Page 73 of Phoenix Burn

With difficulty, I focused through the rage and on the mission. Neil and Ryan had gone ahead on the course, and I glanced over to Alex, who stood with Cody. Both be looking at Anna. They be mated. Did they feel her pull as well?

I yanked my thoughts back to practicalities. If Cara could get it trained, Anna’s attraction ability could be put to good use as a Shade. If those she questioned be so besotted with her that their guard be dropped... She be a lot like the Satyr, Jacques, in that regard. It made him a top-rate gatherer of secrets.

With Matt and Mari as protection for Anna, they might make a great intel team.

I deliberately did not think about how dangerous those missions be. The information gatherers be the first teams put into dicey situations. Attrition be generally high.

Paws landed on my thigh—Anna’s dog, dragging her string, panted happily up at me. Both eyes be now blue. My heart froze at the sight—and surely, her face had more white fur?

Another sign.

“Sorry,” Anna apologized, and stared at her dog. Immediately, the animal dropped its feet to the ground and wiggled at me rather than jumping. Then Anna pointed, and the creature bounded back to Kitani, who picked up the string and grinned at us.

But my heart thundered. Anna had commanded the dog without speaking to it. I’d been around Liberi women enough to recognize the skill.

“We ready to rooll?” Matt asked.

“Yes,” I answered, then remembered to give the nod to Anna. “When you be, leader.”

Her eyes widened, but she turned to face the path. “All right, team,” she said. “Here we go.”

21

Anna

It was weird that Sebastian let me take the lead. The guy was prickly as hell—in fact, the word asshole came to mind, considering how he’d treated me since we’d returned—but he was giving me a chance to prove myself.

So as we jogged down the trail, my mind assessed each team member, their strengths, and weaknesses.

I kept our pace comfortable for Mari. The ogress’s big body was remarkably agile for its bulk, but speed wasn’t her thing. She carried our rope and grapple over one big shoulder.

I dropped back to her. “Tell me if this is a good pace for you.”

“I could go a bit faster.”

“For how long? We have five miles with obstacles, so I need you to be honest as to what you can do.”

Mari’s brow wrinkled. “A bit faster.”

Okay. She needed to explore her boundaries, too. I picked up the pace.

Matt trotted along with us, the sunlight catching gold and red highlights in his coat. Sebastian jogged like most people strolled.

We rounded the bend and met the first obstacle.

It was a fifteen-foot wooden wall, built much like army-style training structures, only taller and without any obvious way to climb it.

Mari unwound the rope from her shoulder, gathered a few coils in one hand while swinging the grapple. Once, twice, three times, and she threw it. The movement was fluid and effortless, and the grapple connected on the first go.

“Go, Mari,” Matt howled.

“We use ropes to climb cliffs and gather eggs,” the ogress said with a shrug. She tugged hard on the rope before beginning to climb.

Matt backed off, came at the wall at a lope, leaped to the top without any trouble, and vanished over it.

The moment Mari vanished as well, I gestured to Sebastian.

“After you, Baz,” I said, deliberately reminding him of our mission together.

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