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Blushing, she felt as shy as Ame. “Me too.”
Kincaid followed. “What kind of ingredients? Will it be a lot? Will I have to go far?” he asked.
Tierla looked at her and winked. “Who knows?”
Zoe felt some of her nervousness dissipate at Tierla’s teasing. She wasn’t planning on getting to know her mother-in-law today. Still, given the circumstances, it might be just the thing to keep her mind occupied, so she didn’t worry herself over her mate.
*****
Gage waited for the signal. Ari and Aiden had stationed two units at each of the three doors. Brie and Ari were responsible for securing a room in the warehouse as a fallback point to evacuate any wounded. Aiden was impressed with how Brie’s mission went and decided to add that to their methodology for warehouse missions.
Priest tapped his shoulder, then pointed to his forehead. Gage grinned. It was also their first time using thermal goggles. In their drills, everyone agreed that two warriors would stand back-to-back, and everyone else would drop to initially clear the room, much in the same way Brie and Cam did. After that, the goggles could be used if attacked by an invisible assailant. Was it perfect? No. Could they still accidentally shoot each other? Yes. But it was the best plan they had for now.
Brie looked at them. She tapped her comms unit. “Menace, Gemini, night, night,” she said, initiating the start of the raid. After a ten count, they began moving.
Gage and Priest’s task, along with Upsilon, was to secure the hostages if they were still alive. Meryn had pinpointed a warehouse about one-hundred miles west of Madison. Both she and Brie agreed that if they kept the raids random, the ferals wouldn’t know which ones to shut down to taunt them.
Clearing the door, he scanned the room. Being a vampire, his sight was better than Priest’s but not by much. Priest was one of the rare harpy eagle-shifters that could shift their eyes for better sight much in the same way hands could be shifted for claws.
“Gage!” Priest yelled.
But Gage was already moving. They had live hostages in a cage in the corner. About twenty-feet from them, a fae lay strapped to a steel gurney screaming as a crystal above him glowed. On the other side of him, a line of fae cowered against the wall.
Raising his gun, he took out the feral manipulating the machines. Priest went to the gurney and began unstrapping the survivor. Behind him, Aiden gave the order, “Down!”
Immediately he and Priest dropped to the floor. A few moments later, Brie called out the all-clear to stand.
Gage was looking through drawers for the keys to the cage when he heard Priest scream his name. Looking up, he had just enough time to see Priest snarl before an arm snaked up behind him. “A goodbye present. Tell my little brother Oron thanks for the way in,” a voice rasped in his ear, releasing a putrid smell. He was knocked to one side, and the tall fae hit a few buttons before giving him a mock salute. Touching his necklace, he disappeared.
“Son of a bitch!” he yelled.
He went to reach for his goggles to track him when Priest pointed to the ceiling. “Gage, he did something to the machine. We need to get these people out now!”
Gage looked up to see that the crystal now pulsated with a steadily increasing beat. He was taking no chances. He reached up to his comms unit. “Bomb! Clear the building!”
He heard exclamations as his unit brothers started grabbing fae survivors from the wall and began carrying them to the portal.
“Where are we at?” Aiden asked, running up to them.
“You are getting your ass through that portal, sir,” Gage said. “You’re too important to lose.”
“That’s not how I operate,” Aiden refuted.
“Thane! We need help with the locks!” Priest called out.
Thane ran over, his hands already glowing. After a few seconds, he stepped back, shaking his head. “They’ve been magicked.”
Ari and Brie were herding the remaining survivors through the portal near the front of the building. Ari met his eyes, and Gage jerked his head toward the portal. Ari snarled his frustration but did as Gage wanted. He got Brie to safety.
“Unit Commander Aiden McKenzie, as this is an Éire Danu sanctioned mission for fae citizens, I am taking command as the highest ranked Éire Danu warrior present. You are relieved of command and ordered back to the palace.”
Aiden scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
Gage placed his hand over his heart. “There was never an option where you would stay.” Looking up, he swallowed hard. “Take care of Zoe and the boys.”
Aiden’s expression became panicked as he realized Gage was serious. “No. Now you listen to me…”
Behind him, Thane raised a hand and placed it on Aiden’s shoulder, a pulse flared, dropping the bear shifter.
