Harley swept around him, hurrying to Tessa’s side to help steady her. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. It’s over.”
But Tessa—dazed and looking like she was having a hell of a time staying upright—shook her head. “It isn’t over. Seamus was here. He got away with Adriana and that boyfriend of hers. They were both fighting right beside me, and he showed up out of thin air and took them.”
* * *
“Not that anyone was asking for confirmation,” Rory said, slowly walking into the conference room and sitting down at the table across from Sawyer with a groan. “But Caleb and I searched the whole building again and Adriana and Kristoff are nowhere to be found.”
Everyone had filtered into the conference room a little while ago and, after righting chairs and moving broken ceiling tiles out of the way, took seats at the table. Sawyer knew it was a long shot to hope Adriana and her boyfriend had gotten away from Seamus and were hiding somewhere, but they’d wanted to check anyway.
“How’s Tilly?” Misty asked as Caleb joined her and Forest at the other end of the table.
“She’s exhausted, but okay,” Rory said. “She’s back in her room, sleeping again if you can believe it. I wanted her to go to the hospital with everyone else who was injured in the fight, but she didn’t want to be that far away from me.”
According to Rory, Tilly was a big reason none of the supernaturals who’d still been there recovering had been killed. She’d managed to get out of bed and set fire to four or five of Yegor’s men. The rest hadn’t wanted to get anywhere near her after that. But the fighting had cost the teen girl a lot and she’d been nearly unconscious by the time Yegor’s goons had taken off.
Sawyer was wondering if Yegor’s men had intended to kill all of the supernaturals on the first floor or recapture them when footsteps outside the door caught his attention. He looked that way to see Tessa coming in. She still looked as dazed and battered as she had when they’d first gotten there and probably should have been taken to the local hospital along with the other wounded agents from the support team, but instead, she was here.
“I just got off the phone with the admission staff at the Central Clinic,” she said, dropping heavily into the chair beside Jes. “Everyone who made it to the hospital is alive, but will be out of commission for a few weeks.”
“How many did we lose?” Forrest asked quietly in a voice that implied he didn’t want to know the answer.
“Eight dead. Eleven wounded,” Tessa said in a worn-out tone.
“To be honest, when we first got up here and saw all the damage, I was surprised to find anyone alive,” Caleb admitted.
“We got lucky.” Tessa rested her head back on her chair with a sigh. “If it wasn’t for Brielle, that big, scaly shifter would have killed us all for sure. Bullets didn’t seem to do more than piss him off, and she was the only one who stood a chance against him hand-to-hand.”
Sawyer did a double take, not sure if he heard right. Around the table, everyone else looked just as confused.
“Wait a minute—back up.” Caleb sat up straight in his chair and held up a hand. “That shifter outweighs Brielle by two hundred pounds. You’re saying she fought him in hand-to-hand combat?”
“She didn’t merely fight him,” Tessa clarified. “She pretty much kicked his ass. One second that shifter was ripping through the door into her brother’s room and attacking him, and the next Brielle was on top of him, throwing him right back out the door. The two of them went at it like animals, punching and smashing each other through walls. That’s where all those gigantic holes came from. Until Brielle picked him up and tossed him out the window.”
Caleb looked stunned. “How is that possible? I could barely handle him and I’m a werewolf.”
“Maybe I’m something stronger than a werewolf,” a lightly accented voice said from the doorway and Sawyer looked over to see Brielle standing there. “Batu was here to kill my brother and me. I refused to let him do it.”
Walking into the room, Brielle took a seat beside Tessa, wincing a little as she sat down. Sawyer didn’t see any injuries, but she was clearly in pain.
“Batu?” Harley prompted from where she sat beside Sawyer.
“The big green shifter,” Brielle murmured softly. “Seamus was here specifically for Adriana, while Batu was here for my brother and me. Mostly me, but I imagine Yegor would have gotten an inordinate amount of pleasure from knowing I’d been forced to watch my brother die first.”
Caleb pinned her with a look. “While I’m thrilled that we now have a name for big and scaly, I’m more interested in knowing how you were able to fight him.”
Brielle met his gaze, giving him a small smile. “I bet you would. Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s another secret you’re not getting your hands on. Not for free.”
Caleb looked like he wanted to keep pressing her for an answer, but Jake cut him off. “You said Seamus was here for Adriana. If so, why take Kristoff? And more importantly, are they still alive?”
Brielle flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder with a tired hand. “They’re alive. Well, Adriana is alive at least. Kristoff probably is, too, but only as long as he has some value as leverage to make her fall in line and do exactly what Yegor needs her to do. After that, he’ll almost assuredly kill both of them.”
“Since you seem to know a hell of a lot about what Yegor is planning, did you know he’d send people here to attack everyone?”
Brielle leveled her gaze at him. “I knew Adriana was critical to his plan, so I assumed he’d try to get her back at some point. But to answer your question, no, I didn’t know exactly when he’d try it.”
Tessa slammed her hand down on the table, fury on her face. “Why the hell didn’t you warn us? Eight of my friends are dead because of you!”
Brielle glared at her coldly. “Their deaths are on you, not me! I offered to make a deal for everything I knew. You’re the one who decided that keeping me locked up for life and forcing me to find supernaturals for you was the only thing you were interested in. Tell me, what will STAT do with all the supernaturals they collect? Do you think the people in charge will ask nicely if they want to work for you? Or will they force them to be part of the organization like you’re doing to me?” She let out a delicate snort. “Now that I think about it, it’s funny how much you people and Yegor have in common. You’re even holding my brother’s life and freedom over my head just like he did.”
Tessa jumped to her feet, hand going for the gun holstered at her hip. Jes quickly stood, putting a hand on the woman’s arm. “Tessa, she’s right. She may have said it more harshly than she had to, but Brielle is telling the truth. Right now, STAT is more interested in getting their hands on Brielle than they are in finding out what she knows.”