“What will we do about Omega?” Cole asked me. “Do we tell Vixen?”
“Not yet,” I decided, shaking my head. “For now, Vali and I will take over the running of things. Keep it all business as usual until this shit with Bridget is over with.”
The Romanian met my eyes across the table and gave me a nod of support. He was a lot like me, in some respects, and I was starting to overlook his history of violence and crime.
Charming bastard.
25
KIT
The tracking spell had worked. For the next six days leading up to the full moon, we were able to track Bridget’s comings and goings perfectly and had even had Wesley give us visual confirmation on a lot of locations, just to be sure it was working properly.
Unfortunately... that told us nothing. None of her movements seemed to make any sense, and we’d gained absolutely no insight into how she was planning to complete this spell which would transfer all my magic, and my guardians, over to her.
Worse still, we had zero leads on finding Vic or the mysterious Lachlan. Vali and River had told me they were trying to find them in the hopes that they might know more about Bridget’s plans and maybe even how to remove the magic-blocking bracelet. It sounded like a good idea, but now that it was coming up blank, I was starting to lose hope.
“So, we follow her like a shadow today until we work out where this spell will go down, and then... what?” I asked, clenching and unclenching my fingers in the hem of my shirt.
“And then we disrupt whatever components she needs to complete the spell. If we can keep her from doing whatever needs to be done, then we have gained another month to figure this all out.” River sounded confident in this plan, but there was a tightness to his jaw that gave him away. He was worried.
“We’re just assuming that there even are components to disrupt,” I pointed out. “What if it’s not that complicated? What if it’s just as simple as ‘Oh look, full moon. Bam. Magic gone.’”
“It’s not,” Austin snapped. He’d been particularly peevish today, way more so than usual, which was kind of cute. I liked to imagine it was because he was worried about me, but it was probably worry for what might happen to them if Bridget succeeded.
“Austin’s right,” Caleb confirmed. “There is no way in hell a spell like this, something powerful enough to actually strip a Ban Dia of her magic, could be done without a ritual—probably blood sacrifice and definitely a sacred space laid out with corresponding runes. There will be enough for us to disrupt. Trust us.”
I chewed my lip as I considered this. I really did want to trust them on this, but it all seemed too hopeful. All of our fates could hinge on this. Except...
“River, I think you should stay behind,” I blurted out, and he raised a dirty blond brow at me.
“Excuse me?” he asked in a dangerous voice.
Licking my lips, I straightened my spine to defend what I’d just said. “You’re the only one not bonded to me in some way. I think you should stay away so that if things do go wrong, you won’t get sucked into Bridget’s web. Actually, you too Wesley.”
“No way,” Wes snapped, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at me.
“Ah, yes way. You’re not bonded to me as a dianoch, so she shouldn’t be able to absorb you with her diabolical plan. Unfortunately, I’ve already doomed these four, but you two should stay safe. Just in case.” I hated saying those words, hated the idea of being separated from two of my guys at a time that could very well see the end of me, but it was for their own damn good. Surely they could see that?
There was a long, heavy silence for a moment as the guys all just stared at me. No, they glared at me. Finally, River flicked a glance at Wes who gave a tiny headshake.
“No,” River said. “Sorry, Kitten but I’m pulling rank on this one. As team leader, I make final calls on mission plans, and this mission plan requires everyone’s involvement. End of story.”
“What? You can’t do that!” I protested, but they were already dispersing from the kitchen without listening to me. “River! You can’t do that!”
He didn’t respond until it was just the two of us left in the kitchen, and then he prowled closer to me, boxing me against the counter with a hand planted on either side of me.
“Technically, Kitten, I can. I shouldn’t; you’re absolutely right. But sometimes we have to risk the anger of the ones we love in order to keep them safe.” He leaned in closer, capturing my gaze with his golden eyes. “So, in this instance, unless you plan on physically restraining us, there is not much you can do to stop Wes and I from coming.”
“River.” I pleaded at him with my eyes. “Can’t you see that’s what I’m trying to do? Keep the ones I love safe? I just have a really bad gut feeling about how this is all going to go down, and I just... I can’t lose anyone else. Not now. It’ll kill me, you know it will.”
A hot tear slipped from my eye, and River caught it with his finger, wiping it away and caressing my cheek with his palm.
“If that were to happen, it wouldn’t kill you, Kitten. It’d hurt, I have no doubts about that. It’d damn near feel like it was killing you. But it wouldn’t. You’re too damn strong, love. The only way you’ll ever be defeated is if you let yourself be defeated.” His voice was soft and low, intended only for my ears. “But this thing tonight. You need all of us there with you. We need to be there together as a united team. Individually we are strong, but together we’re indestructible.”
Hearing River echo a thought I’d had myself, only a week or so ago... it was startling. But it gave the idea more weight. He was right. We were stronger as a team, so maybe he was right about needing to come with us tonight.
“River, I just... if at any stage it looks like things might go bad, you need to promise me—”
“We’re not leaving you, Kitten. Not ever, so don’t even ask that. If things go bad, then they go bad for all of us. But we won’t turn tail and run without you.” He was firm in this, totally resolute, and I knew I wouldn’t change his mind.
“Well, then we better win, huh?” I tried to joke, but it came out sounding weak and scared.
River gave me a small, half smile and cupped my face with his palm. “It’s the only acceptable outcome, love. I won’t tolerate failure on this mission.”
His formal phrasing made me smile, so it was with reluctant acceptance that I nodded my agreement and then sealed it with a kiss. River’s lips met mine gently, and he kissed me slowly, like he was committing this moment to memory, just in case. It was because of that kiss that I knew he wasn’t anywhere near as confident as he was acting.
That bastard.
“I love you, Kitten,” he whispered when we broke apart, his voice hoarse with emotion.
“I love you too, Alpha,” I whispered back, swallowing tears down and silently praying this wouldn’t be the last kiss we would share.
“What do you think is down there?” Caleb murmured from beside me. We were lying flat on our bellies on the roof of a two-story office block, watching the storm shelter entrance that shifters had been coming and going from for almost an hour.
“Has to be some sort of sacred ground doesn’t it?” I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the doorway. “That’s where you said she’d be completing the spell.”
He grunted a noise, chewing his lip as we continued to watch. We’d tracked Bridget inside almost two hours before and she hadn’t left, so we were pretty confident this was where it would all go down. Where I might die... if I wasn’t smart about how I handled things.