“Take him to base. Hurry!” Maddox ordered the two. “Follow them!” He waved at Ash as the guys swept Luk up, hauling him off with an effortless speed I wasn’t expecting from them. Ash tore off after them, having to sprint to keep up.
“Of course, the pretty boy gets all the attention.” A deep woman’s voice grunted from a few feet away, turning us all to the figure trying to sit up, her face scrunched in pain. “What does a girl have to do around here to get mouth to mouth?”
“Kek! Oh my gods!” I shoved people out of the way, trying to get to the blue-haired demon, my heart busting. I dropped next to her. “You’re alive.”
“Oh goody,” she replied, expressionless. She held the side of her stomach. She also had a bullet wound in her leg.
Tears hinted behind my lids. “I thought I lost you.”
“Can’t lose me so easily, little lamb.” She flinched, readjusting herself, leaning back on the barrier she had hidden behind. “Demons are like cockroaches. You think you got us, but we just keep coming back.”
I let out a short laugh.
“Can you walk?” Warwick stood over her, forcing her head to tilt back.
“Seems you got your hands full there, big guy.” She winked at him. “But if you’re offering up your other shoulder, I’ll let you know now, it’s a yes on spankings.”
She actually coaxed a smile from Warwick. “Say the word, demon, and I will happily dump Captain Douche here and take you.” Warwick jostled Caden on his shoulder, causing me to glare daggers at him.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned him, turning back to Kek. “Come on, I’ll help you.” I put her arm over my shoulder and helped lift her up. She grunted, sweat dripping down her face as she limped, our steps slow. Fae healed a lot quicker than humans, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t painful as hell.
“Joy killer.” She hissed between her teeth with every step. “I could have gotten a free ride and spankings. The least you could do is offer up the same.”
“Sorry, I’m not carrying your ass.”
“Spankings?” Her brows went up in hope.
“Only if you’re good.”
“Dammit.”
As dawn hinted on the horizon, my misfit group walked, limped, or were carried back to Sarkis’s base.
Hostages, friends, and some barely allies.
At the center was me.
The glue or a bomb.
Chapter 15
“Brexley!” Andris’s arms wrapped around me the moment we entered the temporary underground base. His familiar cologne and voice hit me like a hammer, making me feel like a little girl again.
“Nagybacsi.” I hugged him back, his arms squeezing me so tightly I could feel every ounce of his fear and relief in the hug.
“I was so scared, drágám.” My dear. “The thought of anything happening to you... I just...” He tapered off.
“I’m okay.” I squeezed him back.
“Thank the gods.” His voice cracked in my ear. “I’ve been going crazy from the moment I said goodbye last time. We looked everywhere for you. I thought the worst, though Scorpion kept reassuring me you were okay. Then tonight...” He finally released me from the embrace, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he looked me over. “I think I aged ten years in the last hour.”
He did look tired, but still handsome in his stoic way. His hair was turning grayer, a few white specks in his dark brows, youth seeping slowly from him every day. This time I could see the human frailty in him, and the fact he would grow old and die. The vulnerability of humans compared to fae seemed so real suddenly. In that moment, I understood the desire to find the nectar or create the pills. I had lost so many people I loved, grew up without a mother, and now a father. Andris was the closest I had to a father figure, and I didn’t want to lose him.
“I know you must be tired, but there are things we need to discuss before you rest.”
I nodded, finally looking around the dark and dingy space, taking in the commotion in the smaller headquarters. Dozens of people were moving down hallways and through the main room, buzzing like bees. Maddox and Scorpion took Kek, Caden, and Hanna away the moment we stepped in. Ash was already somewhere here working on Luk.
The transitory base was in the middle of a nondescript block of abandoned buildings near the old marketplace. The entrance was tucked in an alley and behind dumpsters and piles of rubbish. All the windows were boarded up, and the space underground was cramped and old. A rush of guilt clipped my chest, knowing I was the reason the last place was found. Why they were “homeless” right now.
“Don’t fret, drágám.” Andris patted my arm, seeing right through me. “We will find a new home.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts. We would have been discovered eventually.” He shook his head. “That is the life we chose. At any moment, this place could be compromised. Just how it is. Do not blame yourself.”
We took all the precautions coming here, but I hoped it wasn’t in vain. Kalaraja was a master at what he did, and he was set on finding me. He was the reason HDF knew precisely where to attack us tonight. How could he always discover my location without any other fae sensing him? The man was like a ghost.
“Lieutenant, we placed the girl prisoner in the empty storage closet.” Maddox strolled up, reporting to his leader. “Scorpion is watching her.”
“Her name is Hanna.” I gritted my teeth.
“Hanna?” Andris’s eyes went wide. “You mean little Hanna Molnár? Albert and Nora’s girl?”
Five years ago, we were little and young to him. I was fifteen and Hanna had been fourteen when he left. And he had very little interaction with her or her parents, probably only remembering a scrawny blonde teen who sometimes hung out with Caden and me.
“We have her here?” His eyes widened, irritation furrowing his bushy brows at Maddox. “You know the rule. We don’t take prisoners.”
Maddox’s nose flared, his jaw crunching. “I know.”
“It’s my fault.” I stepped in. “She’s my friend. I wasn’t going to let them kill her.”
“Even if they’d turn around and kill us?” Maddox asserted.
Andris palmed his head, rubbing feverishly, muttering under his breath.
“Tell him who we have taking up a cot in our healing ward.” Maddox pursed his lips, his eyes on me.
Andris’s head snapped up, his spine straightened. “Who?”
I cringed, already knowing how his name would be received.
“Who, Brexley?”
“Caden.” I winced, watching the word hit Andris and soak in, a vein in his forehead bulging. Andris of course knew him well; Caden and I were inseparable. He treated Andris like a pseudo-uncle because I considered him so. Andris worked for his father before Caden was even born.
If possible, I think Andris aged another ten years in that single moment.
“What?” he exploded. “You are telling me we have the son of my enemy, the one who thinks I’m dead! In here? Right now?” He pointed off down a hallway.
Maddox arched an eyebrow at me in an “I told you so” expression.