Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

Her eyes were huge, and there was a slight tremble in her lower lip.

Gently, I cupped her face and turned her toward me so I could brush a kiss over her lips. “I don’t need you to say it back, Jocelyn. I don’t even want you to say it back, not like this. And I’m not a fool. I know that you’re facing banishment. But if it comes between the Assassins and your throne, for you—I will choose you.” Because a life without her was unimaginable.

“They’d never let you go,” she whispered, her brow furrowing.

“You underestimate the bond between mates. There’s nothing Alek, Lachlan, or Ransom wouldn't do for their mates. Once we’re bonded like this, it’s acutely painful to be separated. I’d never put you—or me—through it.” I kissed her once more, gently pulling on her lower lip. “I’m telling you that I love you, and as overwhelming as that is, it doesn’t mean that you have to make a choice, because I will.”

Alek would understand. He’d be pissed, but he’d either find a way to keep me in the Order while supporting Jocelyn, or he’d let me go.

“Benedict—” she started.

My phone rang, and a quick glance at the nightstand showed Lachlan’s name scrolling across the caller ID.

A chill swept over me as I slid out of Jocelyn’s body, and I tugged the blanket over her shoulders before answering the call. “This had better be important, Lachlan.”

“We have an emergency. Bring the witch.”

The house stood eerily silent against the backdrop of the forest.

“You’re sure this is the house?” Zachariah asked, his voice hushed as we studied the sprawling mansion.

“This is the Baldwins’ place,” Ransom answered. “They sent out the distress call.”

“Hawke and Ajax take the back entrance,” Lachlan ordered, his jaw set in a grim line.

Nothing about this felt right. There were no sounds coming from the house, not one, and the scent of humans and...something ancient filled the air.

“You getting that, too?” Dagon asked, his eyes narrowing on the house.

“Smells…” I tilted my head, trying to identify the scent.

“Ancient,” Jocelyn answered from my side.

She wore a set of Olivia’s leathers and had her hair braided back from her face, looking every bit the warrior she was. I hated that she saw herself as her mother’s weapon. Weapons were used, handled, unleashed. Jocelyn was anything but someone else’s play toy.

Hawke and Ajax took off for the back of the house, while Zachariah and Talon took the sunroom entrance, leaving us at the front. I was honestly shocked Lachlan had managed to pry Hawke out of the manor. He’d practically taken up residence outside Avianna’s doorway since she’d returned four days ago.

She had yet to speak.

“Let’s go,” Lachlan said, already marching toward the front door.

“Any chance you’d wait out here?” I asked Jocelyn, arching an eyebrow.

“Nope,” she answered with a sweet smile.

“Figured.” I shook my head and angled my body so I walked directly in front of her. If anything was going to come through those doors, it would have to get through me first.

“Got your hands full there,” Ransom noted with a smirk, walking at my side.

“You’re one to talk.” Olivia, his mate, was as far from typical as a female could be.

“Takes one to know one,” he answered as we strode up the marble steps that led to the massive double doors.

I prepared for Lachlan to blow the thing off its hinges, but he simply turned the handle on the right-hand door, and it opened.

The smell of death was instant and overpowering.

“Jocelyn,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder even as I palmed my weapon.

“I’m fine,” she replied, magic already weaving tendrils around her hands, ready to fulfil her bidding.

“I’m at her six,” Ransom said, dropping back to cover Jocelyn as we entered the residence.

Two talem lay dead on the checkerboard marble, no obvious sign of trauma.

“How many are in the Baldwin family?” Lachlan whispered, clearing the drawing room to the right as I did the same with the formal dining room on the left.

“Daniel and his mate Lilly,” I answered in the same hushed tone. The aristocrat was a known loyalist to Alek, and always the first to speak up on the king’s behalf. “Their oldest children are in residence, too.”

“Not anymore,” Zachariah said, coming down the steps, his voice echoing through the cavernous space. “They’re dead. All of them.”

“Fuck,” I snapped.

“Upstairs is clear,” Talon said, holstering his 9mm.

“Backrooms are clear,” Hawke announced, coming through the door to the kitchen. “There are two dead talem in there and along with the chef.”

“Shit,” Lachlan lowered his weapon.

“You want to come upstairs,” Zachariah said to Lachlan.

“Benedict, you’re with me,” Lachlan ordered, motioning me to follow him up the sweeping staircase. Jocelyn was on my heels as we took the steps two at a time, and though I wanted to tell her to stay behind, wanted to shelter her from whatever waited for us at the top, I knew she never would.