A new thought occurred to her. “Does Sakal know you didn’t die?”
“I have to assume he does. He has plenty of human acolytes or other minions who would have reported to him.”
“Which means he’ll be expecting you to attack.”
“Unless he’s a total fool, yes. He may expect the French vampire lord to present some resistance, but I don’t believe he’ll trust a vampire, not even his own territorial lord, to protect him. I fully anticipate a vigorous defense on his part. Which is why I’m sending you and your team in to reconnoiter before we launch. That said, you are officially under orders to return to me unscathed.”
Layla tipped her head from side to side. “I’ll do my best, believe me. But that goes both ways, dude. If you’re wrong about him, and he kills you, I’m going to be pissed as hell.”
He chuckled. “When I die, it will not be at the hands of that fool. He’s been begging to die by my hand since he murdered my Sire. But if I do die, I will at least go to my death knowing that my warrior mate will avenge me.”
Her chest tightened with grief at the mere possibility of his death. How much worse would it be if that happened? “That’s not funny,” she insisted, her throat clogged with tears she wouldn’t let him see.
He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest. “I didn’t think it was. Having you by my side is a gift that I will defend with every shred of power I possess. I want lifetimes with you, and no sorcerer is going to take that away.”
His words released the tears she’d been holding back. Not wanting him to see, she hid her face against his shoulder and fought for control. Her face was wet when she leaned back to look up at him, but she spoke lightly, needing to break through the weight of emotion surrounding them like a shroud. “Then I’ll just have to make sure you don’t die.” She forced a smile.
“No, cariño. You make sure you don’t die. I can take care of myself.”
LAYLA THOUGHT of those words several hours later while sitting in the luxurious helo that had been sent to transport her team over the border into France. She wondered if Xavier knew how impossible it was for her to obey his command, even if she’d been inclined to do so. He’d gotten under her skin so deeply that she suspected he’d always been there, just waiting for her to grow up and return to claim him. Sneaky bastard. She sighed. He was that for sure, but he was her sneaky bastard and no one would be permitted to touch him if she could help it.
“Not our usual transport,” Brian said, sliding the various maps and images of Sakal’s estate back into the pack at his feet. They’d spent most of the trip checking and re-checking the plans they’d worked up for the coming recon operation. “Traveling with the boss’s girlfriend has its perks.”
“Ha ha. The pilot said Xavier only has two helos, and the other one is a Sikorsky transport. The vamps will be using that one later. It’s too big for just the four us.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining.”
She wasn’t going to complain either. Her team, together or separately, had ridden in a lot of helicopters over the years, but she could guarantee that none of those helos had been like this one. Apart from the seats, this thing was so soundproofed that they didn’t even need headphones to talk to each other. She’d bet there had never before been weapons and well-used backpacks stacked next to the dusty boots using up all that nice leg room, either.
When the helo swept over the retail hub of Andorra la Vella, she glanced out the window for the first time. There’d been some pretty spectacular views during the flight through the Pyrenees, but this was mostly curiosity that a major shopping hub would be located in the mountains between the two countries. This was the only city, in fact, in the Principality of Andorra, which was under the joint sovereignty of Spain and France. Not easy to reach, but apparently profitable.
She turned away when the helo settled onto a bare stretch of land across the French border from the principality. This wasn’t a sightseeing trip, and pretending it was would only jar her out of her combat ready mindset and cost lives—hers or someone else’s. And luxury be damned, there was still the usual wash of air and dust when they finally settled to the ground.
Her team knew the routine. The door might have glided open silently, but they still ended up hunched over and hustling, heads down, toward the lone terminal of the small building that served as office and terminal both.
They were all equipped for recon, which meant no weapons beyond what they could run with. Their mission was to scope out the enemy’s estate, to take pictures and write notes, not fight a battle. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t, or wouldn’t. They were hunting intel, but their briefing materials had been very clear on one point. Sakal had plenty of human troops who were expected to be on full alert after his narrow escape the previous morning. They knew Xavier was coming, and odds were they had human spies of their own, either within the Fortalesa or down in the town, who could easily climb the hill to see and report everything that happened, including her small team of fighters boarding a helicopter.
Fortunately, Layla and her team were very good at what they did. She’d put them against Sakal’s daylight guard any day of the week. Some of his were no doubt former military, but that didn’t compare to her team, who’d been fighting in the jungles and deserts of the world just a few months ago. Frankly, the only real question was whether Sakal had any vampire fighters at all. Knowing he’d eventually have to go up against one vampire or another, it might be assumed he did. But the sorcerer hated vampires so badly, hated what he’d become as a vampire, that they hadn’t been confident he would employ any in his own defense. Also, given his personal weakness as a vampire, he couldn’t secure the loyalty of any vampire fighters he employed. At least not as a vampire. As a sorcerer . . . well, that was a different matter.
Either way, her team was charged up at the idea of entering into real combat after so many months in the vineyard.
A dark-suited bureaucrat met them inside the terminal. He confirmed her ID, saying only, “Captain Casales?”
When she nodded, he gestured for them to follow, and they did. This speedy transition was only acceptable because he’d been provided with photo IDs of both her and Brian, and she’d been given the same on him. He was one of Xavier’s retainers, someone the vampire lord used whenever he or any of his people needed to slip into France, which apparently happened more often than anyone in that country was aware of.
Moving quickly through the small terminal and out to the parking lot, the man led them to a big black SUV in a model only available through private vendors in most of Europe. That didn’t mean they weren’t common, however, since they were the vehicle of choice around the world for criminals and the law-abiding rich who wanted to be perceived as criminals.