Crimson Covenant (Onyx Assassins 1)

“Is that—” Hawke craned his head.

“Valor,” I confirmed, already headed back to the table where I’d set my weapons down after cleaning them.

“Lyric’s best friend,” Lachlan filled Benedict in as I holstered my glocks.

There was zero fucking chance her being here was coincidence.

“I’m with you.” Lachlan checked the clip in his own weapon and holstered it.

“Me, too.” Hawke was already strapped.

I nodded once, and they followed me out of the war room.

“Fucking fine, I guess I’ll just stay here?” Benedict called after us.

We wended out as soon as we hit the staircase.

The bite of cold only lasted a few seconds before we materialized just inside of the estate’s glamour, less than a dozen feet away from where Valor was pacing in the headlights of her Mercedes.

I shook my head once, and both Lachlan and Hawke went instantly still at my sides. A few more steps and she’d be able to see us. We’d lose the element of surprise. There was no chance Lyric had given away the location of the estate, which meant Valor had come by the information through other means.

“I know you’re out here somewhere!” Valor shouted down the snow-covered road that appeared to dead-end right in front of her face. “Seriously, this road doesn’t just stop, does it?” She scooped up a handful of snow and molded it into a ball.

“What’s she going to do? Start a fucking snowball fight?” Lachlan shook his head, his voice completely shielded from Valor’s ears by the glamour.

She chucked the damned thing right at his face, but it fell flat, sliding down the glamour like the wall Valor saw it as.

“She would have nailed your ass,” Hawk muttered with a smirk. “Honestly, who names their kid Valor?”

“Pretentious fucks, that’s who,” Lachlan answered, watching the woman rub her hands up and down her arms. “And where the hell is her coat?”

“She’s at the edge of our compound, and you’re worried about her coat?” Hawke shot a hefty what-the-fuck glance at Lachlan.

I didn’t take my eyes off Valor. If she knew something, we were wasting time. If she didn’t, we’d give away one of the greatest secrets our species held. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t know something.

“Damn it, come on!” she shouted. “I’m not out here at four-thirty in the fucking morning for fun!”

“She has a good point,” Hawke noted, folding his arms across his chest.

“You can’t be serious,” Lachlan growled. “Alek, it’s against the laws of our kind to expose—”

“I know our fucking laws,” I snapped. “My wife is missing, Lachlan.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” My level-headed second flexed his jaw.

“I’m not losing my mind!” Valor yelled, her teeth starting to chatter as she reached into her back pocket.

Both Lachlan and Hawke palmed their weapons.

Valor pulled out her cell phone.

“Says the woman with no coat,” Lachlan muttered.

“I know you’re out here, Alek!” She flipped her cell phone’s screen up toward the trees, as if she knew there would be cameras watching—which there were. We just happened to be closer. “See?”

Every muscle in my body locked. Fuck the rules, we had to bring her in.

“I put a tracker on Lyric’s phone, and it’s pinging loud and clear beyond this hill!” She shook the phone, or maybe she was just cold. It was hard to tell with humans.

“Fuck,” I snapped, my hands forming fists as the ounce of hope I’d let myself feel drained out of my heart. Ockham’s razor: the simplest answer was the truth. Just because Valor knew where Lyric’s cell was didn’t mean she knew where Lyric was.

But she’s out here at four in the morning.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” Hawke lifted his brows. “Time to upgrade the glamour for modern tech.”

“Let’s take her to Benedict,” Lachlan suggested, holstering his weapon.

“Good idea. If she’s telling the truth, we’ll just wipe her memory, and if she’s not, we’ll kill her.” Hawke shrugged.

“We don’t kill females.” To hell with the rules, Hawke was right. We’d just wipe her memories.

“Technically she’s a woman, not a female,” Hawke muttered.

A quick glance told me exactly what Lachlan thought about that suggestion.

“Chill the fuck out, Highlander. I get the point,” Hawke snapped.

“Alek! For fuck’s sake!” Valor screamed, her voice going hoarse. “I know she’s been taken, and I know where she is!”

That did it. I walked straight through the glamour to the soundtrack of Lachlan cursing under his breath.

Valor’s eyes flew wide as we came into view, the three of us side by side. She took one look at Hawke and stumbled backward, bumping into her car’s hood, but damn if she didn’t lift her chin. “It’s true.”

“You’re the one out here screaming for me. Why don’t you tell me what’s true,” I retorted. “Now tell me where my wife is.”

Valor swallowed. “Promise not to kill me?”

At least she had the good sense to negotiate terms.

Lachlan scoffed. “Lass, you came looking for us, not the other way around.”