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“I’m still a little apprehensive,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. “Not of facing her. But of what comes after.”

Zeke reached out, tucking a stray strand of her soft hair behind her ear. “Whatever comes after, you won’t face it alone. We have important things to discuss later, once this mission is over.”

Her breath hitched. He just smiled at her, hoping to heaven that she was on the same page.

He’d come to some conclusions during the night spent in his lonely bed.

He’d share those conclusions with her at the earliest opportunity, once this battle was over, and see what happened.

One thing he’d decided for certain was that he couldn’t keep going the way they were.

He wanted her in his life on a more permanent basis.

Now, he just had to discover if she wanted the same thing.

Her eyes searched his, as if looking for doubt, and finding none. He dipped his head to give her a fast kiss. It wasn’t rushed or desperate, just quick because they didn’t have much time. It was a promise of more to come. Later.

When they pulled apart, she rested her forehead against his chest, staying close for just a moment.

“If you get yourself killed, I’ll find a way to bring you back just so I can kick your ass,” she whispered, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Zeke chuckled. “Deal. If I’m dumb enough to get killed, I’ll deserve the ass kicking. But seriously, babe, it’ll be okay. This is what I do for a living. What I’ve trained for most of my life.”

“You’ve never faced a mage before. And this one already has at least two shifter kills to her name. She’s probably killed a lot of people on her way to where she is now. Don’t take this too lightly,” Celine warned.

“I won’t. I don’t,” Zeke assured her. “I promise.”

They walked over to the boat ramp together, and the others started arriving a few minutes later.

A few of the shifters stopped long enough to pat Celine on the shoulder or offer her a quick hug.

Then, they all boarded the waiting boats.

Zeke was in a boat with Celine and Santini, as he’d been assigned, and would stay with them to the bitter end of this mission.

The small, low-profile boats ran as silently as possible with no lights.

This early in the day, they didn’t encounter anyone else, though they could see a number of fishing boats with their lights on along the shore, getting ready to go out to sea at first light.

They were traveling to the North Fork of Long Island, which wasn’t a very long trip, and for the last leg of it, they coasted as best they could to approach the beachfront owned by the target estate from multiple angles.

If there were patrols on the beach, they wanted to overwhelm them with landings all along the beachfront. The idea was to have so many people get ashore at one time that anybody watching the beach wouldn’t be able to put up effective resistance.

The maneuver worked as planned, and the meager two patrolling soldiers were taken down and disarmed without them getting a chance to notify anyone.

They were stripped of any communications devices and weapons, then cuffed and left with a guard to watch over them while the rest of the team got on with the mission.

They leapfrogged from cover to cover, making their way closer to the buildings.

Shifter reconnaissance had confirmed the mercenary soldiers were being housed in one of the outbuildings while only the mage and her immediate staff were in the mansion.

Half the assembled forces would be going to the outbuilding to deal with the soldiers while the other half cleared the mansion.

Zeke and the Santinis were bringing up the rear of the group heading for the mansion.

When the mage was located, it would be up to the master chief and his granddaughter, backed up by everyone else, to exact justice under shifter law.

Which, Zeke had learned, meant blood for blood.

In other words, the mage would die for what she had done to Celine’s parents, and all her other victims. Zeke didn’t mind that outcome at all, and if necessary, he’d be happy to step in and give them a hand.

He still didn’t like the idea that Celine would be in danger, but he knew he had to let this happen. He had to back her up and let her stand on her own legs, facing down her fears and the boogie man—or woman, in this case—who had destroyed her family and sent her life into turmoil.

Wil, true to his word, brought the fog. With that as cover, they were able to approach the mansion much more rapidly.

There wasn’t a lot of cover around the building itself, but with the dense fog that Wil was able to call, it didn’t matter.

The forward units were already inside the mansion, clearing it room by room.

Zeke was listening to their progress over his tactical radio, as was the master chief.

When the magic started flying, Zeke knew that the mage had been found.

The three of them started running toward the sound of sizzling fire bolts and an unfortunate scream from one of the shifter soldiers who had gotten too close to the mage.

Noting the man writhing in pain in passing, Zeke realized his comrades were already seeing to his care.

A large patch of his clothing had been burned away, and the skin underneath damaged badly.

Zeke tried not to let his eyebrows rise too high. Though he’d seen it in visions, he’d never quite realized the damage a mage bolt could do to someone’s flesh. He reminded himself again to stay out of the line of fire, if at all possible, and make sure Celine and her grandfather did the same.