The Darkest Whisper

“You’re okay?” Bianka asked, as surprised as she was.

“Yes.” She spun, purposely avoiding the Hunter’s cage, and found no trace of the man who had been speaking. “Where’s Torin?”

“He’s not actually here,” Kaia said. “He was talking to us from a speaker.”

“Then he knows we escaped,” she said, clutching her stomach and backing away. What if he came for them? What if she killed him to keep him from locking her up again? Sabin would never forgive her. Would believe beyond any doubt—and that was saying something for him—that she meant to aid the Hunters. Wait, you don’t fear your Harpy anymore, remember? Old habits died hard, she supposed.

“He knows,” Taliyah said as Torin echoed, “Yeah, I know.”

Kaia grabbed her shoulders and forced Gwen to still. “He can’t do anything because he can’t touch us.”

“Well, I can shoot you,” that disembodied voice reminded them.

Gwen shuddered. Bullets were not fun.

“Let’s gather Ashlyn and Danika,” Kaia said, unconcerned with either their audience or Torin’s threat.

“Torin said they’re guarded by Maddox and William,” Bianka reminded her. “Let’s take them, too.”

Nervous energy still pounded through Gwen, but those words had her blood freezing. “Why do we want them?” The girls were sweet and kind and didn’t deserve to be hurt.

“Payback. Now come on.” Bianka turned on her heel and pounded up the steps, headed into the main house.

“I don’t understand,” Gwen called, her voice shaking. “Payback how?”

Kaia released her and turned, as well. “Sabin damaged our wings, so now we’re going to damage his precious army. When the rest of the warriors return and find the women missing, as well as their friends, they’ll freak.”

No, she thought. No. “I told you. Sabin’s mine. I’ll take care of him.”

Both Kaia and Taliyah ignored her, following after Bianka.

“Don’t worry. We may be weakened but that’s what guns are for,” Kaia said, grinning over her shoulder in the likely direction of Torin’s camera. “Right, Tor-Tor?”

“I won’t let you do this,” he replied, his voice hard as steel.

“Watch us.” Taliyah’s voice was cold as ice. Quite a pair they made just then, both unwilling to bend.

Gwen watched her sisters disappear up the stairs. To capture the innocent females, to hurt her man. Well, not her man. Not anymore. But she realized she had a choice to make. Allow things to play out as they were, or stop her sisters, maybe hurting them in the process, and take matters into her own hands.

“Gwen,” Torin said, jolting her. “You can’t let them do this.”

“But I love them.” They’d always been there for her. They’d forgiven her so easily for spilling their secrets. They’d even tried to protect her from her own memories. To do this…

“The men will fight to the death to protect those females. And if your sisters do manage to defeat them— which is a big if since they aren’t operating at full strength—it’ll mean war between the Lords and the Harpies.”

Yes, it would.

“It will divide the warriors here, because I suspect Sabin will choose you. And that will make us vulnerable to the Hunters. They’ll have the advantage. If they don’t already. I haven’t been able to reach Lucien all day. Not Strider, Anya, or any of the others who went to Chicago, either. That’s not like them, and I’m afraid something’s happened to them. I need Sabin to go look for them, but he’s stuck here, fighting.”

Her first thought? She hoped the Lords in Chicago were okay. Her second? Sabin, choose her? Not likely. “He could have had my help, but he doesn’t trust me.”

“He trusts you. He just used that as an excuse to protect you. Even I know that, and I’m not that close to him.” Heavy pause, breath crackling. “Well, you’d better make a decision fast because your sisters are indeed carrying guns and are closing in on their targets.”

SABIN CROUCHED in the shadows. Kane was at his left, Cameo at his right; they were loaded down with enough weapons to take out a small country. Sadly, that might not be enough for the coming battle.

Hunters were everywhere. Coming out of shops, striding down the sidewalks, eating at outdoor cafés. Like flies, they swarmed and buzzed and annoyed the hell out of him.

There were average-looking women, the bulge of knives and guns giving them away. Tall, muscled men who looked like they’d just come from war and were eager for another were positioned on the rooftops of buildings, gazing down at the town’s happenings. Beside them, to Sabin’s dismay, were children, ranging in age from roughly eight to eighteen. Sabin had already watched one of those teens walk through a wall. Walk through it, as if it weren’t even there.

What could the others do?

He was outmanned, and he knew it. And even as depraved as he was, he also knew he wouldn’t hurt the kids. Hunters had probably banked on that. Could have used a Harpy right about now.

His fingers curled tightly around his guns, his bones brittle. Don’t go there. He’d been surveying the scene for a while, trying to decide, to work up a plan. Rather than feeling empowered, though, he felt more helpless than ever. He just didn’t know what to do.

The worst part was that he’d left Gwen locked up—looked like he was going there, after all—and so another battle awaited him at home. Stupid. He’d allowed his concern for her to overrule his common sense. That was the danger of softening toward a woman. Emotions screwed with your thought processes, made you do stupid things. But he couldn’t go back for her, apologize and ask for her aid. He’d hurt her sisters. Loyal and loving as they were with each other, she would never be able to forgive him.

Over and over he tried to tell himself that it was better this way. That he’d fought Hunters and won before her, and he could fight Hunters and win after her. And anyway, she was related to Galen. Sabin couldn’t trust Gwen’s motivation now. He couldn’t trust her to help him and not also help her family.

Gwen could be your family. He scowled at the wayward thought, scowled further when Doubt chimed in.

You don’t deserve her. Not now. Maybe not even before. She wouldn’t want you anyway, so this is moot.

“Shut up,” he muttered.

Kane flicked him a glance. “Your demon giving you trouble?”

“Always.”

“So what are we going to do about the current situation? It’s just the three of us.”

“We’ve fought with worse odds,” Cameo said, and Sabin cringed. Her voice always had that effect on him. Strangely, though, it didn’t affect him as badly as usual this time. Maybe because he was already miserable. How could he have done that to Gwen?

I just wanted to protect her.

Well, you failed.

“No, we haven’t,” he said. “Because this time we have to make sure no kids get hurt in the fray.”

Her finger flexed on her gun. “Well, we have to do something. We can’t leave them out there unfettered.”

Sabin studied the melee again. Just as crowded, just as dangerous. Those kids…shit. They complicated everything. Decision time. “Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Split up, head in different directions, stay in the shadows, damn it, and take out the adults one by one. Kill on sight. Just…don’t get yourselves killed. Do me a favor and—” His words stopped abruptly, his gaze slamming into the camo-clad Hunters stuffing two unconscious men into their van at the end of the street. Several of the kids surrounded them, forming a wall.

Cameo followed the line of his gaze and gasped. “Is that…”

The chunk of earth underneath Kane split, and he fell into the widening hole. “Aeron and Paris? Shit. Yes. That’s them.”

Sabin cursed under his breath. “New plan. Kill as many of the men around them as possible, and I’ll take care of the kids. If you can, drag Aeron and Paris back to the fortress and I’ll meet you there.”