breakfast from the fridge. “And now that I’m exercised, sexed up and clean on the outside, I suppose I can no longer avoid looking at the news.”
He winced and she knew it was pretty bad. “You want to get me up to speed while I cook?”
“They made four hundred arrests last night in St. Louis. At this point it’s millions of dollars in property damage. The mayor declared a curfew.”
“The little girl?”
“She made it through the night so they’re cautiously hopeful. Her parents went on television and begged everyone to calm down. A mob showed up at their house and tried to burn it down. But the Pack had guards there and they prevented such a thing. The cops showed up and arrested everyone, even though the mob started it and the wolves were just defending themselves. Rumors are swirling around. Cats came after that and are guarding the house along with some witches and some humans too.”
“Good lord. Well at least there’re some small rays of hope.”
“The coven offices in New Haven were trashed. Windows broken out. A security guard was beaten. He was treated at a local hospital and released. Several members of the city council showed up today to help with cleanup.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m trying hard to hold on to all the positives in that news.”
“Me too.”
They ate breakfast and watched the national news while she scanned the local news on her notebook. She needed to get out in the field. Things at the office were being handled.
She called to check in and Marian told her Rebecca was fine and they’d moved classes to the nearest enclave and had upped the security. The kids were learning defensive magick along with geometry and poetry. That’s how it had to be and no matter how sad it made her, it didn’t change anything. But it would make them better able to defend themselves in a world where some people wanted to harm them simply for who they were.
“You’re going to carry today?” He tipped his chin at the weapons she’d strapped on.
“Concealed mainly. But if they’re assaulting children now, I’m not taking any chances out there. I need to stop over at the DMV in Montebello. They were refusing to help anyone who appeared to be an Other yesterday. Like you can tell?”
Faine gave her a long, slow perusal that had her blushing within moments. “I don’t know. I can see the magick all around you. Beautiful. Makes me want to lick you.”
She waved a hand to fan her face. “Stop that.”
“You’re breathless. I thought I’d satisfied you enough to hold you over for an hour or three. I apparently didn’t do my job very well.”
“You’re making me all fluttery.”
“I see that. It’s beautiful on you. My beast loves to play with you.”
“You did.
He laughed. “Maybe it should have been four.”
“I’m going to be so relaxed the DMV people will eat me up. I need to be tough and hard-ass.”
“Mmm. I’ll let you play bad cop if you’ll let me frisk you later.”
She laughed, finishing her coffee and rinsing out her cup. “Come on. Incorrigible.”
Bad things were happening all around them. But it wasn’t all bad. She had this male, this being who made everything better.
“You sure about carrying? I distracted you inside before you answered.”
“Yes. I’ve got a permit. And I’ve got a don’t-look spell on them at the moment. No one is going to see them unless I want it.”
He pulled the car out of the garage and they’d gotten about two blocks when she rolled her window down.
The sun was now up and she waited to hear the birds. But instead she heard . . . yelling and then gunshots.
“Shit. Get to the gates. Now.”
She put her earbud in and called the office. “There’s something going down at the enclave down here.”
Which was an understatement.
Several large trucks had pulled up to the front gates, a few mounted with .50-cal guns. They sprayed the area with bullets as other humans wearing camo and masks tried to get in the gates.
She needed to pull everyone together. She spoke into her phone, “Get the rest of the guards in the area here. I don’t want us to get flanked, so someone needs to get a better view of what’s happening around the entire enclave. People need to stay in place, we don’t want to leave any openings. Remember there are kids here, get someone to contact the school and if they’re not on lockdown protocol, make that happen. Call me when you hear. Don’t bother calling the local cops. Call Gil Anderson at the FBI.”
Faine pulled the car around a corner and they got out, keeping low. “I need to get over there to get people together.” She popped the trunk and pulled out more weapons and ammo. He took what he needed.
He understood it. He’d been in command in military situations for much of his adult life. But if she thought he’d stay behind while she did, she was out of her mind.
“Lead on. I’ve got your back.”
She grabbed him, kissing him hard. “If you get hurt, even one little scratch, I’m going to rip some people apart. Got me?
“I think I can manage that, boss.”
She harrumphed and he followed her.
One of the trucks with the mounted gun had several people in the guard shack pinned down. He knew she was drawing magick as they moved, felt it build in the air all around them. Their link shimmered and heated as she charged herself. But even then he was not ready for the moment she stepped out, shot the guy at the gun in the head with one hand and blew back the others standing near the gates, trying to pry them open, with a heated blast of power.
She spoke instead of yelling, but her voice was modulated to be heard by those in the shack.
“Get out of there and behind some cover. Weapons hot. Shifters, you’re free to take either form. Witches, don’t waste whatever shot you get with anything but lethal force.”
“We’ve got two down,” one of the guards shouted.
“Leave them in the shack.” It was fortified, Faine knew. “We’ve got backup on the way, but let’s see about clearing out this riffraff before one of these nearby houses gets hit.”
“We got them evacuated first thing. Only one house was occupied. A lot of people had already left for work.” One of the guards, a shifter named . . . Sophie, that’s right, spoke to Helena.
She’d been training this group so they followed her orders perfectly and fanned out, narrowly avoiding getting shot. The problem was that one of the trucks sat at an angle behind the wall so it was hard to get a shot at it, but they had a higher vantage point and kept them pinned down.
“Who are they? Have they made any demands?”
Sophie shook her head. “They haven’t. They just rolled up to the gates and opened fire.”
Helena made a call and ordered her people to run the plates. Faine took film of the situation and emailed it to the Gennessee office.
“I’m going to shift. Cover me.” Sophie got her clothes off and in a blink she was a large, honey-colored wolf.
“Go left, along the wall. I’m going to take out this nearest truck.” Helena drew more power. “They just tossed the dead guy off and there’s another one now. The ones near the gates will be bleeding out the ass for a while, if they’re still alive. But we need to deal with those mounted guns.”
She turned to the others. “You, if you get in that tree over there, you can use magick to short out their engines. I’m going to try something with the guns. I need a distraction because I need to be closer. I’d prefer not to take a bullet the size of a small dog if I can help it.”
“No jokes,” Faine growled at her. “I’ll shift. I can jump the fence easily.”
“No. What I want to do . . . well, everyone needs to be behind me. Cover me. You’re handy with a
