Page 99 of The World Undone

“So much for in and out without anyone noticing.” Rowan ran a hand roughly through his hair as he scanned the dark room Max had brought us to. The strands of blond stood in weird angles of chunked clumps of red. “Still in the same building, I’m guessing?”

I nodded. “I can hear the fight still, we’re just a floor or two above them.”

Max’s hair was a wild mess of knots and waves around her blood-streaked face. Her clothes were torn, the skin revealed through the holes already healed from whatever blades had made contact.

That didn’t stop me from scanning every inch of her, just to be sure.

“Do you sense the magic?” her brother studied her, but gave her space. Seemed he could sense the frustration emanating from every pore just as clearly as I could, bond or not. “Should we just leave? Go to Plan B?”

“There is no Plan B.” Her eyes were on fire, electric. “Not yet. We don’t leave until we take one of the council members out. This is it—this is our only?—”

She let out a frustrated sigh, the rest of the sentence dissolving in the silence.

We all knew the truth. That this was our only chance. There was no going back from this mission until we took out whichever council member was here and confirmed with certainty that the stone wasn’t hidden somewhere in these walls. Hopefully the others would locate it, though there hadn’t been any signal suggesting they had yet.

“And her?” I glanced down at the now-immobile vampire in my arms. “Do we just ditch her or…”

Haley’s eye twitched and I bit back a grin, knowing full well we weren’t going to.

“Pipe down, I went after you, didn’t I? Don’t worry, I’m not letting that scrape I got in the process be for nothing.”

Max’s jaw clenched as she considered. “We leave her in this room, shift here before we shift back home.”

Rowan nodded. “Adds another step, another chance for something to go wrong. But it’s the best option.”

I arched a brow at the girl in my arms before setting her down in a corner of the dark room. “Sit tight. You’re strong, well fed. Any luck and the poison they used will be out of your system before we’re back.” It felt strange just leaving her there, vulnerable and out in the open. Like a betrayal. Hopefully this room stayed abandoned long enough for us to finish the job. I nodded to Max and Ro. “Let’s be quick then.”

With a last apologetic glance at Haley, Max led the way from the room.

The fighting downstairs had gone quiet, and I could hear the rumble of shuffling feet throughout the building as they searched for us. In an ideal world, they’d give up soon and assume we left the premises altogether—think that we’d have to be mindless to stick around once we’d been discovered once.

To be fair, we kind of were.

Only plan or not, this one wasn’t panning out as hoped.

We made it less than thirty seconds before we came face-to-face with two protectors. They both looked about Max’s age, and judging from the wide-eyed shock on their faces, they recognized her instantly.

Rowan charged forward, knocking the first one’s head into the wall—hard enough to stun them for a minute or two, not cause any lasting damage.

Just as I reached the second one, another protector appeared around the corner.

Blonde hair, blue eyes.

I…recognized this one.

She was at Headquarters that night. Had helped us with Atlas.

“Reza?” Max moved towards the girl, hesitant and unsure. “What are you?—”

The girl’s features sharpened and she reached for her pocket.

Instead of a blade, she grabbed a phone.

I dropped the now unconscious protector at my feet and ran towards her, ready for her to meet the same fate.

“Wait.” Max stepped forward, arms out. “We don’t want to hurt you if we don’t have to. Just tell us where the council member’s chambers are.”

“So it’s true. You really were reckless enough to come back.” The girl’s lips twitched slightly, as she gripped the phone tighter. But she wasn’t dialing. “Why the fuck are you here? Didn’t get your fill of destruction just yet?”

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