Page 121 of Crossed Fates

“You must be Nathan,” I guessed.

His silver eyes met mine, his wolf staring right at me. “And you must be Alaric.” He shook out his mane of long, blond-brown hair before shifting his focus to Jude. “I gave you that amulet for Makayla. Not for your own personal use.”

“Yeah.” Jude ran his fingers through his dark strands, then palmed the back of his neck. “I didn’t get a chance to hand it over before she was taken. Figured I’d test out the beacon—you know, make sure it worked and all that.”

“Right,” Nathan replied, the single word radiating alpha energy and aggression.

Several other men in black entered the hallway, all of them in helmets—which I guessed were what had blocked the men from succumbing to the shock wave. Although, these newcomers smelled like humans, not wolves. When they all focused on Jude, I realized they were his personnel. But not… slayers. It had me arching a brow at him.

“There are a lot of layers to E.V.I.E., Alaric. Pity you won’t be hanging around to learn about them all.” He focused on his men. “Report.”

They provided a summary of the events on the grounds, the dismantling of mines and alarms outside, and the casualty number.

Twelve dead.

All of them Bortex’s men.

That brought the total up to twenty with the eight from earlier, twenty-one if I included Paul.

Plus Bortex, the vamp, and the two who were in the cell with Makayla.

“Did any get away?” I asked, considering the facility and the need for multiple personnel to run it.

“No,” one of the men replied. “All men accounted for.”

“There’ll be more,” Makayla inserted. “This is only a branch of the operation.”

“But a main one,” Jude said, eyeing her. “Similar to the cell you took down for Sapphire.”

“Yeah, but apparently all the leadership wasn’t wiped out appropriately,” she returned, glancing pointedly at Bortex.

“Won’t happen again,” Jude assured her. “Because I’ll be handling it instead of the packs.” He gave me a look that dared me to argue.

I considered it for all of a second, then nodded. “Have at it, boss.” If I was going to trust anyone to dismantle this mess, it was Jude Reyes.

His lips parted to say something as a shimmer in the corner had us all turning toward a portal forming at the end of the wall.

Nathan, Asher, and Marc all aimed their rifles at the swirling magic.

Then Marc cursed as a blue-haired pixie of a female skipped out into the hallway. “Ah, fuck. What the hell do you want, Sapphire?” the man demanded, his tone holding a touch of exasperation.

The female blinked at him, her gaze narrowing slightly. “Hmm, I didn’t time that quite right. Your helmet should be off, not on.” She glanced at her wrist as though checking for a watch. “Well. I’m here anyway. Now, where’s the ring?”

Makayla

“You totally set me up,”I accused, folding my arms.

Sapphire blinked her bright blue eyes at me. “Hmm?”

“You heard me.”

“Did I?” She returned her focus to the ring in her hand—one Marc had found on Bortex’s corpse moments after her arrival. He’d removed his helmet, mostly because Sapphire had told him to twice, then he’d checked the hybrid’s pockets and all but threw the ruby-stoned ring at her.

She’d caught it and blown a kiss at him in response.

He’d rolled his eyes and muttered something about her sanity before stalking off toward Savannah’s cell. My brother had gone with him, as had Alaric.

Nathan and Jude had secured the other rooms, including helping Hawk, Hardt, and the two remaining enforcers wake up. And now they were all focused on the human cages in the other hallway, leaving me alone with a distracted blue-haired witch.