Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

“I don’t,” Avi answered. “I’ve heard the twins arguing a ton as they walk by, and Samuel is always asking Saint to let me go, but Saint usually tells him that I’m too big a part of the plan to set free.”

“Fucking Saint,” Talon snapped.

“Look, I don’t know how much time I have before they come and check on me,” Avi rushed. “But I’m not leaving, and I know you can’t make me.”

“Fucking watch me,” Alek hissed. “You’re my sister, and you expect me to just let you stay in captivity so you can do what exactly?”

“There’s something going on, Alek,” Avi answered. “Yesterday I was being escorted to the library and there was a witch in the study.”

Every hair on the back of my neck stood at attention.

“A witch?” Alek growled, his gaze shooting toward mine.

I shook my head. There was no chance Jocelyn knew, not with the panicked, exhausting sessions she’d spent on locator spells.

“It was the head of one of the covens, I’m sure of it. I only heard their voices, but she was negotiating with Saint and...it sounded like Valor’s brother—I’ll never forget the sound of his voice—for more lands. You have to warn Genevieve. There’s a traitor on her counsel. This is bigger than just me, Alek.”

Witches, humans, and two of the strongest vampires to ever walk the earth were creating an alliance behind the back of our king. Rage clouded my eyes, my vision going thermal as if I were mid-hunt for prey.

“How do you know Saint hasn’t put all of that in your head?” Dagon asked.

“He wouldn’t,” Ajax countered.

“No offense, but he took you, so I’m not putting a few mind games past him,” Lachlan argued.

“Stop!” Avianna hissed. “It’s all real. This building has iron everywhere. I can feel it, and neither of them has used their powers that I know of.”

“That’s why Jocelyn can’t find you,” I mused aloud. “She’s been looking, Avi.” She didn’t just walk away and forget about you.

Avianna sucked in a breath. “Tell her to stop looking. All of you stop looking. I can get this information to you, and when I’m sure I’ve got it all, I’ll come home.”

“Fuck that!” Hawke shouted.

“You’re coming home!” Alek demanded.

“With all due respect, brother, I’m not. I’ve always been a pretty decoration for you, and I know you love me, but now I’m useful.” The sad, yet determined pitch of her voice cut through my chest like a blade. “Let me help. I can do this.”

“Avi, you have no idea why they really want you. You’re not safe—” he argued.

“I love you. I’ll call again when I can.”

The line went dead.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” I asked Jocelyn as she packed her belongings back into the duffel bag on her bed.

“You said Avianna is okay?” She paused, meeting my gaze with those incredible violet eyes. I knew it was a witch thing—the supernatural eye color, but it still took my breath every single time she flashed those peepers at me. As skilled as the woman was in the training ring, her eyes were her best weapon when it came to me.

Stop thinking like that.

“I can’t tell if she’s lying over the phone. My gift doesn’t work like that. But she sounded...okay.” I leaned back against the massive dresser that sat across from her bed. “As okay as you can be when you’re being held captive and somehow okay with it.”

Jocelyn snorted and picked up her knee-high combat boots, tossing them into the bag. Thank God those things were out of my life. Every time I saw her in them I wanted to undo the laces and kiss the delicate skin behind her knee.

Fuck, my brain was going to get my cock in trouble. Or maybe it was the other way around.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as she started in on her heels.

“You and those overgrown boys of yours are all offended that she’d rather stay.” She shook her head, a smirk playing at her lips.

“You’re telling me that you’d stay, too?” The thought sent a surge of heat through my limbs as though my body was preparing for battle. “A prisoner?”

“A spy!” she countered, her eyes turning sharp as energy crackled through the air.

“She’s not an Assassin!”

Another snort. “Because you have to be a member of your secret little society to fight for your home? Your family? Or is it just that you have to be a boy?”

My mouth opened and shut once. Twice.

“Sorry to break it down for you, Benny, but a dick doesn’t make you a better warrior.” She shot me a glare and then kept packing, seething with an anger I didn’t understand.

“My dick has nothing to do with it. My size. My speed. My skill. My fucking genetics make me a better warrior than a female of our species,” I argued. “That’s why the Assassins were formed centuries ago, to secure the best warriors of the species at the king’s side. And that was long before the Covenant turned us into the executioners of the supernatural world.”