She stood a head taller than me with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. I liked her instantly, even though she eyed my mates with interest. I may have been insecure about a lot of things, but not them. Not anymore. I didn’t know what it was, but somehow, they finally got through to me the night before. Standing there, watching Ingrid move a little closer to Xander than absolutely necessary, I realized how much it didn’t matter. They were mine and I was theirs, and nothing would ever change that. The fact that Xan seemed to not even notice how close the blonde beauty queen had moved toward him, cemented the feeling in me even more.
“Xander, Matias, Emelia, and Marco will be going in through this entrance,” Amos pointed to a back entrance on the map of the facility, “while Hiram, Gina, Lincoln, Abel, and Derrick will go in through the west entrance.” He pointed toward an entrance on the opposite side. “I’ll be with Camille, Ingrid, and Benji, who will use a spell to bring down the security system and make sure no one is able to call for reinforcements. Now people, remember we aren’t attacking the Council, at least not yet. This is a search and discover mission. Kill only if necessary. We’re the good guys, got it?”
Everyone around the table nodded their understanding. Amos looked every bit the general commanding his army, and that made me smile. It suited him. As people started filing out of the room and toward the waiting vehicles, my grandfather stopped me.
“Emelia, a word?” He nodded toward Xander and Matias, silently telling them I’d only be a few minutes. Each one of my men gave me a kiss before walking out the door, leaving me alone with my grandfather. He closed the door behind them and turned back to me, his eyes full of concern. “Devlin told me about the potion you took. Honestly, that’s the only reason I let you come on this mission.”
I lowered my eyes. “I know I’ve been pretty awful…”
“That’s not it,” he interrupted. “Although you have been quite a brat lately.” I looked up to see him smirking. “I know that being without your caster side must be strange, but at least I know that nothing on your end will happen unexpectedly.”
I nodded, understanding what he meant by that. I wasn’t at risk of blowing something up or teleporting to the edge of a cliff on accident. Besides, the fact that I knew I didn’t have my casting abilities, I wouldn’t try to call for a weapon, only to leave me high and dry like it did at the cabin when I faced off against Michael Ironshot. Because I couldn’t call for my caster blade, he’d found his opening and stabbed me, twice.
“Keep those mates of yours close,” Amos then told me, breaking me out of that memory. “Your father told you to never go at it alone and I think it’s great advice. They’re good for you.”
“Yes, they are,” I smiled in agreement.
Amos pulled me into an unexpected hug and I quickly returned it. Affection from my grandfather didn’t happen very often, so when he showed it, I made sure to savor it.
“Stay safe, and let’s bring down those fuckers, okay?” I could hear the smile in his voice and I nodded my response.
I pulled away, giving him one last smile before opening the door and walking out toward my mates and a caster named Marco who were waiting outside of a black SUV.
“Everything okay?” Xan asked.
“Yup. He just wanted to give me a pep talk. Who’s driving?”
Matias held up the car keys in his hand, but instead of automatically getting into the driver’s seat, he walked around to the passenger side and opened the door, waiting for me to get in.
“Kiss ass,” Xander mumbled again as he got into the back seat.
“Hey, don’t be jealous, man,” Matias grinned. “I can’t help it that I’m more of a gentleman than you are.”
“Gentleman my ass.”
The two of them bickered for most of the trip while I talked with Marco and got to know him a little better. I mean, I knew him in passing from the California mansion, especially since we were in the same casting circle, but I had never talked to him.
I learned a lot about Marco on our drive and I was kicking myself for not getting to know him sooner. He joined the rebellion because he was a gay man and that wasn’t tolerated in his home casting circle, especially when he was pressured into bonding with his mate. His story was a sad one, especially since he thought about suicide more than once before finding the courage to leave. It was a tragedy all the way around, but things were looking up for Marco and the woman who was his fated mate, who was also in the rebellion and living with a faction in Texas. She was happy and in love with a wolf shifter, and Marco, well he was figuring out who he was. In the meantime, he was insanely talented and an amazing person. I was glad to have him on our team.
After driving for over an hour, Matias pulled our SUV behind the other two teams in a densely wooded area and parked. When we were a safe distance away, Ingrid gazed upon the vehicles and said a spell, making them shrink to the size of matchbox cars. She and two of the other members of her group picked them up and put them in their pockets.
“Holy shit, that’s a neat trick,” I told her. I was a little envious and wanted to be able to do that. I made a note to have her teach me how to do it… whenever I got my casting abilities back and they actually worked
