Crimson Kiss (Onyx Assassins 5)

I was terrified the definition of my world would change from my family to just my mate.

And in the end, would I be able to choose the right one or damn us all?

11

Hawke

How was there no fucking trace of Saint?

We’d searched vampire, witch, and lycan territory with no luck, but tonight’s report had me harboring something I was loathe to call hope. If we found Saint, not only would we put his alliance with the Sons to an end, but Avianna would be released from being the lynchpin in his forced treaty.

She’d be free.

And what the fuck would you do then?

“This is the place, right?” Zachariah asked, mercifully distracting me from my thoughts.

Benedict glanced at the stone markers that rose from the ground like little round headstones in a single-file line. “According to the tip.”

“You sure it wasn’t given by a Greenbriar?” Ajax leaned back against a tree, and I swore the damn thing swayed a little, he was that big.

“It came directly from the queen’s guard who was patrolling this area,” Benedict answered.

“He’s always been good at hiding,” Talon muttered as we stood in the witches’ woods near the border with the human territory.

The leaves had surrendered to fall, leaving skeleton trees to rise above us in the moonlight, but at least it had rained last night, so we hadn't been crunching our way through the area.

“Go figure.” Dagon scoffed as he spun a leaf just above his hand, flipping it over and over with his power over the air. It was an intimidating power to possess—control over the elements, and he wielded it like a child’s plaything. “With Saint’s abilities, we could have walked right by him and never knew it.”

I gritted my teeth and slipped one of my daggers free, flipping it end over end. We’d been searching for hours this night after a young witch had reported that she’d seen men previously identified as Sons stalking the border region.

“It’s like a fucked-up game of hide and seek,” Jocelyn commented, her back to us as she performed a spell. Benedict guarded her back, but the rest of us kept lookout, too. It wasn’t usual for us to bring a female along—chauvinistic as that sounded, but Jocelyn was the first witch-vampire hybrid and was more than capable of taking care of herself.

She’d sure as hell taken care of her own mother, the previous witch queen.

“You honestly think he could hide from us that easily?” Lachlan muttered, his eyes on the magical line that marked the border.

“Saint?” Dagon laughed. “Saint could make you think you passed by a little old woman, and he only needs to be within a hundred yards to do it.” He shook his head, and the leaf fluttered to the soggy ground. “The only person he probably couldn’t fool? Alek. Not with those mental shields our king sports. Saint’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and he’s the reason we were so fucking good at what we did.”

Alek wasn’t here tonight. With the aristocrats taking subtle sides between his throne and the Deveraux claim, he’d kept his ass at the Domum, where it needed to be. Besides, if mental shields helped, then there was a chance that I’d be able to see him too…unless of course I had mine lowered to sense for fears. That was a fucking Catch 22.

The Hunters mumbled their assent at Dagon’s assessment.

I’d watched them all carefully for the last month, waiting to see if one of their fears would change, would go from being wrong to getting caught. That was the easiest way to sniff a traitor out, but so far, they’d only shown signs of anger and…grief. They were pissed as hell at Samuel, their rebuff at the Halloween party a few days ago showed that, but they mourned for Saint. Their sadness tasted like salt and the bitter tang of acceptance, as though they’d always known it would end like this with him.

“We’re still that fucking good,” Ajax argued, his brow furrowing as purple mist rose all around us, gathering to form ghostly figures that walked by. “We just don’t have our ruthless master of disguise—”

“What the fuck?” Talon muttered, his eyebrows rising.

“It’s everyone who's walked through here in the last twenty-four hours,” Jocelyn explained while everyone gawked, including the normally stone-faced Zachariah. “What? It’s a simple memory spell. I’m just accessing the earth’s memory instead of a person’s.”

“It’s freaky in the hottest kind of way.” Ajax grinned, waving his hand in front of a purple specter.

“Watch it,” Benedict warned, raising his eyebrow at Ajax.

Jocelyn shook her head and grinned.

Those two were fucking perfect together. Fate had matched them well and even given them a way to overcome the archaic ban against inter-species relationships that existed in the Covenant.

So why the hell would fate be so unkind to Avi by saddling her with me?