16

MAX

T he parallels weren't lost on Max. Kyra's own life had been torn apart by a member of the Brotherhood, her memories of family erased, and her chance to watch her daughter grow up stolen. And now her sister's family also faced trauma, their lives forever altered by violence and loss.

But at the root of it all had been their father's fanaticism and political aspirations. If he hadn't torn Kyra from her family, shoved her into that mental institution, and asked Durhad to hypnotize her to forget her past, none of this would have happened.

Then again, Max would have never met Kyra, they wouldn't have fallen in love, and that would have been a great tragedy as well.

Should he be thankful to Kyra's hateful, abusive father?

Never .

One thing was for sure. Max didn't envy the Fates their job. He wouldn't have been able to stomach causing so much suffering just to match up two souls who were destined for each other.

After about twenty minutes of riding in silence, Max's comm unit crackled to life.

"We are withdrawing now," Yamanu reported. "Mission complete. Site sanitized."

The clinical terminology couldn't disguise what those words meant—every Doomer, every guard, every potential witness at the compound had been eliminated. It was brutal but necessary. The Brotherhood operated with similar ruthlessness, and showing mercy would only endanger more innocent lives.

"Copy that," Max acknowledged. "We are proceeding as planned."

He glanced at Kyra, finding her watching him with an expression he couldn't quite read.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, looking away. "It's just that this isn't the kind of operation I'm used to. With the resistance, we were always outgunned and outmanned. We called it hit and run because that was usually the scope of our operations, either when freeing prisoners or stealing supplies. We've never done anything like this."

"Does it bother you?" he asked carefully.

"No, of course not. I'm just awed at the efficiency and that it was all done with such a small team. The Kra-ell are a great asset to the clan." She shifted, tucking one leg under her. "How did they find you? Or rather, how did you find them?"

He snorted. "That's such an amazingly convoluted story that it would take me a long time to tell it."

"Jasmine told me that they were sent by the gods, and something went wrong with their ship, so they arrived seven thousand years too late."

"What else did she tell you?"

"That Ell-rom is half Kra-ell and half god, and he's a double prince because both his parents were royal heirs."

Of course that was what Jasmine would focus on. Still, he couldn't blame her for reducing it down to the essence because there had been no time for more. Most of what Kyra had been told was on the plane after her rescue, and she'd still been confused from the drugs and the abuse she'd suffered.

Max couldn't believe that only days had passed since then. He felt as if he'd known her for months.

"Well?" Kyra prompted.

"I'll tell you the entire story later." He reached for her hand and clasped it. "Or maybe Jasmine will. She can probably do a better job of it than me. I'm not a good storyteller."

"Give it a try yourself when we are all settled down." Her other hand went to her pendant. "I need a good story to take my mind off the carnage. Don't get me wrong, I don't condemn it. I know it's necessary and that we can't fight evil with rainbows and unicorns. I just need to think about something else."

Max nodded, relieved that she understood. Too many people couldn't reconcile their moral frameworks with the realities of fighting an enemy that recognized no ethical boundaries.

Kyra was different. Her experiences had already prepared her for the harsh truths of their world. She didn't need to be sheltered from the uglier aspects of what they did, didn't need the comforting lies some required to sleep at night.

They drove in silence for a time, the rhythm of the road and the darkness surrounding them creating a strange bubble of calm after the chaos of the compound. Max kept checking the mirrors for signs of pursuit, but their escape appeared clean. The destruction they'd left behind had apparently consumed all available resources, leaving no one to follow.

Yamanu and the rest of the team had taken a different route, and he hoped they weren't being followed either.

As they approached the outskirts of Tehran, Yamanu came on the comm with updates. "Kyra's family is already at the safe house, and Nadim's network reports that there is no activity at the other locations."

That was a relief—the Doomers hadn't moved against Kyra's other sisters yet, and now that they'd eliminated the local Doomer cell, chances were that no more attempts would be made to abduct the rest of the family.

Max glanced at Kyra. "That's good news."

"I know."

Fatigue was beginning to show in the tightness around her eyes. They'd been operating at maximum intensity for hours now, with the emotional toll of the rescue compounding the physical demands.

"You should rest," he suggested. "We've got a little time before we reach the safe house."

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Kyra," he said, softer now. "You're no good to your sister or her children if you're running on empty. Take these fifteen minutes to recharge."

She hesitated, then relented with a small nod, letting her head rest against the window. Within minutes, her breathing deepened, though she wasn't fully asleep—just resting, her instincts keeping her partially alert.

His warrior queen.

Her repose didn't last long.

"My pendant failed me," she said. "I was sure that I needed to make contact with Soraya first and to approach the situation with diplomatic finesse rather than brute force. It didn't warn me that hours later we would conduct a full-scale assault on a military installation, leaving dozens dead, and a facility in flames."

Max nodded. "And yet we accomplished our primary objective, which was rescuing Yasmin and her children. One family secured, three more to go."