Moira slowly stepped forward.
A voice crackled through Jase’s earpiece—Realm headquarters was under attack. Adrenaline flooded his veins. He needed to get back to Brenna.
Then the world exploded.
Charges detonated along the gully, throwing rocks into the air. Jase yelled and flew over a jagged edge to land in a cloud of dust.
The Kurjan soldier shot the prisoner in the back several times, turned, and jumped into the helicopter. It rose into the night, firing rounds down at them.
Jase lunged for Moira first, tackling her. Covering her as bullets impacted his back. Conn reached them both, grabbing his vest and Moira’s arm to drag them behind a rock.
Sharp edges cut into Jase’s arm. He scrambled around for a better view. Panic seized his lungs.
Talen ran into the raining bullets to hoist the prisoner over his shoulder. His body shook with each hard impact as he zigzagged to leap behind a rock. Jase dashed over, ducking low.
He reached Talen just as his brother ripped off the hood.
Unseeing blue eyes were set into a hard-boned face. It wasn’t Garrett. Disappointment flowed through Jase until he swayed. Although he already knew, he searched for a pulse. There was none.
“He’s human,” Talen muttered, wiping blood off his chin.
A human teenager. The Kurjans had murdered a human teenager just to use as a decoy.
The Kurjan helicopter turned around to make another pass. Talen lifted the boy and grabbed Jase’s shoulder. “Run.”
They ran toward Conn, stopping as another explosion opened up the hillside. Talen shoved Jase toward the gaping hole.
He panicked and pushed back.
“Damn it, take shelter,” Talen yelled.
Heat flooded Jase’s neck. His lungs seized. “No.” He backed away, closer to the line of fire.
Conn jumped in front of him and latched on to his vest. “Follow Moira. Get your ass inside.”
Jase struggled in his brother’s grip. “Let go.” God. He was going to puke. His shoulders vibrated with the need to run. To get the hell away from the open mouth in the rock. “Let go.”
Conn reared back and punched him in the face.
Stars exploded behind Jase’s eyes.
Blackness fell.
Chapter 18
Jase rubbed his jaw. “How many times did Conn hit me, anyway?” Enough times to have made him miss the rest of the firefight, the rescue, and the return ride to Realm headquarters. It was nearly midnight already.
Dage wiped way the remnants of a bullet hole in his shoulder. “Dunno.”
Jase leaned back on the sofa in the main rec room of the lodge, his gaze on his mate. She sat quietly on a guest chair, concern drawing her eyebrows down. “What?” he asked.
She shrugged. “That’s quite a bruise.”
Conn hit like a jackhammer.
Jase nodded. “I’m fine. Did you manage to keep from burning down the bunker?”
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “The entire fight was over before we even heard it begin.”
Odd, but she sounded almost sorry about that fact.
Dage poked the still healing hole in his shoulder. “We took more casualties than I would’ve thought. Emma is in the infirmary helping out.”
“So they hit from the north as well as the sea.” Jase shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. They’ve lost here before.”
“I know. Plus, they were ready for us in Canada. Franco wasn’t even there.” Dage exhaled slowly. “We need to find Garrett and fast.”
Brenna twisted her hands together. “Did you discover the human boy’s name?”
Dage’s eyes flashed blue through the silver. “Yes. Paul Jacobson—he was a junior at Oregon State—captain of the football team.”
Anger heated Jase’s blood. “The Kurjans killed an innocent kid just to fool us for two seconds?” Evil bastards.
“Yes.” Torment lived in the king’s eyes. “I had soldiers take the kid back to his apartment and make it look like a robbery gone bad. At least his family won’t have to wonder.”
Anger and pain echoed in Dage’s tone.
Jase yanked a knife from his boot. “We need to finish this war with both the Kurjans and the demons.”
“That’d be great, Jase,” Dage drawled. “I mean, considering our forces are at half right now. The last two decades have hurt us. Bad.”
Plus, spending so many man hours searching for Jase had taken a toll on the Realm. Guilt and rage mixed inside him until his lungs compressed. “I know.”
“What’s our next plan?” Brenna asked.
A shrill alarm rent the air.
Jase jumped to his feet in unison with Dage. Then they both ducked as green balls of plasma whipped by their heads.
Dage flipped around, shock on his face.
Brenna gasped and shook out her arms. More weapons shot from her fingers, and the couch erupted into flames.
The speaker set high in the corner crackled. “We have breaches in security tunnels A and D,” Talen said. “Kurjan attack teams of three.”
Dage leaped for the door and yelled over his shoulder, “Take the perimeter of tunnel A, Jase.”
Brenna sucked in air, flames dancing on her wrists. “The escape tunnels? They found the escape tunnels?”
“Yes.” It was a trap within a trap. Jase grabbed her hand, ignored the burn, and dragged her outside toward the ocean. Moonlight guided their way. “They knew we’d draw them in and even allow them to disengage the main security system.” He should’ve seen it. The only way to get to Janie was through the escape tunnels.
The mountain lit up with explosions. Shit. A second wave of attack. But his job was tunnel A. He started climbing down the rock wall.
Brenna tugged away. “What in the world?”
“There’s a ledge. Trust me.”
Her hand shaking, she took his again—this time sans the flames. He helped her down several feet and then pushed her into a small alcove. “You’ll be safe here. Try not to blow up the mountain.”
She darted forward. “You’ll need backup.”
“No.” He shoved all emotion into a box where it couldn’t fuck things up. “I need you safe. Stay here.”
Then he backflipped into the air, hitting the ocean in the sweet spot with a minimal amount of splash. Rising to the surface, he scanned the sea. No boat. This squad must’ve scuba-dived in. Smart.
He lifted himself out of the water and crept behind a rock. The crevice in the cliff could barely be seen by the naked eye. How had they found it? Drawing his knife, he angled close enough to smell fresh earth and then tapped his ear communicator three times so they’d know he was in position.
The screams of a firefight echoed through the night from up above.
A splash sounded, and steam rose from the ocean. Brenna’s dark head broke the surface.
Fury ripped through him. Reaching for her arm, he dragged her up to press against the rocks. “I gave you an order.”
She met his gaze evenly. “I’m not one of your soldiers.”
