Page 106

“Then I'll die trying.” The words carried weight beyond sound, making reality shiver slightly as I committed myself to a path only I could see.

25

FINAL GAMBIT

The warehouse felt wrong without him. The familiar space that had become our shared sanctuary now echoed with absence, every corner holding memories that cut like knives. Cade's coffee mug still sat on my weapons bench, half-full and stone cold. His jacket hung by the door where he'd left it, like he might walk back in any moment.

But he wouldn't.

“We need a way in.” The words came out rough, my accent thick with exhaustion and grief. “Has to be someone who knows how to open a controlled portal. Someone who can reach...” My voice caught, but I forced it steady. “Someone who can reach wherever he's gone.”

“I might know someone.”

Juno materialized from the shadows like she'd always been there, her vampire grace making even my hunter instincts miss her approach. She looked exactly as she had during the fight, sleek black clothes unmarred by combat, dark eyes sharp with dangerous knowledge. Always watching. Always calculating.

“Course ye do.” I couldn't keep the bitterness from my voice. “Always got an angle, haven't ye?”

She didn't bristle. Didn't smirk. Just watched me, expression unreadable. Then, softer than I expected, she said, “Not about angles this time. This is about getting him back.”

The dagger's edge bit into my palm as my grip tightened. “Why do ye care?”

Juno tilted her head slightly, as if weighing her words. Then she sighed, shaking her head. “You still see me as a hunter.”

I frowned. “What's that got to do with anythin'?”

“It means you don't treat me like a monster.” She glanced away, just for a second, before meeting my gaze again. “Cade was the same.” A pause. “Is the same.”

I stilled.

She exhaled, slow and deliberate. “You think I don't have reasons? I owe Cade more than you know. He...” She hesitated, something flickering behind her dark eyes. “He didn't look at me like a mistake that needed fixin'.”

I didn't answer right away.

Juno was one of the best hunters I'd ever seen, until she wasn't. Until she ended up on the other side, turned, forced to carve out a new place in a world that didn't want her anymore. And I knew what that was like. Not the turning, not the hunger, but the feeling of being other, of being something people feared on instinct.

“He didn't treat ye different,” I murmured, the pieces clicking into place.

She nodded once. “And I won't let them take him.”

A breath. A choice.

“Then talk,” I said, my voice steady now. “Tell me what we need to do.”

“Lissandra McBride.” Juno settled against my weapons rack with fluid grace. “Old-world witch, lives deep in the Glades. The kind of power that makes even creatures like me think twice.”

Lex straightened from where he'd been pretending to study my arsenal. “And you think she'll help us?”

“That depends.” Juno's smile showed just enough fang to remind us what she was. “She doesn't do charity work. And opening a portal to Hell? That's not just a spell, it's an invitation. Puts her on the radar of things worse than princes.”

“Don't care.” I was already moving, gathering weapons along the way. “Take me to her.”

“Sean...” Sterling started, but I cut him off.

“Don't ye dare tell me to think this through.” The words came out like broken glass. “Don't ye dare act like there's any choice here.”

I needed to get him back. Needed him back to me.

The Glades livedup to their reputation, a maze of ancient trees and darker shadows, where the very air hummed with old magic. Fog thick as grave dirt clung to the ground, and unseen things watched our progress with hungry interest.