Dark Flame (Flame 3)

Brannick moved next to her, resting his forearms on the stone rail. “Sounds like your border patrol caught runners in the desert.”

“Probably. Roche has dozens in his employ. The Revel Border Patrol can’t keep up. He uses a lot of decoys as well with jackets full of fake product.”

“I’ve heard estimates that he has close to a hundred runners working for him.”

“You’ve heard right. He’s an arrogant man. I heard him boast about his runners in one of the board meetings. Of course he didn’t actually use the word ‘runner’, but we all knew what he was talking about.”

He glanced at her. “And he manufactures dark flame somewhere in Revel, though below ground.”

“That’s the word on the street.” She held his gaze. “And dark flame is what you and I share in common above everything else.”

“You mentioned your alter experience at the club. But I suppose you know the history of my transformation because I told you about it in the dreamglide.”

“We’ve talked, yes. But long before that, I did a web search on you. There was a lot written about your tangle with the cartels and how they retaliated.”

A haunted look entered his eye. He turned away from her, staring into the moonlit water below.

She decided to break up his memories by sharing some of her history with him. “I was abducted right after a photo shoot. I’d taken a couple to one of my favorite desert locations, and when we were done, they took off. I was just packing up when three men found me. They’d given me too high a dose of the dark flame drug and, coupled with the alter fae serum, I went into a coma. I was left for dead at a gas station then taken to a hospital. I didn’t know anything about what had happened until I woke up and found that I was no longer human.

“Brann … Brannick, I wanted to die so badly. My husband had been with me throughout my three days in the hospital. The nurses said he never left my side.” She’d told him all this during one of their dreamglides, but knew he wouldn’t have the memory of it yet. “And you and your pregnant wife as well as your daughter, drank tainted soda.”

He dipped his chin slowly, his lips compressing. “We’d made a toast, then drank together. How many times have I wished I’d tested it first? They’d still be alive, all three of them.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

He held her gaze. “And I’m sorry for yours. Your husband sounds like he was a good man.”

“He was the best. He wept when he signed the divorce papers. I had always thought that I wouldn’t be one of those people who left their spouse after the alter. But when I came out of the coma, I understood how profound the alter change truly is. I could feel it in every part of my body. Even colors looked different through my new fae eyes, and I had this unexpected ability to read people that went way beyond anything I’d known as a human. I could feel my husband’s revulsion of what I’d become, his fear as well. I didn’t blame him, though. The wife he’d known was gone.

“He provided well for me after the divorce. I’ve been happy here in Lotus Tree.”

She was about to ask him if he’d like to see her house in real-time, when movement caught her eye.

She turned to look at the waterway toward the south. And there, flying above the water between the rows of majestic sissoo trees moving with the wind, were seven warrior fae and an eighth man. It took her two blinks to realize who the last man was.

“Oh, God. It’s Roche. But what is he doing out here?”

Brannick rose upright. “You sure it’s him?”

“I know it is. He has a fae signature that I can read at any distance. But why is he out here with his security detail?” Roche lived mostly underground, the mole-like creep that he was. “Brannick, am I seeing right? Do all those men have their swords drawn?”

“Yep. And they’re coming right toward us.”

CHAPTER THREE

Brannick cursed under his breath. “Juliet, get down and stay down.”

If he levitated, Roche and his men would chase him. But how did they know he was here or were they after Juliet?

A surprising but very strong instinct surged wit

hin him, letting him know that Roche was after Juliet. He knew why as well. Given her high level of fae ability and power, Roche would want her for his dreamglide sex club.

He thought about covering Juliet and himself with his vampire shield, but he wasn’t sure if Roche had the power to see through it or not. Some of the most powerful fae could do that, and he didn’t want to take the chance of getting trapped.

He drew his Glock, then supported it with his free hand. Every shot would have to count if either of them were going to survive.

He aimed at the fae warrior on the left and fired, then shifted immediately to the one on the right, pulling the trigger a second time. Both men spiraled toward the canal, dropping into the water.