Twilight Siege

3

Witnesses shrieked and rushed over to the aid the motorists and within seconds sirens sounded in the background. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding frozen in my burning lungs and hesitantly stepped toward the chaos. I walked past car after steaming car of confused, upset people as I neared the cause of the catastrophe. The Hispanic woman sat on the curb sobbing as she explained to another woman that the wheel of the car had yanked itself to the side and she had no idea what had happened. I wasn’t sure if the creature had messed with her mind and caused her to swerve and traced himself to safety or if he had physically pulled the wheel himself, either way I had no question that he was responsible. Not far behind her, huddled beside a postal drop box were not one but two of the Unseelie creatures cackling with delight. They both glanced my way before darting down a nearby alley, no doubt to cause more trouble. Why were these creatures being unleashed on Earth? What would happen if they infiltrated our cities on a massive scale as Merlin predicted? One of them alone could cause tremendous damage but hordes of them— the Hunt wouldn’t be able to stop them in time before they devastated city after city. Governments would unite in all-out warfare, but against a race of magic beings, it might take years to get the upper hand. As much as I wanted to focus my efforts on my personal vendetta against Ronan, stopping whoever was opening the portals was of critical importance. There was somebody inside Faery who was enabling these dangerous creatures to cross over, and we had to stop them before it was too late. The emergency crews were showing up on-site so I dropped my eyes to the sidewalk and continued on my way toward the Huntsman. Although my head was held high and there was confidence in my stride, my stomach clenched with nerves when I approached the building. It was a Thursday, so the place would be packed later that night, but at six-thirty in the evening, it was empty and the echoing clacks from my heels resounded in the otherwise silent lobby. Lochlan and two other guys stood talking in the main club. He had several inches on each of them and his powerful broad frame set him apart. He wore his standard suit slacks with a tailored white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I waited at a distance for them to finish their conversation, and when he was ready, Lochlan gave a nod in my direction and turned to walk toward his office. I had just started to follow Lochlan when one of the two men he had been speaking to called after me. “If it isn’t the enchanting Rebecca, wherever she goes, trouble follows. What do you want with Lochlan?” “I don’t think that’s any of your business.” “Oh, but it is. You see, when the Erlking’s away, Lochlan’s our leader.” The second man cut in with narrowed eyes. “And he doesn’t need a little tart complicating matters.” “Well that’s too bad because this little tart isn’t going anywhere. Instead of standing around you might want to be out doing your job as hunters. I just watched some creature cause a twelve-car pileup a few blocks over. No telling what he and his friend are up to now.” Their eyes took on a hard edge. “What exactly did they look like?” I gave the best description I could and hoped that the two I had seen were the only ones out there but I wasn’t going to put any money on it. The two guys shared a knowing look and took off toward the elevators. When I caught up with Lochlan he stood just inside the office, waiting to close the door behind me. He had positioned himself such that I was forced to walk past just inches from his broad chest. When his rich masculine scent wrapped itself around me, memories from the night before assaulted me and realization sucked the air from my lungs. Why hadn’t it registered then? He always smelled exactly the same, like a seductive calling card—nothing like the cologne Ronan had worn when he took me to bed. I squashed my frustrations and self-doubt, taking a cleansing breath and reminding myself that saving people’s lives was much more important than my pride. In the future I would pay more attention to detail, but castigating myself now over my carelessness in the past would not further my goals. I sat in one of the office chairs but Lochlan never moved from the door. Looking back in confusion, I saw that his arms were crossed and his hard eyes bore down on me in anger. What the hell did I do now? Last I had seen him, the real him, we shared an amazing kiss at my place and he gave me a burner phone. Why would he be upset with me? “Is something wrong?” “Not at all, but I would prefer the next time you f**k Ronan, you don’t come waltzing in here reeking of him.” His voice was deadly calm and his words were a brutal blow to my gut. I thought he wouldn’t know. I assumed I could keep what had happened to myself. But they were hunters, probably gifted with superhuman senses, and he had smelled Ronan on me. If I hadn’t felt dirty already from what had happened, my skin positively crawled at that point. My downcast eyes blinked rapidly to hold back the moisture quickly threatening to spill over, but I refused to let him see me cry. There was no way I would tell him that I had slept with Ronan under the false impression that it had been him instead. As much as his hateful words and his misconceptions hurt, I would rather accept that burden than have him know the truth. Once I had regained control and masked my features, I lifted my unwavering eyes to meet his glare. “I wanted to let you know that Ronan was the leak. He knew about the setup with the Red Caps and they were hoping to kill you in the trap.” My voice was firm but still sounded hollow to my own ears. If Ronan’s actions hadn’t been enough to demonstrate his disloyalty to the Hunt, I had confirmation that he had actively sabotaged Lochlan. When Ronan unveiled himself he admitted that he had been involved in orchestrating the trap where a dozen vicious Red Caps waited in the shadows of an abandoned garage. When Lochlan and I had walked straight into the trap we were forced to fight for our lives. “You have a lover’s quarrel? Why would you rat out your boyfriend?” I ignored his comments and stood to face him. “That’s really none of your business. I do have a favor to ask—I need you to teach me how to fight,” I said with a strong voice, hoping he would hear my conviction. Lochlan went inhumanly still and the air in the room became charged with energy before he asked in a lethal voice, “Did he hurt you?” My breathing faltered but I schooled my features and lifted my chin defiantly. “No, I’ve just realized that there’s no escaping my new reality. If I’m going to play a part in this war, as everyone seems to think, then I’d better start to arm myself. I need to know how to fight, both with magic and physically.”