Page 269 of Cruelly Bitten

No room for deliberation.

Just an emphaticyes.

Lily had sensed my fury, her mind instantly caressing mine as she’d whispered,I’ll do it.

Like hell you will.

But when I’d regrouped with Khalid and relayed the terms to him, he’d nodded and said, “That’s actually brilliant. We knowCane has eyes everywhere in the city, which means he could potentially stop you before you’re able to reach Damien. But if Hazel tells him she’s coming with Lily, he’ll leave you alone. Because he’ll turn her into bait.”

“Or he’ll just kill her,” I’d stressed. “Which isn’t acceptable.”

“He won’t kill her,” Hazel had interjected. “He’s too much of a showman for that. I agree with Khalid—he’ll use her as bait. But let me call him first, give him our latest update, and say that I’ll have Lily. Then I’ll offer to finish her off on the jet first and see what he says.”

Khalid and Hazel had ended up being right because Cane’s immediate response to Hazel had been “Don’t kill her. Bring her here. We’ll use her to motivate Cedric. It’ll double as a valuable lesson for my brother, too.”

I’d finally conceded to the plan, mostly because it’d been the smart play. But that didn’t mean I liked it.

Fortunately, my Lily was good at blending in and keeping her head down.

She was living proof that appearances could be deceiving, something she might have the opportunity to showcase today.

Damien brought over another bucket, the water from inside the airport hangar—where we had over a dozen hostages strung up and knocked out, thanks to the lycans.

“Now you’re just being lazy,” Damien drawled, his words for the royal on the ground.

“Maybe…” Willow trailed off. “Never mind.”

“We don’t have all night,” Luka said. “If you can’t wake him up, we’ll go without him.”

I checked my watch. “The others will be here in fifteen minutes.”

He grunted. “We don’t need them.”

“No, we don’t,” I agreed. “But they’re coming anyway.”

Deirdre had found a jet for them to use—one she’d ordered from a nearby city—thus allowing the remaining vampire and lycan rebels to join us.

“The meeting invitation is ready,” I added, trying to pacify Luka’s growing impatience. “We just need to hit Send. Then it’ll only take a few minutes to cut the power.” Primarily because I’d already hacked into the system via Hazel’s transmitter—it’d given me the backdoor access I needed to take the whole damn network down.

Security feeds, which I’d already subtly altered to hide our current activities at the airport.

Communication.

Watches.

Door locks.

Lights.

Collars.

Sensory weapons.

Everything.

Damien dumped the second bucket on Ryder, causing the royal to finally stir. “It was one fucking bullet,” Damien told him. “One. Uno. Solitary. Sure, it went in your head. But you’re fucking ancient. Wake?—”

Ryder blurred into motion, his fist connecting with Damien’s jaw a heartbeat later.