Page 73 of Witches Be Damned

He slipped through a portal and left me to my fate when they were outnumbered by vamps. I wasn’t going back out with him until I had his promise to have my back.

The balls of fire magick he rolled on his fingers went out with a puff. “I’m sorry for that. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” I growled at him, then swung my gaze back to Talon. “Anything else I need to know?”

“That’s the gist of it.” Talon withdrew to the side of the conference table, grabbed a plastic tub and came back, placing a circular, gold Guild badge in front of each member of the assembled team. “Wear these cameras to record any film and sound of the meetings for use in legal proceedings. I’m not taking any chances when that asshole Kymbal slipped through my fingers last year on a technicality and pressure from his connections.”

Kymbal. The name set my beast into motion. The bastard that sentenced Little Wolf to the Guardians. Corrupt as they came. From what Talon told me, they’d been after him for over a year since he used his family connections and pedigree to escape his own prison sentence. I had to quell my beast from tearing his head off. Incarceration was a far better punishment for a sniveling coward.

Talon fitted his camera on his left breast, and I followed his lead, pinning mine in the same spot, the rest of the team doing the same.

“Any concerns or objections?” His gaze swept the line of us, and no one spoke, so he added, “Move out to our target.”

My wolf and I responded to his natural command the way we would to Knoxe’s or an Alpha Lycan.

Twenty minutes later, we broke into teams of three, me with Blaze and Gable, scouting the south and east perimeter of the abandoned theatre, while Luna, Talon, and Cole took the other directions.

Gable’s medicine kicked in right on time, giving me the boost of energy and focus I’d been lacking the last two days. I felt stronger and clearer-headed, lethal determination zinging down my spine.

Whoever chose to meet this afternoon chose the perfect place. Few neighbors, including a building contractor, a tire replacement garage, car battery workshop, a train station several hundred feet away, a few shops that looked like dives. Security wearing guns under their jackets patrolled the perimeter. Standard for the traffickers, according to Blaze. Very out of place in a suburb like this.

Luxury cars parked in the rundown theatre parking lot. Idiots. First rule of an escape: don’t park together where you can be detained. Second rule: don’t hire security who are so obvious when we worked in the shadows. Third rule: meet somewhere remote or with more privacy. Amateurs. Beggars couldn’t be choosers when most of their ranks dried up with whatever spell Luna cast to eradicate the Brotherhood’s power.

“Find anything?” Talon radioed in on a state-of-the-art device designed by Cole. We agreed to report in after an eight-minute perimeter check.

“All clear on our end,” Blaze reported back.

“Ours too,” Talon replied. “We’re heading in.”

“We’ll take our security and meet you there in approximately ten.” Blaze concluded the report.

He moved us to the rear entrance, where we snuck on up security, stunning three unconscious and portalling them back to the Academy, where two of Talon’s most trusted Tollens awaited to arrest our captors. In the middle of processing them, Talon’s crew dragged another two men through their portal, dumping their unconscious bodies.

“What took you so long, Stoney?” Gable teased, earning the middle finger from Talon as his team evacuated the Terra Room and returned to our target.

“Move out,” Blaze ordered, playfully slapping the back of Gable’s head.

We crossed over the portal to our rendezvous point and proceeded to the rear theatre door, making as little noise as possible, approaching our enemy from the stage. Talon’s team tackled the front, coming in through the seating area, preventing anyone from escaping. They probably should have brought more Tollens with them as leverage, but his trust in his team was at an all-time low after a few incidents in the Academy, where enemies and gantii invaded with the help of insider staff.

Dim light from the theatre streaked through the curtains, kicking in my Lycan sight. Various scents dragged in my nostrils—steel weapons, magick talisman, leather from shoes, the tang of gold and wood caskets, and the hint of a perfume that I previously encountered amid the rotten scent of arrogance and treachery. These weren’t your everyday Guild members. They were elite and from old money. The kind of assholes who looked down on members like me when I came from little and didn’t value material possessions.

I caught Blaze by the shoulder, waiting for his hand signal to speak. “I recognize the perfume of a woman,” I whispered.

He aimed his gun at the curtains, ready to blow holes in them. “Who?”

“Theresa Sanchez,” I replied, also known as Councilor Sanchez for her role on the Guild Council, overseeing the direction of our fine establishment.

My body shuddered, my wolf wanting out to take care of the bitch for politically trying to leverage having Knoxe and me cast into maximum security for defending Astra and tearing off her nephew’s balls for attempting to sexually assault my mate.

Blaze texted my intel through to Talon. His phone screen went black, then lit up again at the reply.

Good.Let’s hope that asshole Kymbal is with her.

Strength surgedto all corners of my body as my beast assumed control, ready to exact justice on that asshole in my mate’s honor. Claws sprung from my fingers, and my fangs lengthened. I stopped my wolf at the point of a full shift, only adopting my weapons of mass destruction when I relied on the suit to break the impact of any blow.

“Easy there, big guy.” Gable shoved his palms at me. “No shifting.”

“Too late.” I flashed him my claws.

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