Page 23 of The Bonds of Nyx

The panther shrugged as she circled the punching bag, trailing her fingers against the material. Her dark eyes assessed me before flicking to the now empty doorway where Ivy had been standing. “More now than ever, she needs to be careful.”

“Obviously,” I replied, my voice guttural, coming out like a growl. “What’s this about, Nav?”

Her eyes met mine, her irises shadowed with something dark. “It’s not like it’s news.” She came to a stop and crossed her arms, leaning her hip against a piece of equipment. “There’s a reason she’s here and not on her way to Avalon.”

My stomach twisted. Jay had only left the agents he believed were completely loyal to Nyx. But with the way Navya was speaking, I wasn’t entirely sure. Was she just jealous over not being the only desired female? Back when Adrian had been party-boy princeling, they’d had a fling that hadn’t lasted longer than a week. He’d been a man-whore, thanks to the terrible influence of one of his brothers, and Navya had always been open about her love of sex during our time training.

I watched her closely for a long moment. Her jealousy would be easy to uncover, but she was an agent first. We’d all had that drilled into us as soon as we’d entered the training facilities of Phoenix.

Her nose lifted as she spoke again. “Look, I’m not saying this to be an ass,” she muttered, her eyes shifting to look over my shoulder before moving back to mine. “But your team needs to deal with whatever crap they have going on—you included. Everyone at the fight saw what happened with Kingsley, and that’s trickling down the ranks. But other rumours are starting, and it doesn’t look good for you guys.”

My brows furrowed, but the scar on my stomach twinged. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The corners of her lips twitched up into a smirk. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Archer.” With that, she pushedherself away from the equipment and winked. “I’ll go relieve Tig from rounds and send him your way then.”

I gave her a terse nod but didn’t move as she slipped from the gym. Her words seemed to trail after her, almost mockingly, as I let my eyes slip shut, and brought Ivy back into the forefront of my mind.

Fuck, I was an idiot. But was I worthy of her? She represented everything good in our world, and I was a coward who would rather watch her from a distance than actually step up and be what she needed.

It was getting more apparent now that our meeting hadn’t been an accident. With my mother involved, anything was possible.

But for now, I’d hold back.

Even if it killed me inside to watch her from afar.

~

My thoughts were tangled threads that led right back to Ivy. I was assaulted with my own advice, reminded of the words I’d spoken to Adrian not even a few days ago.Step up and be there. I shook my head. It wasn’t like Ivy needed me; she had enough on her plate with Adrian and their bond. Not to mention her mother and those kids. She didn’t need to be worrying about me like I knew she was.

The skin on my wrist tingled, and I glanced down at the usually bare flesh to see the communication rune appear. The dark lines were stark against the usual golden complexion of my skin; a dull, yellow glow traced the rune, signalling the incoming communication.

I glanced around the quiet hallway I’d stopped in before swiping my thumb over the mark and held my wrist up to my face.

“Kingsley, Archer, Beckham. Meet in the basement, now.”Maeve’s voice sent a shiver down my spine. The words were cold,assertive, more so than usual. And she referred to us by our surnames.

Something’s wrong.

My heart leapt into my throat as I stalked towards the basement door. Before I could make my way down, I glanced out the window at the end of the hall; it overlooked the back of the house where Ivy was setting up her picnic. She was already there with Eloise, their backs to the house as they laid out a large rug they’d found and added pillows to the sides.

I forced myself to look away when they hugged and punched in the pin to the basement door. The metal latch clicked as it opened, and I pushed inside the small stairwell. Lights flickered on automatically, guiding my descent, and I used the short walk to steel myself for whatever Maeve had to say.

When I hit the basement floor, I found Maeve, Elias, and Adrian gathered around one of the SUVs. Boss lady had her arms crossed and a stern, no-nonsense look on her face that barely hid the anger shining in her blue eyes. She was dressed, per usual, in slacks and a silk blouse, but Adrian and Wolfy were in their gear.

A frown tugged my lips as I joined them. Maeve barely spared me a glance as she nodded. “Good. You’re all here. There’s activity in town that isn’t from any of our people. I believe there are unknown creatures tracking us, and they’re too close.” Her gaze cut from me, to Wolfy, then to Adrian. “With the sun being too high, I can’t go out there myself, so I’ll be coordinating from here. You three will go and flush them out. Find out if they’re here for Ivy, or if they’re travellers. Remove if necessary.”

I swallowed hard and gave her a nod. It took me less than a minute to change into my gear, and in under five, we were in one of the non-descript SUVs. I felt Adrian strengthen the wards around the estate as we passed through them as a counter measure for our departure. I hated the idea of leaving Ivy in thehands of Jay’s team, but I had to remind myself that Maeve was still on the property.

It didn’t feel like enough, though. Then again, nothing felt like enough anymore.

The vehicle remained quiet until we entered town and turned down one of the residential streets. Elias pulled the car off to the side and put it in park. “We go on foot from here.”

There was a hum of energy between the three of us. It made my blood pound in my ears, my heart race, and drew my magic to the surface. Anticipation fuelled our hunt for the creatures in town. Grey clouds rolled over the sky, darkening it with the threat of potential rain, and a sharp wind cut through the small, dilapidated houses. As we passed peeling exteriors, Elias led our team, keeping his wolf close to the surface. With each step, I noticed the tensing of his muscles and the slow extension of his claws. He, like Maeve, was focused, still, and prepared for anything.

The uneven paved streets were eerily quiet, the surrounding houses almost lifeless as we passed. Trash rolled down an alley between two buildings, the sound almost jarring compared to the silence I was getting used to. I glanced at Adrian, who walked beside me with a tablet in his hand. His brows were drawn, lips pursed, and he kept looking up to search the area before returning to the map on the screen.

I turned away from him to take in the street again. There was something deeply wrong with this area.

Elias stopped in the middle of the road and held up his right hand in a fist. Adrian and I paused as we flanked either side of him.

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