“I don’t know,” he admitted, slowly shaking his head. “It depends on if they had an arrangement with Kieran and what they owed to him. You’d have to ask them about the specifics. If they did reach a bargain, then they’re on the list of assets that could be wielded like a weapon against you. If they refuse, Kieran could force them to kill their blood relations.”
“And there’s only the two of them left alive,” I muttered, hating myself for being in the scenario where Enzo and Ezekiel had either called in or made that deal because of me.
“Yeah, and while Rhys wouldn’t mind offering up some of his siblings, Kieran can dictate who he wants dead. Talia and her brood, they’d go to war to protect each other. So you know who he’d demand she kill. The one she loves the most—Morgana, and I realize you’re attached to that saucy bitch, just as I am.”
“And you?” I asked, watching the way Axton smiled.
“I have no family. I settled my debt, and I paid it in blood. I didn’t hire him to guard me or protect me from anything, Xariana. I was given a choice to watch you die or send you away. I chose the latter and played the part expected of me. Kieran wasn’t pulling those strings, though. It was another person that wanted you out of the picture in a bad way. I can’t say who because that ends with me dead. Just know that I didn’t want to be involved. You’re in way over your pretty head.” He smiled sadly, then took two steps back before turning to make eye contact. “I’ll see you around, hopefully.”
“Hey,” I said, stopping him. “Thank you, Axton.”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t keep Kieran waiting much longer. He isn’t a patient man.” He walked down the road and across the street toward his dark SUV. The interior light turned on as the door opened, and I grimaced at the sight of his pasty driver. He flipped me off, and I returned the one-finger salute, then blew a kiss at the car.
I began walking to the guild’s entrance, sensing a disturbance and pulling my guns from their holsters, aiming at the spot where I’d felt the air change. I didn’t wait for anything to materialize or appear. Instead, I opened fire hearing the howls of pain as bullets rained from my pistols. Hunters piled out of the building, staring at where I shot, hitting something.
“Shoot!” I snapped, as brass casings pinged on the concrete.
“What are we shooting at?” Noah asked, marching up beside me as he fired his pistol in the same direction.
“Look,” I whispered, not knowing if he’d hear me over the firing squad’s response to my orders. Blood was dripping from the empty space, which meant whatever was there was feeling it. “They can bleed. We can kill them!” I yelled, reloading my gun while the others continued their assault.
I slid my gaze down the line, watching as some of the hunters broke formation. My hackles rose, and my stomach sank as one of the women vanished.
“Pull back and stay together!” I shouted, praying they heard me. “Fuck,” I snapped as more women disappeared. I turned my attention to where the invisible assailant walked, visible only by his blood trail, and I continued to shoot as the air pulsed, causing my vision to blur until I stopped firing.
Blinking, I saw my father materialize beside a bleeding, tall, ethereal-looking creature. He glared at me with a murderous, calculated expression. I lifted my weapon, aiming it at him, and his eyes began to glow fluorescent blue. Strange lines slithered on his arms, and I swallowed down the fear at seeing those markings. Pointed ears peeked from beneath his hair, and I noticed he had elongated canines as he spoke to the male next to him in a foreign tongue I couldn’t translate. I tightened my finger on the trigger, following his movements.
The being beside him turned, staring at me. He started walking in my direction, but a blur of smoke ripped through the courtyard and rammed into the creature. Someone was pulling me backward as I fought to keep my eyes on my dad.
I opened my mouth to shout his name, but Noah pulled me inside the building and slammed the door closed. People were screaming all around me, and blood was pounding in my head. My heart shattered at the implications. What the fuck just happened? How had he appeared as a full-blooded fae? My mother was full-blooded, not my father. I was only two-thirds fae, according to my bloodwork.
“Xari!” Noah screamed, slapping my cheek.
I swatted his hand away, staring around the room at the people crying. “We need to gather all the iron we can find,” I whispered. “You will take control of the guild, Noah. I can’t lead us anymore. My father betrayed us all—as his daughter, I can no longer lead the guild. Sound the alarm to let everyone know we’re fighting the fae. They’ll be back. This won’t end until they get what they came for.”
“And what the hell is that?” Micah asked, his gaze sliding over my face.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I have no fucking clue.”
My father created the hunters guild to protect the humans and us from the fae. So what was he thinking? He was a half-breed that had once lived within the fae realm and had left it behind when he’d met my mother, and they’d fallen in love. I knew he had stolen something from the fae that they desperately wanted back. So how could he be aligned with them now—attacking us? He started this war when he’d taken their princess as his bride, stealing some of their artifacts and the one thing that ensured they wouldn’t have the numbers to attack the guild. Yet here they were, with my dad driving the attack. Nothing about this situation made sense to me.
Chapter Twenty-One
After handing the keys to the kingdom over to Noah, I decided I needed to see Kieran. His doorman escorted me into a lavish office where I had been waiting for over an hour, pacing the floor and fighting the ball of nerves growing in my belly. I looked at the clock on the wall for the hundredth time, bristling at being forced to wait inside a locked room for the pompous prick.
My heels were killing my feet, but they were a perfect match for my black dress with ruffles. Noah ordered me to take a day off, and I’d quickly been talked into a mundane shopping trip with the girls that had been a huge waste of my time. I’m not used to dressing up. The garter was cutting into my waist, and the nylons itched along my thighs. But I’d been told they were an essential part of the outfit, as was my hair, which I’d wrapped into a bun to conceal my weapons.
I’d expected a full body search, but Kieran’s guards merely ushered me through a surprisingly beautiful courtyard, and locked me here. The bastard had exquisite taste, and I wouldn’t mind getting the name of his designer.
The office was painted in a shade of midnight blue, making the white furniture pop in contrast. There was artwork covering an entire wall, with paintings that looked almost lifelike. My attention moved from one to another, slowly scanning a portrait containing a deep valley filled with intricate flowers and glowing lights.
Frustration at being made to wait was running through me, and I had a feeling he was doing it on purpose. The door opened, and I turned, intending to unleash my anger on him, but he stood in the doorway, shirtless, covered in beads of sweat that rolled down his well-defined chest. The words caught in my throat, and I closed my mouth to prevent the moan that threatened to escape instead.