Page 41 of Shielded Heart

Getting into your own head again, Arc, you fool. What was the first thing she said when she called?

I need you.

Perhaps that was only because she’d had no one else to turn to, perhaps—no. He wouldn’t allow himself to pursue those thoughts. Not now.

They emerged from the express tunnel leading into Samantha’s sector. Hundreds of apartment complexes lay before them, but Arc picked hers out with ease, even from this height.

“What’s the plan?” Drakkal asked.

“Funny thing about that,” Arcanthus replied, “I don’t actually have one.”

“You reallydidexpect to charge in blindly and deal with it as it comes?”

“Look, I’m a fighter-turned-lover, not a strategist.”

Drakkal snorted and shook his head. “We need a tactician for this, not a strategist.”

“See? Yet another reason I’m not qualified. You justhadto correct me on a technicality.” Arc swept his gaze over Samantha’s building as they neared it. The windows lining each floor were dark, tinted for the privacy of the residents, allowing not even a glimpse into any of the rooms. Arcanthus’s lips curled upward in a smile.

He leaned forward and activated the display on the center of the car’s console, fingers flying as he accessed the plexus and quickly located the Consortium-approved plans for the building. Within a few moments, he had the blueprints on the windshield display, overlaid atop the complex ahead in perfect scale. He entered her room number.

The windshield display highlighted one of the windows, showing the floorplan for the room beyond it.

“That one is hers,” Arcanthus said.

“Okay. Where do you want me to park?” Drakkal asked.

“Keep up, Drak. Next to the window.”

Drakkal turned his head toward Arcanthus, brows low. “You’re serious?”

Arcanthus nodded. “Trying to use my head for once in all this, just like you want me to. That’s the quickest way in and out.”

“All right.” Facing forward, Drakkal swung the hovercar around so it was alongside the building, guiding it up to the marked window.

Arcanthus brought up his holocom screen and sent a message to Samantha.

Stay away from the window.

Her reply came a few seconds later.

What? Why?

The hovercar came to a stop beside the window. Arcanthus swung his second auto-blaster over his other shoulder, pushed the door open, grasped the edges of the doorframe, and pulled himself partially out of it. A two-meter gap separated him from the window.

“Get me closer.”

“Don’t want to ruin the door,” Drakkal said.

“Drak, I will—”

The hovercar lurched toward the building. Arcanthus growled a curse and wrapped his tail around the seat behind him, anchoring himself in place as he swayed forward. The car door scraped against the side of the building, producing a shower of sparks and the groan of metal-on-metal.

They were only twenty stories up; nothing to worry about, right?

“We’re having a long conversation when we get home, azhera,” he said as he straightened. The wind—he was never entirely surewherethe wind came from, down here, or how it could be so strong—whipped his long hair around his face. He bent his leg and thrust it forward, kicking the window.

A circular, fist-sized crack formed in the glass. He kicked it again, and the damage spread; even against his enhanced strength and metal feet, the material they used for windows on these buildings was incredibly durable.

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