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The wolf’s citrus-orange irises appeared in Aidan’s eyes, the beast unable to think of his mate as a card to be played. “Lucy will have nothing to do with our war.”
“She’s involved in it regardless of your baseless wish that she wasn’t,” Isaiah jeered. “And she might be the best bet we have in terms of taking them down.”
At least Rukia and Isaiah were on the same page. The barest amount of tension lifted from her shoulders as their eyes connected across the room, the electricity that prickled through her an awareness of him. His eyes skittered away almost immediately, but not before she registered the sense of loss he felt.
Isaiah was worse off than she was. Much worse.
She could feel it in her soul.
Zeke finally joined the conversation. “There are too many unknowns with theCitizens. We’d do more damage than good if we were to brazenly attack the house—or where Torrin works. We need to do more research on their whereabouts and mercenaries before we go in, guns blazing.”
“Agreed, Zeke.” Lucius’ features tightened.
“There may be another option,” Nina said, a hint of coyness hiding beneath the evenness of her words. “Blair, Luc’s sire, has offered to infiltrate Torrin’s newspaper to gather intelligence on his extracurricular affairs.”
All three vampires gaped at Nina wide-eyed, obviously not privy to the information prior to this very moment. Blinking in confusion, Rukia watched as Lucius shook off his shock and spoke.
“Sire, Circe and I barely got out of that building alive.”
Nina inclined her head, undaunted. “Yes, Luc, but you went with the explicit purpose of confronting Torrin and dangled the carrot in front of the horse. Blair, as you well know, is far more adept at blending in, should she so choose.”
Inhaling slowly, she added, “In this case, the benefit of what she may find outweighs the risk.”
“She would be alone amid monsters!” Lucius’ earthy brown eyes filled with the horror of his own past, clearly unsupportive of the proposal and unwilling to agree to sending his sire into danger. Rukia couldn’t blame him.
“She is never alone, Luc. Blair developed the ability to communicate telepathically with me long ago, and it’d be an easy remote teleport out of trouble should she encounter resistance.”
Jaw clenching, Lucius looked away, indignation settling over his features. Rukia’s heart went out to him, but at this very moment, she didn’t want a plan that involved waiting. She wanted retribution. She wanted blood.
“If we’re in agreement, it’ll be an easy plant,” came Nina’s prompt.
Nods of acknowledgement from the werewolves and Raeths, even Tyee and Jeremiah beside her. The only exceptions were the vampires and Rukia.
“So, we sit on our hands while we wait for pencil pushers?” Rukia asked. “There’s absolutely no guarantee that Torrin will reveal anything to an outsider, let alone that he won’t suspect her.”
When no one rebuked her assumptions, she could feel her anger rising. “If we’d listened to Isaiah after what happened to Lucius, Gideon would still be alive. If we’d attacked when their defenses were down, my monarch would still be here.
She continued, undeterred. “But we didn’t, and nowGideonhas paid the price for our indecision.”
“Rukia, I understand your need for vengeance, trust me I do, but we need to play our cards carefully,” Nina said. “I’ll reach out to Blair and confirm when she’s able to begin. In twenty-four hours, she could be face to face with Torrin.”
“Is that supposed to appease us?” Jeremiah’s voice was icy. “Rukia’s right—while Lucius bore the brunt of their cruelty before, he escaped with his life. Gideon did not.”
His voice hitched at the end, and Rukia couldn’t help but flinch. Across the floor from them, Isaiah shifted as if stirred by her pain, but made no comment.
“We’re the ones that pay the price if this goes poorly,” Tyee said softly. “They’ll come to Paracel. Come to our homes.”
A flicker of memory sparked within Rukia.
“I don’t think so, Tyee. When Torrin appeared, he told Gideon that he knew of the Search and Rescue operation,” she paused. “That he knew the Elementals did good work helping humans after disaster. He said he didn’t want to get in the way of that, and he’d come after Gideon alone. That might mean that we’re safe from future attacks.”
“Torrin—he looked so familiar.” Jeremiah sucked in a breath. “Rukia, that was the same man we saw that day after Victor tried to gut Gideon in Iowa City. The man who was driving through Paracel andpretendedto be lost.” He caught Rukia’s gaze and held it. “Rukia, that was Torrin! He knew what Gideon looked like. He waswaitingfor Gideon to leave Paracel with one of the teams.”
“And with so many disasters happening, it was only a matter of time before he did.” Rukia fought against tears. “The dam wasn’t the only disaster they manufactured. Torrin and the Citizens have been engineering them for the soul purpose of killing Gideon.”
The realization sank in her gut like a lead balloon, pulling her down into herself as she fought against the sudden despair. She shivered, processing the viciousness of Torrin’s plan while reeling from repercussions.
Jeremiah and Tyee, equally silent, didn’t move on either side of her.
