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“How you doing, baby girl?” he asked against my hair as he squeezed me. Before I could answer, he stiffened. “Tell me what happened.”
Tony was a telepath, a rare type of Community member that earned him the title of Gatekeeper. No one could enter the Shadow Market through his shop without him knowing their true intent.
Despite his request, I didn’t actually have to tell him anything. He plucked the disastrous clusterfuck from my thoughts.
Releasing me, he stepped back. His brown face had lost some color. “I’m not sure I can help, but you know I’m gonna try. Let’s go.”
My eyes warmed with emotion, but I held back my tears. This wasn’t the time to get all blubbery. “Thanks, Tony.”
I followed him to the back and past the velvet curtain that hid the Shadow Market. Expecting to end up on the winding market street, I blinked as we entered the shop’s storage room that most humans would see.
He motioned me toward the back door. “I may be old, but I’ve still got more than one trick up my sleeve.”
Stopping before the door, he rapped his knuckles against it three times. A lock clicked and he turned the knob, pulling the door open and revealing a hallway beyond where I had expected an alley or sidewalk.
As I stepped through, my mouth dropped open. “I’d call that more than a trick, Tony.”
We stood in the DEA building, in a long hallway bordered by office doors, and things had gotten worse. Complete ceiling sections had collapsed, and the fluorescent lights overhead flickered on and off.
“This way.” I jogged toward the stairwell. A number six sign showed our floor, and Thane and the others were on level three.
Despite his perceived age, Tony had no trouble keeping pace with me as we practically flew down the steps. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a few centuries older than I guessed, if not more. As usual, age meant little in our world.
As we left the stairwell on the third floor, the world heaved. The ground rolled beneath our feet, loosening linoleum tiles into random patterns. I fell to my knees hard, wincing as I hit the floor. Holding onto a wall, Tony kept himself upright.
“They’re almost through,” he said through gritted teeth.
Fuck!
Whether he could read their thoughts from here or knew the DEA’s defensive magic, we had to hurry. I ignored the shooting pain in my knees and leaped to my feet, racing toward the conference room.
Lena had toppled over onto her side, still frozen in the same hands-on-hips pose, and Thane’s shoulder leaned against the doorframe, keeping him from falling. A layer of drywall dust and chunks of plaster covered them both.
Tony approached my mate, resting his hands on Thane’s head, and closed his eyes.
I could only guess how long Tony would need, or even if he would succeed in time.
Or at all.
Taking Thane’s hand, I lowered my chin and prayed.
* * *
Thane
My throat was raw from yelling, from screaming for this nightmare to end. I couldn’t endure any more, yet I knew I must. I would never give up.
Kneeling on the ground with my scythe beside me, I panted and wiped sweat and blood from my brow. It didn’t do much good—more of both would cover me soon enough.
Veronica’s spectral laughter danced away, deeper into the fog.
I groaned. Not again.
As the dense fog receded, the scene changed. Colin stood beside a six-foot-tall gilded cage, within which Veronica cowered. Terror transformed her dirt-smudged face until it was almost unrecognizable, and a worn, oversized t-shirt barely covered her body.
Seeing me appear, she gripped the bars, her knuckles cracked and bloodied. Her quick breaths created puffs in the frost-filled air. “Thane, help me!”
Colin turned his head and grinned at me, his blue-green eyes gleaming with triumph. “You’re not strong enough to stop me.”
