Page 48 of Trick's Elite

“Shift back,” Skull ordered, using a voice they normally only heard from Axle.

Closing his eyes, Trick focused on his breathing, trying to calm his rage. Once he had it to a reasonable level, he shifted back to his human body.

Opening his eyes, he crouched down next to his mate and looked to Ranger, knowing he had medic experience. “Help her.”

“You got it, Brother.” Ranger slowly approached and slid the backpack from his shoulders.

Trick recognized it as the medical go bag from Axle’s office.

As he watched Ranger get to work helping Stiletto, Trick knew there was talk and movement around him, but he didn’t catch any of it.

Please, whichever god is paying attention, don’t let her die. I need her. Save her.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ordys

Fromhispositiononthe second floor of the main building of the Black Forest Academy, Ordys watched as Steve and Sulien dragged two men each out of the buildings they were clearing. Sulien had come from the training facilities, dragging a man and a woman Ordys identified as members of Cox’s team. Steve had two men hanging from his grip as he left the men’s dorms.

Sulien tossed his victims to the ground and took a deep breath as the two tried to scramble to their feet. They weren’t quick enough to beat the flame that shot out of his fellow dragon’s mouth. They screamed as they were overtaken with fire. It didn’t last long, though, before they just collapsed to the ground and began to turn to dust, granules blowing away in the breeze.

The sight of that didn’t bother Ordys one bit. He’d seen people killed by dragon fire pretty regularly throughout his life. It was just another day to him. He couldn’t say the same about watching Steve. Ordys wasn’t unfamiliar with vampires, but Steve was a special kind of character.

As he lifted one of the men to his face and dug his fangs in the man’s neck, both of his victims struggled to get free. Steve just kept walking across the field as if he was sipping on a fountain pop while carrying another in the other hand. He swore he saw the vampire smile around the man’s neck as the victim at his mouth let out a gut-wrenching scream.

There was something so deranged about the way he was walking with a slight hop to his step, as if it was his birthday, and he was getting exactly what he always wanted.

Fucking hell.

“That man is unhinged,” Vega, another champion and dragon shifter, said from his right side.

“That man isbeyondunhinged,” Ordys agreed.

“On the cameras, I saw five Howlers and a woman near the armory.”

Ordys nodded. “I called Axle. Are there any other hunters left?”

“Four in the classrooms, all from under Cox’s command. I sent Ember and McKenna to down them or run them out of the building. The rest left with West.”

“Any news on where the new location is?”

Vega shook his head. “No. They’ve been tight-lipped. I don’t think they had any intention of sharing that information with Cox.”

Ordys turned his head and met Vega’s gaze. “Fall guy?”

“Or bait,” Vega replied.

“Shit.” Ordys took off on a run. “Tell Tana to copy the files!”

“She is,” Vega shouted back as he followed.

He had to get everyone off the property as soon as possible.

When he burst through the back door of the main building, he held his hands up and shouted, “It’s me! Ordys!”

The three howlers in front of him with their guns up — Rock, Brute, and Skull — lowered their guns until they were no longer trained on him.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think this could be an ambush! We need to get everyone off the property! Now!”

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