In Asteria, Mina had just finished shopping at her local neighborhood supermarket and was pushing her stroller out the doors when a handful of men with dark, menacing faces surrounded her, moving fast as striking snakes.
"What the hell do you want?"
Her stomach dropped. She pulled the stroller tight behind her, shielding it with her whole body, and her voice came out ice-cold from the tension coiled in every nerve.
"Miss Blake, Mr. West would like to invite you and your boy to be his guests."
The man leading the group grinned a cold, sharp smile and lunged to grab her.
In the split second before his hand landed on her shoulder, Mina's gaze snapped sharp, and long-buried muscle memory roared awake.
She twisted sideways to dodge in a blur, blocked his arm with one hand, and drove her o
