Page 12 of First Offense

A mental image of doing that to the princess caught my focus, causing me to drag my eyes to the female in question. She stood in the center of the yard, watching the sky as the new Noir dropped gracefully to the ground in the yard, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

And Auric had taken a few steps away to converse with a Nora Guard.

They had no idea what was coming.

I couldn’t give a flying fuck what happened to Auric, but I felt an overwhelming need to keep the princess safe.

I reached into the hidden pocket on my jeans to pull out my knife, my fingers already tingling with anticipation.

“How many?” I asked again, my wings flickering, ready for action.

“No beast mode,” Zian replied, spoiling all my fun.

I glanced at him, arching a brow.I like my beast mode.And I rarely exercised that lethal part of me. Too much blood. But razor-tipped feathers were certainly a useful trait to possess during a culling.

“I’d keep it to less than a dozen this time,” Zian suggested. “With a regular knife.”

My lips twisted, irritated by the small number and my inability to truly play. But I didn’t much fancy another stint in solitary. So I nodded solemnly in agreement. “Eleven it is.”

5

Auric

“What do you mean,there’s no phone?” I demanded. “I put in my request a week ago.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, man,” the guard drawled, clearly unaware—or more likely, uncaring—of my title and position of power. “I passed your request on to the Reformer. He manages all the communication in this hellhole.”

“King Sefid will be most displeased,” I said, unable to hold back the threat in my tone. “He expected an update upon our arrival, something I’ve been unable to provide.”

“The Reformer probably provided it for you.” He shrugged. “We’ll sort it out.”

“Sort it out?” I repeated.

“Uh, Auric?” Layla called, the uncertainty in her tone dragging my focus back to her and our surroundings. Yeah, I’d noticed the incoming Noir. There were a few too many for my comfort, which was part of the reason I wanted a fucking phone. The risk continued to grow in this situation, and it was unacceptable. I also hadn’t received any sort of schedule or plan for her redemption.

I ignored her unease and shifted back to the guard. “I want a meeting with Sayir. Today.”

This whole situation was starting to smell wrong, and it wasn’t just the mangy-dog stench of the Noir or the subtle leather and smoke that Novak seemed to drag around him.

No, there was something different that rubbed my feathers the wrong way, and it made my nostrils flare.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that,sir.” The guard gave me a mock bow and turned to walk away.

“Hey, I wasn’t—”

“Auric!” Layla’s shriek had me turning to find her in the middle of the yard sifting sand through her fingers.

Fucking female.Wasstayreally that difficult a command to adhere to? Now was no time to go digging for treasure.

Shaking my head, I stalked off toward her, shoving Noir out of my way as several more dropped from the sky.

My warrior senses kicked into overdrive as I began counting the new sets of wings.

Ten.

Thirteen.

Seventeen.