Page 113 of Heir

Arik nodded again, as did Zandren and Drak.

“Yeah, I smelled him at the gravesite,” Arik went on. “My guess is they were told by whomever hired them to look into your mother. When they found out she was dead, they exhumed her body to get answers on where to find you, which led them to your aunt—the last person to touch her, I’m assuming. And when Delia wouldn’t give you up, they killed her. But then Yarvak followed the scent trail from your mother and possibly Delia’s home, if she had anything left of yours, to your apartment here.”

“But Gemma doesn’t have my scent, so why’d they take her?” I frowned. “I mean, we do share clothes sometimes. And live together. Would that be enough for her to have my scent on her and confuse the hunter mage and demons?”

“Yarvak is a mercenary hunter. Not a kidnapper. Not a murderer. Although he has no morals, he does have a code which he will stand by rigidly. He won’t go beyond finding someone. So he’ll have told them where to go, but the demons were the ones to do the kidnapping. And they obviously couldn’t differentiate. At this point, because they exhumed your mother’s body, they knew that you are half human. So they could smell human when they came to the apartment. My guess is that they probably figured your human scent was stronger than your demon scent, which led to them taking Gemma. Who knows how these sadistic fuckers work?” Arik shook his head and exhaled with frustration out of his nostrils.

“Or they took Gemma because Omaera wasn’t here and they’re using her as bait,” Bauer added.

Arik nodded in agreement. “Or that.”

“So do we know where they have Gemma?” I asked. “We need to get to her now.”

Bauer scratched at his stubbly chin. “We’ve managed to track her scent to a place across town. An abandoned meatpacking plant.”

“I know that place. We’ve been to raves there before.”

They both nodded.

“I could only smell two demons when we were there. More may be on the way. But if the four of you go, and it’s just the two demons, it should be manageable.”

“The four of us? What about you two?” Were they just going to abandon us when we were this close to getting my friend back? Were they going to abandon their Queen? An uncomfortable rush of helpless fury filled my chest, and I had to quickly lasso it and squeeze, condensing it into a ball and putting a shield over it. Even though she was a xenophobic, murdering bitch, Raewyn’s one lesson on containing my anger had proved to be very helpful, more than once.

“I have a code too,” Arik said. “I’m a hunter. Period. I find people. I don’t fight. I don’t kidnap or kill. I also have a mate and kids. I’m not going into battle. I’m sorry.”

Bauer nodded. “I have a wife and pups at home. I agreed to help find the human, but unfortunately, I’m not willing to risk my life for one. I won’t risk leaving my mate and pups without a mate or father.”

“Not even for your Queen?” Drak asked, anger edging his tone.

Both Arik and Bauer made regretful faces, though Bauer still managed to also convey his deep-seated hatred for Drak.

They faced me. Arik bowed his head slightly. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“As am I,” Bauer echoed.

I exhaled and nodded, expelling a lot of energy to not parboil their brains. “Please take us to the meatpacking plant. Then you may take your leave.”

They nodded. We gathered ourselves; I put on better clothes, and even Drak dressed down in less formal and restrictive attire. I wasn’t sure when he’d gone out to get clothes, but I also didn’t care. He was still in all black, only this time it was black sweatpants and a black hoodie. Maxar was in loose-fitting, black, stretchy pants and a black sweatshirt, while Zandren said he planned to shift when we got there, so color-matching with us wasn’t a concern.

Keeping with the theme, I wore all black as well—it was easy since ninety-five percent of my wardrobe was black anyway. I went with yoga leggings and a tight-fitting, but stretchy, black hoodie. I put my combat boots back on and a knit cap over my wild hair, which I tied into a bun at the nape of my neck.

It felt like we were going to rob a bank or knock over a jewelry store.

“I have a minivan,” Bauer said. “We can take that.”

I froze as the elevator reached ground level. I hadn’t been in a passenger car in ages, and the idea of squeezing into a minivan with all this testosterone sat uncomfortably under my skin.

Zandren reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s the fastest way to her, Little One. I know you’re reluctant, but it’ll be okay.”

His smile was all the reassurance I needed. Or at least that’s what I told myself, and I rallied.

For Gemma.

I would do whatever it took to save Gemma.

She was my person.

Well, now I had at least two people. Gemma and Zandren.

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