Page 22

22

JACKSON

I don’t even make it through the front door of PEACE before the tension hits me like a gut punch.

The whole building hums with bad energy. Not magic. Not yet.

Just the kind of buzz that happens when people know something’s coming down and no one wants to be the first to say it.

Sera walks beside me in her long coat, hood up even though we’re indoors. She doesn’t talk. Doesn’t blink. Her eyes are locked forward like she’s walking into a firing squad and she already knows which bullet’s hers.

The video leak went viral six hours ago.

A secret PEACE-run lab.

Witches in tanks.

Human experimentation. Magical torture.

On camera.

The world’s on fire.

The Council’s gone dark.

The Fae courts issued statements.

The vampire elite’s pretending they’re offended while silently trying to buy the tech for themselves.

And PEACE?

They’re flailing.

So naturally—they’re calling us in.

Director Halbrook’s office is worse than I expected.

He stands behind his desk, arms crossed. Red-rimmed eyes. His usual military precision replaced by the look of a man who’s just realized his kingdom’s built on quicksand and someone cut the rope ladder.

“You two have had a busy night,” he says without preamble.

“No busier than usual,” I say flatly.

Sera doesn’t speak.

Halbrook gestures to the giant screen behind him, where stills from the video flash one by one. Witches. Runes. Tanks.

“You recognize this facility?”

“No,” Sera says coolly.

“But you knew it existed.”

“We knew something existed,” I reply before she can. “We didn’t know this.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

I step forward. “You expect me to believe this place just popped up under your nose?”

His nostrils flare. “This leak makes us look like the monsters we’ve spent a decade keeping in check.”

Sera laughs. Just once. Sharp. Bitter.

“Oh, honey,” she says. “You didn’t keep the monsters in check. You put them in charge.”

He bristles.

The door opens.

A low-ranking PEACE enforcer walks in. Standard-issue black armor. I barely glance until I feel it.

That flicker. That ripple of intent.

He pulls the gun before I can blink.

Sera’s already moving.

I hear the shot.

I feel the heat of it pass me.

But it doesn’t land.

Because she’s between us.

Not shielding me.

Attacking.

She doesn’t cast. She doesn’t warn.

She moves so fast that she doesn't need her magic and years of hiding have apparently made her much quicker, even without her powers.

The gun is knocked from his hand quicker than his finger can find the trigger for the second time and then her palm is sinking into the enforcer’s chest before the bullet can leave the chamber.

He crumples to the ground. Dead. Her force to his chest was so strong, she broke his sternum and caused his heart to stop. I’ve seen it only once and it was done by a powerful shifter.

Halbrook stares, slack-jawed.

So do I.

Sera breathes heavy, her skin too pale, eyes too bright, shadows still licking around her shoulders like living things.

The room is silent.

Then she turns to Halbrook. “You have a fucking mole. You want to fix your image? Start there.”

He doesn’t speak. He can’t.

She storms out.

I follow, heart pounding.

We walk through the now deathly silent building trying to get out of there before anyone can question us and end up back in the alley behind PEACE headquarters.

Sera’s pacing like a caged wolf, fingers twitching, power crawling along her arms in twitching ribbons of darkness.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she mutters. “Not in front of him. Not like that.”

“You saved my life.”

“I killed someone. ”

“You’ve killed before.”

“Not for you. Not a supernatural being for a human.”

She finally stops and turns to me. Her face is stricken, raw.

“How do you even know he was–”

“Because of his aura. He was shifter.” She runs an agitated hand through her auburn hair before hissing at herself in frustration. “They’re going to turn on me now,” she whispers. “The ones who used to worship me. Who feared me. They’ll say I’ve changed sides.”

I reach out, gently catching her wrist. “You didn’t.”

“I was their monster,” she says. “Their weapon. Their threat in the dark. I hated humans, and they loved me for it.”

“And now you’re with one.”

Her silence is answer enough.

“This isn’t about me,” I say. “It’s about them being scared of what you might do if you don’t belong to anyone.”

She meets my eyes and all I see is grief.

The weight of being alone too long. Of finally choosing something for herself.

And having it bite.

“I crossed a line today,” she says.

“Then I’m on the other side with you.”

She stares. Then leans in, forehead resting against mine.

“I just declared war against my own kind,” she murmurs.

“Then we make sure they know what we are really fighting for.” But as I say it, I already know that it isn’t going to be that simple.