Page 10 of Place of Torment

The words were barely out of his mouth when Samir’s foot connected to the side of the Guardian’s head and the crunch of a neck breaking echoed and bounced off the remaining trees around us. “If you are done messing around…” the ancient Atua raised a haughty eyebrow at me, looking like the stick up his ass never moved even in a dirty fight in the middle of a dog park by the looks and smell of it.

“I’m trying not to shift.” Pissed at myself for showing vulnerability, I shoved off the dirt and stood up.

“Shifting would be a good thing in a situation like this.” Side-eyeing me, Samir twisted and turned to avoid the Guardian’s sword and fists. “I do not have time for this.”

“I didn’t ask for your assistance, Samir.” Anger pushed away any hesitation I had in releasing control of my temper. “Need I remind you that you are here uninvited?”

“And you are welcome for the assistance I offered, although you were too dimwitted to ask.” It was beyond me how he managed the elaborate arm roll in his bow at the same time he slammed a fist into the only remaining Guardian in the park. “While the adults deal with the vermin, do tie something around that well of Muscat pouring out of your arm, would you? It smells vintage, and after fighting all of the Guardians on my own I’m getting famished.” Twisting his head to face me he grinned wide enough to expose both of his sharp fangs at me.

Even knowing that he is on our side, I was still more wary of Samir than anything else that could come and try kill me in this park. With a cocked eyebrow, I glanced down at my bleeding bicep, the blood painting my skin all the way down to my fingertips. Without a word, I tugged the t-shirt over my head and started ripping into it to get a long enough piece and tie it above the injury to cut off the circulation. Arguing with the Atua won’t lead me to anything good.

With a few more grunts and huffs, the last Guardian hit the ground unmoving. Samir smoothed a hand over his button-down shirt to erase the invisible wrinkles while I tightened the knot on the ripped fabric with my teeth half paying attention to what I was doing, half watching the Atua in case he needed assistance. Those damn blades the Syndicate started using healed too slow even for a shifter. It’ll be a day before the wound fully closed and that would be a problem if the Syndicate had my mate.

How do you investigate anything when they can smell you bleeding from miles away?

“Did you break a claw, Shifter?’ Samir smirked down at me, and I glowered back.

“We should check if they have Brooklyn in the vehicle.” Without waiting for his reply, I strode toward the still smoking car that was half wrapped around the fountain.

She wasn’t there. Or anywhere near this damn place. I knew it, yet I forced myself to check in hopes I’d keep my sanity. Why did my beast lead me here where no sign of her could be found?

Behind me Samir was dragging bodies, rearranging them around the park to make it look like they had been fighting each other and ended up all dead. Unlike me. I stared unseeing at the open doors of the car, the interior clean and still smelling of new leather.

“Anything?” Samir called out from a few yards away.

Shaking my head since I knew he could see me, I was just turning around to join him when a strong gust of wind blasted from the empty street through the park, slamming me with the scent of my mate; it is like being hit with a hammer. It brought her smell from across the street not the park. It was all my animal needed to shove me out of the way and take over.

I shifted with a shout of outrage and heard Samir laugh.

Asshole.

8

Brooklyn

Stuck in a staring match with two demons in a living room set of a typical middle-class American family was surreal. My eyes flicked from Echo to Chester, hoping that each time I blinked I’d wake up in Samir’s estate and all this would be a dream. More to suit my ego that I couldn’t possibly be kidnaped like some rookie human, than from the fear that I might lose my life in a house from an episode of Home Hunters that Alice made me watch when we were not too busy running or fighting for our lives.

“Well?” when the silence stretched for too long I raised an eyebrow at my two captors.

Echo narrowed her gaze on me, a muscle ticking on one side of her jaw in annoyance while the male demon was unnerving with his excited fascination with me. Regardless, if the female found me annoying or not, I kept a steady look on my face, displaying patience I didn’t feel. She’s the one that wanted to talk, while I really wanted to be out of there. Had places to be and Atua to kill.

“How much do you know about the breeding of a new species so the Syndicate can build their army?”

I blinked.

As far as opening statements go, I had to give credit to Echo. The female screeched my scattered brain to a stop and had my undivided attention with just that one question. A quick look at Chester told me absolutely nothing since he was still either eye-fucking me or debating if he should start eating me from the head or the legs the second I was dead.

A shiver ran up and down my spine and I trembled for a second.

“Nothing.” Clearing my throat, I straightened in the armchair. “Since you are the one that does business with the Council…” I pointedly looked at my sore wrists I was rubbing at so I can return some of the feeling in my fingers “…you should know they are not exactly forthcoming with information on anything, little less on something I’m assuming they want to have as an ace up their sleeve.”

If there was a war brewing in the shadows and we were running around clueless, Samir and Dominic were going to be very upset. It would explain why they were so quick to try and get rid of me though. From the moment I was captured and shoved in a cage, I expected a lot more torture and blood loss. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I didn’t give it a second thought when I got rescued if it was too easy or not. Having a witch from the inside to help made it possible to believe we managed to trick the Council and strike unexpected.

But what if we were wrong?

“We’ve been watching you Brooklyn long before you turned on the Syndicate.” Echo leaned a hip on the sofa and folded her arms across her chest. “They treated you like one of their own. You were part of the inside circle for a long time. You must know something.”

“I know somethings like why your brothers were killed.” Not very tasteful but I had to cut to the chase. “I was not in my right mind, and I can only guess that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. From what I’d been told, I only killed members of the Syndicate. You are the first that tells me otherwise.” Shrugging a shoulder, I held her gaze levelly. “I am sorry for that, but I cannot get it undone.”

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