Wicked Burn

  That’s what Simone had thought.

  Vivienne looked in the rearview mirror. “We have company.”

  Simone jerked and looked around to see a red pickup truck zooming closer. “Punch it.”

  “Shit.” Vivienne slammed on the brakes. “I had to make the arrangements so quickly—but I used secure lines. How did they find us? Damn it. I should’ve known we’d have trouble.”

  Simone turned and clutched the dash to keep from hitting it. “What—” A black SUV had driven across the other end of the bridge, blocking it. “We’re trapped.”

  “Is it the Guard?” Vivienne clutched the steering wheel and leaned forward to stare through the rain.

  “I don’t think so.” The red truck behind them wasn’t Guard issue, and the SUV in front of them had several dents along the side. The Guard wouldn’t allow a vehicle to remain in such disrepair.

  Three men stepped out of the SUV, all armed with laser assault rifles.

  “Bloody hell,” Vivienne said, looking through the rearview mirror.

  Simone tightened her hold on the gun and glanced in the side mirror. Four more men, similarly armed, set up behind them. “ Who—” Her breath caught as Phillipe Sadler stretched his legs out of the SUV in front of them. “Oh.” Her arms trembled as she tried to figure a way out. “We’re outgunned, and if Phillipe is a witch with powers, I’d assume several of his men are, as well.” She stuck the gun in her right boot.

  Vivienne kicked open her door. “In the name of the Coven Nine, back away.”

  Phillipe smiled and lifted a green laser gun. “Simone? Get out of the car, or I’ll plug your mother so full of holes she’ll never be complete again. Although she did make it ridiculously easy to find you. By the way, I have a world-class hacker on my payroll now. Everything from phones to computers to satellites.”

  Simone’s hand trembled, but she shoved open the door. “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life, Phillipe.” She wasn’t talking about Nick, either. If Phillipe thought to put Simone’s child in harm’s way, she’d burn him inside out the first second she got. “Take the reprieve and run.”

  Rain dotted his blond hair and slid down his face. “Get in the SUV, or we kill your mother.”

  Simone slammed the door shut. “You’re garna regret this.” She lifted a hand when Vivienne tried to protest. “It’s our only chance. Get back in the car.”

  Vivienne, her face pale, looked around and then nodded. “I’ll come find you,” she whispered.

  “Bring backup,” Simone whispered back. Then she walked casually through the rain, stopping when halfway to Phillipe. “Tell the red truck to move.”

  Phillipe sighed and gestured. The sound of a truck moving filled the day.

  Simone turned and motioned for her mother to get the hell out of there. Vivienne frowned but gunned the car in reverse, swinging ’round when she was clear of the bridge. Seconds later, she sped out of sight.

  Simone turned back around to face Phillipe’s arrogant smile. She’d saved her mother. Now she had to save her child.

  Chapter 34

  Nick paced the wide windows of the demon safe house, his body aching from the fight, his head pounding. “Where the hell is Vivienne?” he growled for the tenth time, his gaze on Dublin Bay across the road.

  Sprawled in one of the two leather chairs, Zane shrugged and shoved several bullets out of his right arm. “Daire said he’d call with an update as soon as he knew anything.”

  After the battle, the various species had all retreated to safe houses they controlled, and he was pretty sure the dragons had headed out to sea. If Nick called Bear and Flynn, they’d return, but for now, he didn’t have anything to tell them. Although once they’d declared they’d protect Simone and her child with their lives, he felt a lot more secure having them as relatives. “It makes sense that Vivienne took her daughter somewhere underground that not even the Enforcers know about, right?”

  “Sure.” Zane kept his voice level, but Nick had known his friend a long time. Zane was doubting her safety, as well.

  “Shit.” Nick glanced around the utilitarian living room. Two chairs, one sofa, and a wall of communications equipment in front of a table littered with computers. “If the Guard had them, we’d know.” Simone had to be underground just waiting to get word to him. That had to be it.

  Zane rubbed his arm. “You’ve mated, right? Can you reach her telepathically?”

  Nick tried to reach out mentally again, but nothing. Not even static. “Simone has stronger mental shields than anybody I’ve ever met. She’d probably have to concentrate to let me in.” He hated failing, but breaching her mind was nearly impossible. They’d only been mated for a matter of hours. “The computer guys haven’t spotted anything via satellite?”

  “Not yet,” Zane returned. “We had to hack into a Soviet spy satellite and haven’t turned up anything.” A darkening bruise swelled under his right eye. “If you want, I can call the squad back.”

  “No.” Getting their men out of Dublin had been important for their survival, considering several Guard soldiers were no longer standing at the end of the skirmish. “You need to get home to headquarters, as well.” Nick tried to look stoic and remember the importance of protecting Zane and the demon nation, but only Simone and their child filled his mind. “Now.”

  Zane smiled around a fat lip. “Would you leave me if my mate or my child was in trouble?”

  “Of course not.” Nick gingerly poked at a burning bruise on his chin. “But you’re the leader of the entire demon nation and can’t put yourself in danger just for a friend.”

  “Brother.” Zane held up his perfectly smooth palm. “Remember?”

  “We’re not Boy Scouts in junior high, Kyllwood.” Nick glared out at the storm building outside. “You have to worry about the nation and not me.”

  Zane stretched his neck, his green eyes flashing. “Yet here I am.” He stood and tugged a knife out of his left boot. “We can argue as long as you want, but I’m not going anywhere until I see that your mate and child are perfectly safe. In fact, if you don’t mind, I think you should all come to headquarters until we get this Coven Nine mess figured out.”

  Nick nodded. “That’s the plan.” Simone and the babe would be safe at demon headquarters in the States, and that was all that mattered right now. “I need to arrange transport out of Dublin.”

  “Already taken care of. I have a plane ready to go the second we arrive at the airport,” Zane said.

  “Thank you.” Nick turned and studied his best friend. “You know you have to denounce me and what happened today, even if you do grant us sanctuary at headquarters.”

  Zane snorted. “Dude. I was with you, remember?” He flexed his right hand, visibly mending two broken fingers. “How can I denounce it when I was there?”

  Nick shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you were there. Publicly, you have to condemn my actions. The three remaining members of the Coven Nine will accept your condemnation with some very strong words of warning, thus saving face and avoiding war.” He scrubbed his bruised hands through his hair. “We need to avoid war.”

  Then, true to his fucking nature, Zane Kyllwood lifted a shoulder. “If the bastards want a war, they’ve got one.”

  Jesus. “Why do I always have to be the damn voice of reason?” Nick shouted.

  “You like reason,” Zane said calmly.

  Right now it felt like reason had fled, and he needed to hit something very hard. “Where is she, Zane?” Something was wrong. He just knew it.

  “We’ll find her.” Zane moved over to the computer console and started to type. “I have people ripping through Vivienne’s financials right now for records of any safe houses or other property.”

  The far right computer dinged.

  Nick’s breath caught. He hustled over and brought up his secured email. Within seconds, Moira Kayrs-Dunne appeared.

  “Moira,” Nick said. “News?”

  Her pale skin was almost
translucent across the screen. “We have Vivienne and are getting her to a safe location. Simone was taken by Phillipe Sadler and a bunch of soldiers.” Concern sizzled in her green eyes. “I’m tracking down everything I can find out about him, and we’ll be ready to go in the second we find her.”

  Nick eyed the woman Simone loved like a sister. “You have two babes at home, Moira. Send me the location the second you have it. Zane and I will bring her back.”

  Moira lowered her chin. “She’s family, Nicholai. When we find her, we all go in.” The screen went black.

  “I’ve always liked that witch,” Zane said, his fingers tapping quickly over a keyboard. “I’ll know everything there is to know about Sadler within a few moments.”

  Nick tried to keep his anger in check. “Why did Phillipe take her? I mean, if he wants revenge, he could’ve just killed her.”

  Zane nodded. “My guess? He wants intel on the Nine for the last few decades since his mother was removed. That means we have time to find her.”

  “Right. So you, the three Enforcers, four if Adam makes it back, and me.” Nick rapidly calculated the odds. “This is going to be bloody.”

  “She’ll be all right,” Zane said. “We’ll get her back.”

  They had to get her back. Nick rubbed his chest, which suddenly felt hollow. “When I find Phillipe, I’m ripping out his heart.”

  Simone sat on the folding chair with metal cuffs securing her hands behind her back. They’d confiscated the gun from her boot, so she was currently without weapons or the ability to throw fire. Oh, she could create fire, but setting the small shack aflame would just end with her burned to a crisp. There had been a hood over her head for most of the drive, so she had no idea where they’d taken her. All she knew was that the place smelled like fuel, and the outside was silent.

  Phillipe had carried her into the empty shack before yanking off the hood.

  The walls, ceiling, and floors were made up of exposed beams of wood. It was some type of storage area, but everything except her one chair had been removed. If she had to guess, they were at one of the small airports outside of Dublin that catered only to private planes or helicopters.

  Whistling eerily, the wind competed with the sound of pounding rain. In the distance, thunder clashed across the sky. Night had fallen, and the air had cooled with the storm.

  She calmed herself, trying to send reassuring feelings through her body to the baby. Fear couldn’t be good for the little guy or girl, so she took several deep breaths and kept her thoughts gentle. For now.

  The door burst open, and Phillipe dodged inside, dripping from rain. He had to fight the wind to get the door closed, and once he had, he turned to face her. “The pilot is late, but we’ll be in the air very soon.”

  “Where are we going?” Simone asked as if discussing the weather.

  His lip twisted. “You’re a mellow one, now, aren’t you?”

  “For the moment.” She allowed power to glow in her eyes. “The second I decide not to be mellow, believe me, you’ll know.”

  He smiled then. “Oh, I can’t wait to see you try. I’m going to burn you in ways you can’t even imagine.”

  “Shouldn’t you be rubbing your hands together or twirling an imaginary mustache?” she asked.

  “Funny. You won’t be so smart after a couple of hours with me.”

  “I doubt anybody would be,” Simone said sweetly.

  His nostrils flared. “My mother would like a turn with you first.”

  Now Simone smiled full-on. “I would truly enjoy that, as well, but since Moira took her powers, it might be a short match.” She pretended to think about the situation. For now, she needed more information. “Will your twin brother be there, as well?”

  Sorrow and anger darkened his eyes. “My brother was killed by a business partner.”

  She frowned. That was intel she hadn’t had. “Maybe you should get out of such a dangerous business.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Is this just about revenge for your mother?” Simone asked. “The manufacture and distribution of Apollo is a deadly game.”

  He tucked the gun at the back of his waist. “Deadly for humans and enemy witches, you mean. There’s a lot of money to be made from the humans, and once we control the Coven Nine, we’ll continue to rake that money into the family coffers.”

  Money and power. “Your motivations bore me.” Simone listened to the storm pummeling the world outside. “Are you the one who sent witch soldiers to attack us at the cemetery?”

  “Aye.”

  “It seems like you were really targeting Bear, considering your soldiers aimed for his head and barely shot at the rest of us until we ran.” Simone tried to free her wrists without success.

  Phillipe nodded. “Yes. Bear has been reluctant to help us out in Seattle, and we thought if he was killed, we could then get the grizzlies to distribute Apollo for us.”

  “You missed Bear, and you have to know, I’m not planning on helping you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You’ll give us all current intel from the Coven Nine. Passwords, land holdings, enemy files.” He shrugged. “That’s pretty much all we want.”

  That didn’t make sense. “So I give you the information, and you kill me? I don’t think so.”

  “No. You give the information, and then I trade you to the demon nation for a shitload of money and land holdings.” Phillipe smiled. “Win-win all around.”

  “The demon nation won’t give anything up for me.” She kept his gaze. “Sorry.”

  “Sure, they will. You went ahead and mated Nicholai Veis for us, and everybody knows Zane Kyllwood would lay down his very life for Veis. Giving up riches won’t mean anything to Kyllwood.” Phillipe grasped a knife from his back pocket and twirled it around. “I appreciate your ensuring this part of our plan with the mating.”

  Simone kept an eye on the knife just in case he wanted to plunge it into her neck. While he seemed logical, an odd gleam showed in his eyes. “You expect me to believe you’ll just turn me over to the demon nation?” What was she missing?

  “Well, after my mother and I strip you of all powers.” He smiled and moved closer, the knife glinting in the soft light. “Your cousin ripped my mother’s powers away, and I plan to do the same to you. Then you can go back to your demon as weak as any other human.” He leaned in, his breath brushing her ear. “Payback is a bitch.”

  Simone shot her knee up, solidly connecting with his groin.

  He gave a muffled oof and stumbled back, still bent at the waist. “You . . . bitch,” he breathed, his eyes bugging out, tears filling them. “You fucking bitch.”

  She smiled to mask the raw terror coursing through her. While she might be able to successfully fight Phillipe and Grace Sadler, if they had any other allies joining in, she’d lose her powers. A fight like that would certainly harm the baby if not kill him. His chances of survival would diminish even with one witch attack, much less several. “How did you find out about dragons, anyway?” she asked, already having suspicions.

  He sighed. “Research and more research. My mother and yours were good friends at one point, and my mother knew your father wasn’t normal. It was matter of tugging threads from that point.”

  “This is your last chance to let me go,” she said, infusing her voice with power.

  He slowly straightened up, pain etched into his face. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy destroying you.”

  An airplane droned outside.

  Simone caught her breath and tried to remain calm.

  Phillipe smiled. “Our ride has arrived.”

  Chapter 35

  Nick tucked the communicator in his ear before tugging down his bulletproof vest outside of the small airport. The intel from Moira had come in, and he’d immediately organized a rescue force. He and Zane faced the tarmac from the north, and the Enforcers from the south. He hadn’t been able to reach Bear or Flynn, so they’d have to work without air support. By tacit agreement,
the Enforcers had adopted his plan, not that he’d given them much choice.

  Simone and the babe were his, and he was the strategic planner for a nation, if not the world now.

  He patted the tactic balaclava ski mask over his features. If there was a satellite observing through the clouds, he didn’t want anybody to be identified, so they were all masked.

  Adam Dunne had made it back to Dublin in time to join the attack. Right now, he was the only Enforcer still working for the Coven Nine. While he’d probably be fired soon, for the moment, he still had an in, which Simone needed.

  “Adam, you clearheaded?” Nick asked over the comm line. He hadn’t liked the witch’s grim expression and tired eyes.

  “Aye,” Adam replied. “I’m good on go.”

  Nick glanced over at Zane, who nodded. Even though Adam had been unable to find Victoria Monzelle, he’d hold up for the mission. The guy knew how to fight with brutal, logical precision. “Eyes.”

  Moira came online first. “Seven men outside the plane with one more guarding what looks like a storage shack. Probably two pilots, but I can’t see inside. Confirmed sighting of Phillipe Sadler, and I recognize two soldiers as witches who washed out of Guard training.”

  “You know any of the others?” Nick asked.

  “Negative,” she said. “I study all field and training reports from the Guard, and I never forget a face.”

  Impressive, that. Nick kept low behind a row of barrels. “Nobody move until we get a visual on Simone.”

  A chorus of “affirmatives” came through the line.

  He covered his mic and turned toward Zane. “You clear on our plan?”

  “Yes.” Zane bellied up next to him, his gaze on the tarmac. Only the lights from the plane illuminated the area. “If I have the chance, I’ll grab Simone and teleport her to headquarters in Idaho.”

  “Good.” Nick flexed his hands in the thick leather gloves. “The Enforcers have some damn good equipment.”

  Zane nodded, his gaze remaining on the targets. “The weapons are new to me. You’ll have to filch a couple since I can’t teleport with them.”