“Full Bloods aren’t built the same as Cole,” Paige said impatiently.
Kayla was studying the way she cradled her right arm tightly against her chest. “They still need to breathe,” she told Paige. “We all heard as much.”
“So what do we do now?” Cole asked.
“You go home and we take care of this,” Kayla announced. “This is our city now. Or are you planning on going back on our deal?”
Paige held her bloody face up to glare directly into Kayla’s eyes. Although she couldn’t see all the Mongrels, she could feel them sizing her up as she spoke. “I’m not going back on any deal, but I’m not going anywhere until that Full Blood is dead.”
“Max is taking him as far down as he can go,” Ben said. “If that Full Blood could survive in the ground indefinitely, he’d be one of us. Even if he can hold his breath, he won’t be able to do any damage stuck a hundred feet below ground level. There are measures we can take to be sure he stays put.”
“What measures?” Paige asked.
Kayla reached out and placed a thinner, clawless version of her hand upon Paige’s shoulder. “That Full Blood killed more Mongrels than it did Skinners tonight. If we are to live here, we have more reason than you to put an end to the beast. Wouldn’t you have felt it if he was still close enough to be a threat?”
Both of the Skinners knew better than to discus the limits of their senses with the Mongrels. Paige looked over to Cole, who rubbed his fingertips against his palms the way he always did when trying to hone his skill at detection. Reluctantly, Paige nodded. “They’re both gone,” she sighed. “I can feel it.”
Cole led her away from the dirt pile and didn’t say anything until they were at the base of the crane that Liam had climbed earlier. The Mongrels had plenty of wounded to tend and didn’t bother following them. “You’re really just gonna let them stay here?” he asked. “They were a big help, but doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?”
“You’re toughening up, Cole,” she said affectionately. “I like it. What does your gut tell you? Can you trust them or not?”
He thought for a second before a wave of relief, quickly followed by surprise, washed over him. “I guess I do. But this city isn’t just going to forget what happened. Not with all the people who saw these things. There are still bodies lying around!”
Paige shook her head and clutched her arm as she made her way back toward the Mongrels. “You’d be amazed at how much people are willing to forget. I’ve got some lighter fluid in the car. We’ll torch the bodies so there’s not quite so much evidence in one place.” Looking toward Kayla, she raised her voice and added, “You guys might as well leave.”
“Leave to where?” the feline Mongrel asked cautiously.
Paige shrugged. “Wherever you want. Enjoy your new city. I’d suggest making sure all the Half Breeds are gone, though.”
“It’s already being seen to.”
“Good. One of us will stop by every now and then to make sure things are running smoothly.”
Kayla smiled and nodded. “It was easier than I expected to work with you two. Thanks for not disappointing us.” She offered her hand and each Skinner shook it. Once they’d collected their dead and wounded, Kayla and the other Mongrels left to stake their claims.
“Let’s set this fire and get back to Chicago,” Paige said.
Cole followed her across the empty train yard. He didn’t bother looking for any trace of the Mongrels and barely paid any attention to the distant sirens. “We’re really going to leave?”
After unlocking the trunk, Paige opened it and stuck her hand under a few duffel bags to retrieve a half-empty bottle of lighter fluid. “Do you feel any shapeshifters around?”
“No,” Cole replied. “But that doesn’t mean the whole city is clear.”
“If these Mongrels were making friends with Full Bloods, they did a real shitty job of it. And if that particular Full Blood isn’t dead after all we did tonight, I’ll settle for it being buried under this place. We will come back to check on everything some other time, but right now…I need to rest.”
“I just didn’t think you’d really make a deal for them to claim a whole city.”
“Relax,” Paige said. “How do you think the Nymar got their hooks so deep into Chicago?”
The Half Breeds in the train yard burned like a stack of old tires and smelled twice as bad. Cole set a new speed record crossing the city to get back to where Daniels was hiding. Along the way, police cars sped in small packs to respond to any number of calls that flooded the emergency lines. Even though Kansas City looked like a disaster area, the Skinners knew things were a hell of a lot better than they appeared to be.
Chapter 31
Cole’s spear hit Paige’s upraised baton with a crack that filled the cellar beneath Raza Hill. Throughout the entire practice session, he couldn’t help staring down at the arm that was held against her side by a sling.
“Stop worrying about it,” she said.
“I can’t help it. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to spar? Maybe you should rest some more.”
Paige twirled the baton in her left hand like a drummer showing off between solos and replied, “If you don’t start swinging that weapon like a man, you’re the one that’s gonna need some rest.”
“Come on, now.” Pausing just long enough to swat away a fairly strong swing, Cole lowered his spear to block the lower shot that followed. “You can’t even use your right arm.”
“It’s a lot better.” When he scowled at her, she added, “Well, better than it was.”
“Can you move it?”
“A little. Daniels took some samples and already knows what went wrong with the ink. The next batch should work just fine.”
Paige stepped into a sideways stance that allowed her to bat away the spear while keeping her right side out of its range. “Trial and error. You should read the journals of the guy who put the finishing touches on the varnish we use for our weapons. There’s one old picture of the first set of hands to get stuck by those thorns, and it ain’t pretty. Now, we don’t even think about it.”
“Maybe you don’t,” Cole grumbled. “So losing your arm just gets chalked up to the greater good?”
Sighing, she waited for him to swing at her again and shifted her stance to deflect the spear with her right forearm. Despite an impact that Cole could feel all the way up to his shoulders, she didn’t even flinch. “I didn’t lose my arm,” she said. “Yes, it’s messed up. No, I can’t move my hand. Yes, it hurts. Daniels is working on the problem, so I’d rather not dwell on it. Okay?”
He actually felt relieved to hear her say that. Since leaving Kansas City, Paige had been quietly allowing Daniels to slice her up for tissue samples while stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the pasty appendage that dangled from her shoulder like a rock. Now that she’d taken to wearing the sling so she could practice, the more familiar Paige was making a comeback. “What about you?” she asked. “How are you holding up?”
Looking around at the gray walls of their basement practice space, Cole forced a nervous smile. “I could do without being underground for the next year or two.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said as she headed for the stairs and motioned for him to follow.
“Every part of my body hurts in one way or another, but the serum cleared it up pretty well.”
Paige stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turned around and asked, “Nothing broken? No bruises that won’t go away? Dizziness?”
Cole shook his head.
“How are you sleeping?”
“With my eyes closed. Heh.” Since she didn’t respond to the lame joke, Cole added, “Pretty good.”
“Then you’re done with the serum until you get hurt again,” she announced. “Since you didn’t need to go to the hospital after everything you went through, it’s in your system and doing its thing.”
