Page 6 of Out of Peril

“Oh no. It's a new vision,” Maya whispered.

“Maybe.”

I gently rubbed his back to soothe him.

While Maya could grow vines, Dante was a very young seer. His visions scared him and often came in the form of dreams. But sometimes when his body quaked at night it was simply nightmares.

“Look,” she whispered pointing to his hand.

I sighed. “Did his paper and pencil make it?” I asked, looking around.

She opened her small backpack and pulled them out. The second Dante gasped and jolted upright, she shoved the pencil into his hand and passed him the notebook. He began scribbling frantically, knowing he wasn't fully coherent yet.

Once the vision passed, he stilled and his eyes cleared.

He looked down and frowned, then he shoved the notebook into my arms.

“He's looking for you, and he's coming.”

I glanced down at the dark haired man with light eyes and dimples. He was very handsome and not at all scary, but Dante's visions were never wrong. And there was no good reason for this stranger to be after me. That could only mean one thing—trouble was coming my way and I needed to prepare to run.

Walker

Chapter 3

Venezuela.

I'd never been to Venezuela. It was uncomfortably hot and a bit dusty as I left the plane with my arm around Taylor, or I should say, Tayla Grimes, wife to eccentric billionaire and Collector, Walter Grimes. For this mission, that was once again me.

Tayla and Walter were long time cover names as we slowly infiltrated the network of Collectors. So far we hadn't raised any suspicions. I'd lost track of how many auctions we'd attended and witches we'd saved in the process.

As far as the other Collectors knew, we had a large menagerie of witches. Since most of them were extremely paranoid, especially after a few collections had been dismantled over recent years, there was no need to actually prove this. Still, it would help with our cover that this time we had Nate.

Nate was a wolf shifter we'd rescued previously. The guy had lived his entire life in captivity and didn't know anything else. He'd practically begged us to put him back in and after weeks of therapy and evaluation by our resident psychologist, Lachlan, had cleared him for this mission.

Taylor and I were going to be selling him in a large auction right here in Venezuela. The idea wasn't sitting well with anyone, but Nate was confident that he could make a difference from the inside, and really, wouldn't any of us do the same?

We'd sent others inside horrifying situations before as long as the final outcome warranted it. I had to believe this was no different.

Still, the realization that the guy I'd grown to know, my friend, was sitting in the dark, locked inside a covered cage right now made me want to puke.

Taylor reached over and squeezed my hand. To the outside eye we were just an adoring couple with more money than we knew what to do with.

They didn't see the turmoil it caused us every time we transitioned into the Grimes family. It was a lengthy process. Compared to some missions I supposed it wasn't much. We used just enough latex prosthetics to disrupt facial recognition. The least amount possible had been the original design. It made for an easy transition now and less chance of screw ups. However, it also left both of us susceptible to recognition.

“We have company,” Ben said through coms. “Eleven o'clock. Just watching so far. All else clear.”

I laughed like Taylor had just said something funny.

Her hand swatted out and teasingly shoved my chest before I wrapped an arm around her.

I heard her mate Grant give a small warning growl that had me genuinely laughing. I knew this wasn't easy on him either. As a final step into Tayla Grimes, Taylor had to cover up his mating mark on her neck. Anyone within the Collector world who saw it would immediately recognize her as a shifter and potential witch. The risk was too high, but it left them both feeling uncomfortable and overly aggressive in the first few hours. By now I was used to it.

“Hey, careful with that, you idiots. You're moving precious cargo,” I yelled out to Grant and Tarron who were moving Nate's cage.

We all knew damn well they were being careful.

“Nice. Focus has shifted to the box,” Ben assured us.

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