Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress 1)

Then, “Your desperation is showing, Agent Snow,” St. John stated quietly, menacingly. “I’m not involved.”

I gave him a slow, smug smile. I really liked this part of my job. “Maybe. Maybe not. I think it might be fun to try and prove you were.”

“Be careful.” His eyes glowed with menacing fire. “You don’t want to push me. I have many, many influential friends.”

I rested my foot on the edge of the closest chair and swept back my coat to display my gun. I hadn’t yet had time to replace my pyre-gun, and this one was set to kill. “Well, I have a temper, Mr. St. John, and I don’t always follow the rules. I highly doubt you want to push me.”

When he caught my meaning, he paled. His fingers were shaky as he reached for his phone unit to punch for security.

Jaxon stopped him with a quickly uttered, “I think you’ve gotten the wrong idea here, Mr. St. John.” He kept his tone affable. “We know you’re not responsible for Steele’s death. It’s simply standard procedure to question everyone familiar with him.”

The man’s finger stilled over the button, and his eyes narrowed. “Is it standard procedure to accuse and intimidate?”

“No, sir,” Jaxon said. “I apologize if we’ve offended you.”

My lips pressed tightly together, preventing me from shouting obscenities. I refused to apologize to this dirty little weasel, but I wasn’t going to undermine Jaxon’s efforts either.

St. John gave his blue silk lapels a tug, his expression somewhat mollified. “I’m certainly glad someone isn’t blind to the truth. Now, if you’re done with your questions, you may see yourself out.”

Yeah, like I’d leave that easily.

“There’s one more thing,” I said. “I’m suspending Ecstasy’s license of operation until further notice. Not only do you have illegal substances in plain view, you were harboring a predatory alien, and charges could be brought against you.” Watching him, I sauntered to his desk, leaned over, and straightened his tie. “Think about that while you decide if there’s any more information you have for us.”

In a seething explosion of fury, he once again jolted to his feet. “Who do you think you are? You can’t suspend me. You have no right.”

“I have every right.” I waved my index finger in a sugary-sweet good-bye. “Have a nice day, Mr. St. John.”

“Why, you bit—”

I closed the office door with a snap and smiled up at Jaxon. “I think it’s safe to say we got his attention. Call your contacts at every media outlet in the area. I’m ready to deal with Kyrin.”

He held my gaze, nodded. “Thank God you’re not my enemy,” he said with a slow grin.

11:43P . M .

Our plan began perfectly.

I’d almost panicked the moment I pictured Kyrin molecularly transporting himself and his sister out of the building. I calmed down, however, when I realized that wasn’t something he could do.

He would have done so already.

My guess was he couldn’t transport inside a building. Still, I wasn’t taking any chances; I planned to erect a force field at the proper time. That could hold anything.

I’d spent the last hour interrogating Lilla again and got nowhere. Afterward, I had replaced my defunct pyre-gun with one that actually worked, and now I sat in Jack’s office with Jaxon. Waiting. Pretending to listen to my boss as he instructed me on the night’s mission.

And then, thankfully, it happened.

Tumultuous and chanting, press and protesters stormed into A.I.R. headquarters, their signs bobbing up and down like dinghies in a tidal wave. Thankfully, checkpoint guards and unsuspecting hunters—who were prepared for almost anything—loitered in the lobby and were able to halt any civilian progress into the actual offices or cells. Inside A.I.R.’s white walls, the boisterous crowd was a sea of colors and shapes, like a misshapen rainbow that had fallen from the sky.

Jack halted mid-sentence when the call came in. “Pagosa,” he barked into the phone. His eyes went wide, and his lips dipped into a scowl. “What the hell do they have to protest about?”

This was it, I thought, flicking Jaxon a glance. Our gaze locked for a split second before we faced Jack and waited.

“We’ll be right there,” Jack said, slamming the phone in its unit and blinking over at us with unparalleled shock. His cheeks beamed bright red. “We’ve been invaded,” he gasped out.

“What?” Jaxon said in mock surprise.

“How did this happen?” I asked. God, I needed an award.

He gave us a brief, “I have no idea. Let’s go.”

We jumped to our feet and rushed into the hallway, weapons drawn. The alarm suddenly screeched at high volume, blending with the constant wail of code blue. Red lights buzzed on the walls.

Before we even reached the lobby, a chant of “Kill hunters, not aliens” rang in my ears. My fingers tightened on my gun as a wave of anger hit me. These people needed a good dose of reality. Kill hunters? Please. They saw only the good aliens, the ones who now worked steady jobs and lived in their pristine neighborhoods. They didn’t see the evil ones, the ones who enjoyed mutilating humans, beating and raping them. They didn’t know some aliens could control their thoughts, change the weather, and transport into their homes undetected.

If they did, they’d get down on their knees and thank us for what we did. But we never told them what could happen. Panic would spread, and our government preferred not to have panic. They’d rather have ignorance.

We reached our destination. People paced every square inch of space; signs waved in every direction. “Save Lilla,” they all proclaimed. We pushed through the throng. I fought another crest of anger and forced myself to think only of the matter at hand: Kyrin.

“How did the goddamn press get the idea we were executing Lilla tonight?” Jack demanded over the noise.

“I wish I knew,” I said, dragging in a breath and scanning the crowd for Kyrin’s tall, handsome form.

“The damn bastard who told that lie needs to be kicked into next week,” Jaxon said.

Jack nodded. “Damn right.”

My lips twitched as I continued to gaze around, but a scowl quickly followed the action. Damn it. Where the hell was Kyrin?

Had he recruited someone else to come here in his stead? Someone we wouldn’t recognize? Maybe, I thought, then shook my head. No. I’d only been in his presence a short while, but I knew he possessed a hero’s mentality. He would want to save his sister himself. As arrogant as he was, he wouldn’t trust someone else to see to the job.