Page 88 of The Hive Queen

I watched through the back of the van and saw the moment that she had ducked into the woods when the drone did.

She’ll be moving at an angle, which means I need to move ahead and to the right of our group to intercept her.

My footsteps fall silently as I move, centuries of practice having ingrained my ability to be stealthy, even with sound blocked out.

The clear, night sky and a three-quarter moon offer enough illumination to see by.

A rush of movement comes toward me, and I duck behind a tree as a deer races past, startled into flight by someone just ahead.

Stepping back out from behind the tree, I change my angle of approach, following the path of broken shrubs that the deer left in its wake.

Up ahead, a lean figure jogs through the trees, a small rucksack strapped to their back and a black knit hat pulled low over their head.

I pull one earbud from my ear, and the sound of the forest floods in. A minor change in my trajectory brings me up on their blindspot, and I swing my baton in a forward motion that flicks it open a second before sweeping their legs out from under them.

A startled yelp escapes Amalia as she lands flat on her back.

Before she can catch her breath, I step hard on her chest, pressing my baton under her chin. “Be thankful I didn’t break both your legs. Right now, I’d love nothing more than to leave you wounded here to test your survival skills.”

“Damn, Cay,” Troy murmurs in my ear.

“Auntie Pen,” Amalia wheezes as she slowly raises her hands. “You know I didn’t set that booby trap thinking any of yours would actually walk into it. You guys are losing your edge.”

“Stop moving.” I press the baton harder under her chin, noting the black dust smudged over her face to mattify her skin and stop it from reflecting the moonlight. “Marc wanted to come for you instead of me. If you pull any more tricks, he’ll be the one waiting for you when you drag your broken body out of these woods.”

Fear widens her eyes, and she freezes. “I’m sorry. Is Flint okay?”

“No.” I move the tip of my baton to her windpipe. “Youhurthim.”

She swallows hard enough to move my baton. “What do you want?”

I shift my foot to the strap that curves around her left shoulder. “You have the Shard in that bag of yours?”

Her fists clench, then pop back open when I give her a warning nudge. “Yeah.”

“Well, you wanted to team up, and that wish just came true.” I step back, allowing her to take her first deep breath since I took her down. “Get your ass off the ground.”

With her wary gaze locked on me, she rolls to her feet.

I reach into my pocket to pull out a second pair of earbuds and toss them to her. “Put those in and say hello to your new team.”

While she does as instructed, I pop my second earbud back in and start jogging in the direction she was originally heading. I trust her tracking skills enough to know that if we stay on this trajectory, we’ll reconnect with the rest of our group.

“No being a hotshot,” I warn her as we move. “This is no longer a solo mission, and if you put anyone else in danger, I’ll ground you.”

Her lips thin stubbornly, but she gives a tight nod.

Amalia’s acceptance doesn’t reassure me as much as I’d like it to. There’s a reason she went off on her own instead of staying with us or joining one of the other groups, like Trent’s team.

The way she spent her early years didn’t engender a disposition to trust. No matter how much we tried to change that, she bailed the second she was old enough to work on her own.

A shift in the shadows up ahead catches my eye at the same time I throw out an arm to stop Amalia, instinct moving my body before my mind catches up.

Amalia instantly falls back, and her hand drops to her waist to withdraw a narrow metal dart. The matte-black material doesn’t reflect the moonlight, and the black dust on her exposed skin helps to blend her in with the shadows.

I pull down the mask that hides my ash-blond hair, the silky material becoming a light pressure against my face.

Touching Amalia’s hand that holds the metal dart, I shake my head. We don’t want to kill the drone, if possible. Instead, I pull one of the tranquilizer darts from my belt and hold it out to her.

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