like raindrops. Each mini explosion was like a gunshot, silencing my shriek as I jumped back, knocking into the hood of my car.
Darkness descended, but it only lasted a second. An unnatural, intense whitish-blue light lit up the front part of the parking garage and—
Mel screamed in the same instant I yelled for her.
The pulse of light shot from his hand, arcing like lightning. It struck the back of her car. My heart stopped. The keys fell from my hands.
Whitish-blue light swallowed Mel’s car. For a second, the air stilled and everything went silent. Heat rolled back in violent waves and the light flared, blinding for a second before the explosion rocked through the parking garage.
Chapter 2
The call came in seconds before I was to board the private jet bound for the backwoods of West Virginia. I almost ignored it, because when the goddamn cell rang, it was always a load of shit I didn’t want to deal with.
But “didn’t want” and “had to” were never in agreement.
Yanking the damn thing out of the duffel bag, I didn’t look at the caller ID before I answered. Not like it could be a lot of people. “What?”
There was a pause on the other end, and I could picture the stick-up-his-ass officer displaying his pissy face. “That’s a very impolite way to answer the phone,” Officer Zombro said.
“And here’s another impolite thing for you.” I leaned against the wall, eyeing the plane on the tarmac. “I don’t give a fuck.”
Officer Zombro bit out the next words. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but let—”
“I know exactly who and what I’m talking to. Get to the point. I have a plane to catch.”
“You can say good-bye to your travel plans, because we have a job for you.”
My hand tightened around the cell phone and I heard the fragile plastic groan. Son of a bitch. With great effort, I forced my grip to loosen. I’d lost many of my cells in the past this way.
Zombro took my silence as submission. “One of the satellites picked up a high-
frequency blast of energy over Boulder.”
Tipping my head back, I closed my eyes. “What does that have to do with me?”
“Early evidence is indicating that this was an unsanctioned display of the Source.
Since there is a community of Luxen in that area, we will be in need of your assistance.”
I opened my eyes slowly. Off in the horizon, the last of the sun dipped over the mountain, casting an orangey glow over the flat, sandstone rocks. Tiny bits of the rock gleamed in the fading light. Fucking beta quartz.
“Hunter? Did you hear me?”
Zombro’s voice grated on my self-control, something I never had a really good handle on in the first place. I kicked off the wall. “Yeah, I hear you.”
“You’re the closest one to Boulder. The pilot has been given instructions. Get there and await further contact.”
Before I could say “Fuck off,” Zombro disconnected the call. The little rat bastard liked doing that. Being the one to end the call gave the fucking twerp some kind of sense of power. Annoying, yes, but seriously laughable. In Zombro’s wildest dreams, he could never be as ruthlessly strong or deadly as me, and the officer knew it.
I shook out my shoulders, but the tension lingered deep in my muscles. Casting a glance back at the hangar, my eyes narrowed in a clear, potent warning.
Another of my kind drifted further into the shadows, backing off so quickly I had to think he was clever and valued his life. Making sure the other wasn’t going to try anything, I didn’t turn my back until I was confident the other remained where it hid.
My hands curled into fists as I itched to shed this skin. I was partial to this human form, but this was one of those moments where I just wanted to be in my true form, free of assholes calling me in because the government had to keep up appearances. As if they really were able to maintain control over the Luxen population. If that were the case, there’d be no need for me.
I’d most likely be dead or locked up in a lab somewhere, getting probed—and not in the fun way.
Instead, I was this—whatever
This whole new lease-on-life bullshit was getting old quick. Sitting around, behaving, and being the Department of Defense’s bitch was not in my nature.
Somehow it was in Lore’s, but my brother had always been a bit…different or touched, depending on how I looked at it.
And that was how I ended up here, ready to do this job, because Lore had asked me to step away, to get out of the war, and Lore had begged. Our kind never begged. But that plea had come as we stood over the body of our sister.
And so here I was.
The pilot stuck his head out the loading door, visibly swallowing. Humans were always uncomfortable around our kind. A sixth sense warned them that they were coming as close to death as possible just by being in our presence.
Could be worse, I thought, as I grabbed my duffel bag. If I wasn’t going home, at least I was getting to kill a Luxen.
…
“I’ve told you everything I know—and it sounds crazy, I get that, but it’s not going to change no matter how many times I repeat it.”
Detective Jones sat back, readjusting the tie around his thick neck. The man’s jowls had gone from pink to code red since he walked into the room. “Miss Cross, I know you’ve had a traumatic experience—”
“I saw my friend get blown up in her car!” My voice caught. I cleared my throat, but my eyes still burned. “So, yes, that was pretty damn traumatic, but it doesn’t change what I saw tonight.”
“And this man—what did he look like again?”
Exhausted, I placed my hands on the deep brown table. “I’ve told you and the officers before you. He was tall—”
“How tall, Miss Cross?” Detective Jones leaned forward, his stomach sucking in his belt in the process. “You’re pretty short, so a lot of people may seem tall to you.”
What the hell? I shook my head, too frustrated to be offended. I gave him a description once more and he scribbled in his little notebook. I was sure he was just doodling. I had been at the police department for over five hours, recounting everything I had seen and heard tonight. Part of me was numb, couldn’t process what had really happened, because Mel…Mel couldn’t be dead. The other part was hyperaware of every creak of the chair when the detective shifted his weight, of the flickering fluorescent lights that reminded me of those horrifying moments in the parking garage, and of every sore muscle and bruised skin that had taken the brunt of my fall.
I couldn’t believe I was alive.
The explosion had knocked me flat on my ass and any extra cushioning I had down there hadn’t softened the blow. My ears had rung for a straight two hours and I could still smell the burned scent of twisted metal…and skin.
Oh God…
I shuddered and reached for the plastic cup of water. Gulping it down, it did nothing to get rid of the metallic taste in the back of my throat. Taking a deep breath, I looked up and met the aging detective’s eyes. “I’m telling you, the man blew up her car. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. And before that, Mel…” I pressed my lips together. “Mel was afraid.”
