Gunfire. Lots of gunfire. I have no idea where Aiden and Hart are. No idea if they’re injured or dead.
On it, Belle said. Keep your head down.
That’s one thing you can be sure of.
As the buzz of her thoughts left mine, I raised a hand and began weaving a spell into the shadows, using them create a shield thick enough to disappear behind, but not heavy enough to draw attention.
The gunfire ceased and silence fell. The door was decimated, but the bolt and hinges had somehow survived the onslaught, and kept the remnants upright. Dust danced in the sunlight now flooding the middle portion of the cabin, but thankfully, shadows still claimed the corners.
Stones crunched, an indication that at least one of the men approached. My breath caught in my throat and I watched the door with a sense of dread, not daring to move lest the sound carry and tell them I was there.
Several beams of sunlight cut out—someone was now standing in front of the door. Listening, I suspected. Another step, then the black plastic of the nearest window rattled. Sweat trickled down my back, and it took every ounce of control I had to remain still and quiet.
The door crashed back on its hinges and two men flowed into the room. Wood dust spun through the air, causing a cloud thick enough to catch in my throat. I bit down hard on my lip, drawing blood as I fought the need to cough.
The taller of the two spun around, his dark gaze sweeping across the fireplace before coming to a rest on the shadows that concealed me. Just for an instant, I feared he’d either smelled the sweaty scent of fear or had sensed the presence of magic. He took a step forward, his gun still raised and eyes narrowed. My heart was now pounding so fast I was beginning to feel dizzy. There were no spells that could protect against bullets—if he decided to fire just to be sure the shadows were as empty as they seemed, I was dead.
“Nothing,” his partner said, frustration evident in his tone. “She must have slipped out when we were taking care of the ranger and the other bloke.”
His words had my heart stuttering to an uneven halt. No, I thought. Not possible. Aiden was a wolf, for fuck’s sake. History had showed time and again that they weren’t so easy to dispose of. “Taking care of” could have meant a thousand things. It didn’t mean they were dead. It couldn’t.
And yet the bit of me that had foreseen death whispered otherwise, and I bit down harder against the scream of denial.
God help me, I barely even knew the man, let alone had any confirmation of his death, and yet some part of me was already grieving the loss of possibilities.
The taller man grunted and put his gun away. It didn’t ease the tension pounding through me. These two were pros—they could no doubt draw and fire quicker than I could ever cast a spell.
“We can’t take long. All that gunfire is going to attract attention.” He spun on one heel and strode out the door. “We should have fucking used silencers, even if it was against the freak’s orders.”
I frowned. Why would Waverley have ordered the two men not to use silencers? That made absolutely no sense—unless, of course, his wanted to not only attract attention, but to draw Aiden’s forces away from the Redferns.
Thwarting his actions might have put me on his hit list, but Morris Redfern had been there since the death of the child Waverley obviously viewed as a daughter.
“You were more than welcome to.” The smaller man cast a final look around the cabin, his gaze skimming across my corner with no sign of suspicion. “Me, I like my life too much.”
Their footsteps faded, but I remained exactly where I was. I didn’t even dare unravel the shadows. For all I knew, their retreat might be nothing more than a means of drawing me out of hiding.
The dust settled and time once again stretched on. I shifted slightly and glanced at my watch. Twenty minutes had passed—it seemed an eternity longer.
Then a feminine and all-too-familiar voice said, “Aiden? You there?”
Tala, Aiden’s second. I let Belle know I’d been found and was now safe, then cast aside the shadows and scrambled upright. “No,” I
said. “He’s not. Nor is Hart. I’m coming out.”
I raised a hand to shield my eyes against the fading rays of sunlight. The clearing was empty and there was no immediate sign of Tala. Then the gorse at the left edge of the clearing moved and she stepped out, gun only partially lowered.
“Where’s Aiden?”
“I don’t know.” I waved a hand toward the scrub and wished with all my being it were otherwise. Wished that for once in my goddamn life my psychic soul would give me a definitive answer rather than mere possibilities. “Someone tried sneaking up on us, and he and Hart left to investigate. There were two shots, and then the cabin was attacked.”
Tala’s gaze went past me. “How many men?”
“Two that I know of. There could have been more.”
Bushes rustled to my left. Though I knew given Tala’s lack of reaction it had to be someone she knew, fear still had my pulse rate climbing again. But as I glanced around, Blume and another man in a ranger’s uniform stepped into the clearing. Neither looked happy. In fact, Blume’s body was practically humming with tension and anger.
“We found Hart,” he said, voice curt. “He’s dead. Shot in the head.”