been driven in to cleaned up, while the other two SUVs left the parking lot.
My phone rang a few minutes later, and I put him on speakerphone.
“Roger’s alive. We’re on our way home.” Cory’s voice was hard right now, controlled.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“Have a hospital room ready. Aunt Nat couldn’t remove all the silver. It was too much and too deep in his bloodstream. It would take too long for her to do it there. She’s still working on him as we drive back. We need to help flush the toxins out, and he needs a blood transfusion. He’s not out of the woods yet. Gather Jo and his parents. Have them wait in the hospital. Contact Eddie’s brothers and have them go stay with his mate. She just gave birth a few months ago and must have felt the bond break. Tell them I’ll have more information for them when I get there. James, are you there?”
“I’m here, Alpha.”
“Get a pyre ready. Once we’re done in the hospital, we need to figure out where they took Violet and Tori,” he instructed.
“Yes, Alpha.”
The line disconnected, and I took a deep breath before I moved into action. I reached out to Eddie’s brothers, letting them know his brother passed away and they needed to go check on his mate. I let them know Cory and I would be by once his body was back in pack grounds. When I was done, I saved the clip of the attack and stood up.
“James, go do what you need to. I’ll grab Jo and his family. We’ll meet you in the hospital.”
“Yes, Luna.”
I kissed Molly on the temple before I walked away, only to have Zi step into the elevator with me moments later.
“You should be with James right now,” I said.
“I need to be with my luna. James doesn’t need my help to set up a pyre. My luna needs me to be there when she gives her family bad news.”
