Page 47 of The Bonds of Nyx

I had forty years on both the mages, as did half my team, and yet we’d been passed over.

I shook my head as we all climbed out of the SUV. Grey strode over to meet us, her eyes narrowed, while the rest of her team stayed behind. There were five of us: me, Jessup, Corbin, Zephyr, and Konrad. We’d been an established team for twenty years.

Like it fucking matters.

“Nash?” Grey’s blue eyes swung to me as I stepped forward. I tried not to bristle over the disrespect.Agent Nashis how I should have been referred to. “You broke protocol.”

My jaw clenched. “We weren’t aware that protocol was still in place.”

Grey’s face gave nothing away, but the rest of her team seemed angry. Honestly, I didn’t blame them. Operatives were chasing the would-be Queen, and they had already gotten to her once.

If it happened again, it was their heads on the line. And now they had to deal with a second team. Must have sucked being told they weren’t going to be enough to protect her.

I suppressed a smirk and instead offered my hand. “Hawk Nash, from the Endora sector. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Grey didn’t hesitate; she took my hand in a firm shake. She didn’t squeeze it like males did to assert dominance. She didn’t need to. Grey knew she was the strongest here. She had years of experience on all of us.

It made sense why she was chosen. The others? Not so much.

“My team—” she motioned behind her to the three males standing stiffly by the door I assumed lead up to the house, “—Elias Beckham, my second. Adrian Kingsley and Rowan Archer, mages.”

I nodded. “Owen Jessup is my second. Lyle Corbin is our tracker. Lark Zephyr and Byrne Konrad, vampire and mage, bring up the rear of our team. We’re all experienced, and we’re dedicated to the cause.”

Grey’s eyes didn’t move from mine, like she didn’t care at all about the rest of the team. “There are a few things you should be aware of before you are properly introduced to the future Queen.” Finally, those intense eyes drifted from me to take in the others. “One: Ivy is currently experiencing magical outbursts. She is anchored to two mates currently.”

My brows shot up. From what I’d been debriefed on, there had been mention of a potential mate, but two already? I found the shifter’s stare, and he smirked.

Ah, perfect. The wolf and the new Queen. Fuck.

“Two: you saw three children in her care. Those are her sisters, and they are currently in the midst of losing their mother because of the attack. We are doing what we can to make their mother comfortable, and it is part of the reason why we haven’t moved yet.”

I felt my team shift behind me. We’d spent a lot of time together holding our emotions back. I felt a pang of sadness for those kids, but if their mother wasn’t going to make it, then it would be better to cut our losses and move on. It would have been best to move as soon as they’d regrouped.

But I didn’t say that aloud. I doubted someone like Maeve Grey needed me to say that.

“Three: keep your opinions to yourself. You can speak to me, but keep your interactions with the future Queen minimal. We don’t want to overwhelm her, especially with her magic. And four: We are being tracked—hence why we are still here. You breaking protocol could have put us all in danger, and we donothave the resources to transfer safe houses at this time.” Her stern gaze turned on me, and for the first time since entering the basement, some emotion entered her gaze. It wasn’t just anger, it wasfury. She would do anything to protect the new Queen. “You will be debriefed of what we found.”

We all nodded. Would I listen to all her rules? Fuck no. I wanted to know what this new Queen was made of. I’d gotten a look at her fierceness, but was she made to be Queen? Or would she be worthless in the war to come?

“Before you go up, we’re going to do a search. Make sure none of you are compromised.” Grey nodded behind her as two more agents, not from her team, appeared from the shadows. The two shifters stalked to the SUV without so much as a glance at us. “Protocol. You understand?”

The smile I gave her was harsh, but we made no fuss as we were all stripped of our weapons and our gear. Adrian Kingsley checked us for charms and other magic we shouldn’t have, made sure to thoroughly wash us down of anything that screameddanger. Even Rowan Archer stepped in to do a quick reading of us and our intentions.

From what I knew of him, he didn’t practise his mother’s brand of magic often. So clearly, they were all worried about what might be lurking in our pasts.

I even waited for Grey to take a bite of us and check our memories, but she didn’t seem inclined to do so.

By the time we were cleared, over an hour had passed. We were tired, hungry, and wanted to do our own assessment of the situation. Grey’s team might have been the one to find our long-lost Queen, but they had also been responsible for her initial capture. Even if no one else said it, I knew it was necessary to investigate that.

We were guided into the house without a word once we were given our gear and duffels. I itched to change into something a little more…freeing, but I tampered down that need for now.

The basement door opened to reveal a hallway leading into a large open kitchen. It was all modern and dark, fitting the gloomy weather beyond the large windows.

“Are all these windows tinted for vamps?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Yes.” Grey didn’t elaborate, not that I expected her to, but it was good for Zephyr. I knew most of our safe houses had been upgraded for vamps, and I expected nothing but the best for Her Majesty.

Grey guided us out of the kitchen, which smelt pretty damn good, and into a large family room with a giant fireplace and sectional lounge. The two women sitting on it rose to their feet.

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