Page 88 of Beyond the Darkness

“I can send a daemon to portal anyone—as long as each leader agrees—if they can’t get here in time,” Kage offered.

“Thank you. Pass it on, Connie,” Hudson said.

“Once we get a head count, I can provide a daemon for each group, just like we did when we rescued Axel,” Kage said. “We also need to check as soon as we get in the tunnels to see if my kind can portal.”

Don cleared his throat. “I, ah, have a suggestion because I do understand your concerns about me. What if I wear a wire? Everything that happens in those tunnels will be heard by you in real time before you can get in there. And I promise, I’ll do my best to protect him.”

Connie sneered. “Like we trust you to protect—”

“I want to be very clear, Don. If something happens to Kit, it’s not you that’s going to pay the price. It will be your younger brother. Do you understand me?” Hudson demanded.

“I do.”

Kit didn’t say anything, but he sighed. “Again, Chester is an innocent, just like I was when Nox attacked me in my own damn bookstore.”

“Then I suggest you come out of this unscathed because otherwise? You don’t want to see what I will do,” Hudson said. “Even with preparations, it’s risky. If anything goes wrong, or if anything happens to you—”

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Kit said. “We’ve already established that, right, Hudson?”

“Connie? How many have committed?” Hudson asked.

Connie held his finger up as he finished a call. “So far I have fifteen vampires, fifteen werewolves, including Axel, ten mer, and five gargoyles. Plus, us and however many people Kage adds.”

That was a good turnout, considering the short notice. Hudson was going to owe a bunch of people a bunch of favors. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused internally. His dragon wasn’t happy but understood the necessity of this. They had a chance to bring Lennox’s reign of terror to an end and set Kit free from the harassment.

They really couldn’t affordnotto take this chance. But his dragon also made it very clear that if Kit was killed, the creature wouldn’t stop until Lennox and every hunter was dead.

“Okay.” Hudson opened his eyes. “We’ll do it.”

Connie whined deep in his chest, the sound harsh and scared.

Hudson immediately spun in his seat and grabbed Connie by the chin. He stared into his other mate’s eyes. “I promise youwe will come through this together. And if something happens to our mate? I will destroy them all.”

“I’ll help you,” Connie promised.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Kit reminded them.

Hudson gently kissed Connie on the lips, then he turned toward Kage. “If the worst-case scenario happens, get everybody out. Immediately. Or they’ll die by fire.”

“For crying out loud,” Kit muttered.

“Understood. It’s settled then,” Kage declared after a moment of contemplative silence. He looked around, meeting the eyes of each person in the room. “We prepare tonight. Kit will go with Don as planned, but under our terms, our control.”

Everyone gradually agreed.

Kit reached out and squeezed Hudson’s hand. “It’ll work.”

“For all of our sakes, I sincerely hope so,” Hudson said. “Now, let’s discuss strategy. Connie? Email everybody and have them meet here at eight-thirty tonight.”

“I will,” Connie said.

With roles assigned and plans set into motion, they dispersed to make the necessary preparations. It was decided that Don would go with Kage so no one would see him leave Kit’s bookstore.

Plus, Hudson didn’t trust himself around the hunter. Maia volunteered to run Hudson and his group home. She promised to return and portal them back to Kit’s bookstore later.

NIGHT fell over the city, and everyone readied themselves. Raven and his vampires were there, as were Axel and his werewolves, the mers, and the gargoyles, as well as Isadora.

Since they had mer helping them, Hudson warned them about Chester, just in case. The last thing he wanted was for themer to attack Chester because he was a hunter and had their DNA.

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