Page 98 of Griffin Undone
I dragged my gaze from the crowd to look up at Arik. He gave me a once-over, checked the straps on my vest again, then slid his hands down my arms to link our fingers together. “I don’t like this.”
He’d wanted me to stay at home—or at the staging area—like a good little submissive psych. The fight to get myself on the team had been ugly, ended only by Lyris’s intervention. I’d assured Arik that I would be in her sight every second, along with Lyris’s brother, Demetri. I wasn’t sure what the shifter’s form was, but he stood bigger than most of the shifters I’d met so far, on par with both Basile and Azrael. Arik had refused to accept even Demetri and Lyris’s protection until they’d brought out the armor. Damn condescending griffin.
Of course, what Arik—or anyone else—didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Luckily my barrier-building abilities had improved with a few suggestions from Lyris. While the boys had been busy planning a war last night, I’d requested that she help me build a barrier to minimize the effects of our matebond. The compassion in her eyes at that moment had almost been my undoing, but she’d helped me nonetheless, and with her input I’d also been able to minimize the number of random telepathic thoughts that escaped without permission.
Arik’s frown hadn’t softened one iota as he stared at me, brooding. “I know you don’t like it,” I told him firmly. “I’m going anyway.”
“I know.”
I waited for something else, not sure what, but Arik stayed silent. I couldn’t resist raising a hand to his stubble-covered cheek. Would I touch him again after this? Would I even see him again? I didn’t know, so I’d take what I could get now.
No sooner had his stubble-covered skin rasped against mine than Sun’s voice boomed out across the room. “All right, shifters, let’s move out. Good hunting!”
Our gazes locked, and Arik’s eyes flashed that beautiful light that said his animal was rising. For battle, or for me? There wasn’t time to ask before he leaned down, gave me a quick, hard kiss, and turned away. My hand dropped to my side. I curled my fingers into my palm, pretending I could hold his heat for a few seconds longer.
The attack had been planned just before dawn, still dark enough to cloak our movements from human eyes, late enough that most Anigma soldiers on duty should be getting anxious for a change in shift. The Archai’s intel had come from a captured Anigma soldier, I’d gathered. As I found Lyris in the crowd and followed the female outside, I prayed the intel was correct. Demetri joined us, the multicolored blond of his hair that matched his sibling’s shining in the darkness. Both tugged on a dark stocking cap, as did I.
Vanessa caught up to the group as we made our way through a maze of backstreets toward the Anigma base. Lyris had told me that her assistant’s power could create a bubble, a shield that prevented sound from escaping or kept outsiders from seeing in. With Vanessa along, we could easily prevent any Anigma soldiers from seeing our group enter—and from seeing the females we hoped to rescue leaving.
Hoped, because the intel told us the location of the building where the females were being held captive, but not what condition they were in. Not their prisoner’s department, apparently. If the psychs were unable to walk out on their own, this mission would get a lot more complicated very fast.
Especially without me. I would help calm the females and get them ready to leave, but then I had another task to complete, one that hadn’t been assigned by the Archai prince. The whole reason I’d pushed to come in the first place. Since my mate didn’t want me, I intended to give him the only gift he would accept: his freedom. No matter what it took.
For now I trailed Lyris like a good little psych. I hadn’t lived in this area, southeast of the city, but the small town-like zone we’d met in wasn’t that different from home. Dirty streets. Abandoned or run-down buildings, owned mostly by the Anigma, I’d been told. All it needed was a neon sign that saidBuck’s Pawn and Pistolto bring the look together. Of course, Buck was probably in need of a new pawnshop after my final visit home. That shouldn’t make me grin, but it was either that or give in to nerves and giggle.
The cold air hurt my bare teeth as it hit.
The Anigma compound was located in a large factory complex, long closed, in the center of the run-down area the Archai were traversing. Maddox had taken the facility over, creating a base of operations for his army and a safe place to convert and train his soldiers. It was the perfect scenario for the Anigma leader, though not so much for the Archai trying to enter stealthily. The one thing in our favor seemed to be the fact that only a chain-link fence protected the premises from the outside world. Given the number of fatigue-clothed males I could see wandering the areas toward the center of the compound, armed but not seeming on alert, the Anigma didn’t have to concern themselves too much with the fence.
Thank God for Vanessa. The female’s shield prevented our detection as two Archai soldiers removed a small section of fence, allowing the rest of us to stream through. As we reached the cover of a small outbuilding, groups of Archai peeled off, leaving the protection of Vanessa’s power to fulfill their own objectives. When our numbers were down to a handful, Lyris led us along the back of the fence, ignoring patrolling males as if they were toy soldiers—and just as much of a threat given the speed Lyris set across the cracked and cluttered pavement.
The factory loomed three stories high off to our right, an obstacle to any ambient or streetlights that might reach us. About halfway along the massive structure, a large building that looked like a storage facility sat across from the loading docks leading inside the original factory. Lyris’s minute hesitation said we’d reached the correct place.
Demetri quickly took point. As I peeked around Lyris, wide-eyed, the big shifter rushed forward with inhuman speed, taking out first one, then the other guard at the back of the building before they could even cry an alarm. The females waited while Demetri disappeared around the opposite side. There was no way to determine if he encountered more guards, though I would be surprised if the Anigma would be so lax as to assign only two soldiers to such valuable resources, but I didn’t question whether Demetri could take care of any threats. When he reappeared at the front of the building, he looked as casual and unconcerned as if he’d taken a simple nighttime stroll.
Lyris waved the rest for us to follow her toward the front. By the time we reached Demetri, he had brought out some equipment I’d never seen before and turned his focus to the security panel beside the main door. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for the lock to click open. With her brother watching behind us, Lyris entered the building, a knife in each hand.
I heard two grunts, almost simultaneous. Rounding the doorframe, I found a small entryway closed off by a glass wall, and Lyris, sword drawn, standing over two Anigma solders, each with a knife embedded in their heart. As I watched, Lyris beheaded the Anigma closest to her, retrieved her knife, and stepped over the body without a glance before it could disintegrate. The other soldier released a strangled scream as Demetri grabbed him by the front of his uniform and forced him to stand, knife still protruding from his body. “Open it.”
“Fuck you.”
Demetri gripped the hilt of the knife and twisted. After another fruitless scream, the soldier placed a bloody, shaking palm on the security panel.
Abeepsounded. The light above the door changed from red to green, and Lyris pushed the door open.
“Christ.”
I followed her through the door.
Inside was a dormitory, maybe thirty beds total, half of which were occupied.Christ is right.If I had any qualms about killing Maddox or any other Anigma soldier, the sight of these females erased them. Most of them lay curled into tight balls. All of them wore dirty white shifts, many torn into pieces in a way that shouted the story of the abuse that had taken place here. I tasted bile in the back of my throat as I surveyed the scene.
And then one female lifted her head and fixed us with an eerie stare. “Who are you?”
“We’re here to get you out,” Lyris said.
A sweep of something I couldn’t name, some kind of energy, tingled along my nerve endings. The female stared a moment longer, then nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
A truth detector? I wasn’t certain exactly what the female had done, but she stood immediately and crossed to the next bed, then the next, waking the women and urging them up. Lyris and the other female warriors, myself included, moved forward to help, leaving Demetri to guard the door. A wise decision, given that several of the females refused to approach the exit until the huge male stepped away.
