She nodded, gathering her fast-fading courage. The adrenaline rush from the transfer of power had started to wear off and fear was creeping in.
For so long she’d been a coward. Before, she’d had no idea how to manage the fear so she’d let it control her.
No more.
Dan’s wolf issued a short, guttural growl from beside the car and she jumped, startled, but forced herself to open the door and get out.
Her legs shook and she practically had to lock her knees so she wouldn’t fall. Dan butted his head against her legs and she automatically reached down to stroke a hand along his back.
“Deep breath, Tira,” Kyle said as he came up beside her. “It’s okay to be afraid. Just don’t freeze, don’t let it control you. You need to be able to function. Use the fear to stay alert.”
She nodded. She could do this. She had to do this.
She had backed her best friend Nica a few months ago when Nica had approached the boschetta about making changes, about making the streghe an integral, useful part of the Etruscan community.
About using their powers to benefit their community and not just the boschetta.
Now it was time to put her money where her mouth was. She needed to use her power for more than just forecasting crops and the gender of babies.
She wanted to be useful. To save lives. Especially the two most precious to her.
As she took a deep breath, Dan picked up the leash he’d laid on the ground before changing and sat on the ground in front of Tira with it. She smiled at the honor Dan was giving her, of handing over his leash. Although largely a symbolic gesture, since lucani leashes were designed to break apart from the collar with the right amount of force, it was one no Etruscan took lightly.
She fastened the thin strip of leather around his neck then hooked the leash to it.
When she stood, Kyle held out his arm to her. “Okay, hon. Take my arm and we’re gonna go for a walk. Just like any other couple out late at night with their fat old dog.”
Dan turned to bare his teeth and growl but Kyle just smiled, a sight that would make grown men turn and run the other way.
“Yeah, yeah, I injured your pride. Suck it up. I want to be inside that building in ten minutes.”
“Well, shit. Looks like we’re not the first to the party.”
Duke pulled in next to Kyle’s black Jeep, shaking his head, as Nic opened the door and jumped out.
“How the hell did he find out—
“Vaffanculo. He’s got Tira with him.”
The fear in Nic’s tone bit into Duke’s gut like a dull blade, even as her scent finally hit him. It twisted and tore and did a whole hell of a lot of damage.
“We’ve got to get down there now,” Nic said as he started to rip off clothes. “Something’s up. Tira must’ve had a vision—”
“No, she didn’t,” Duke said as his brain tried to work the problem. “She couldn’t.”
Nic paused for a brief second as that realization hit him. Then he moved faster.
Behind him, he heard Kaine swear under her breath as she too climbed out of the Jeep. “It’s definitely her scent. And Dan’s too. Don’t go off half-cocked here, Nic.”
Duke practically felt the control Nic had to exert to force himself to stop tearing at his clothes and stand half nude in the freezing-cold night. “I’m not, but if Kyle and Dan are in there, then you know something’s going down and we need to get in there too.”
Duke nodded, started to undress then stopped, with a glance into the backseat at the eteri John. The guy watched everything, saw everything. If the guy was lucani, he’d make a damn good speculator, a spy.
As it was…
“Kaine, you and Nic recon, I want details in ten. Eteri, you and I are gonna go the hard way. Down the hill. Don’t fall and try not to make too much noise.”
The guy opened his mouth to say something but it never came out. Kaine and Nic had started their change. His mouth hung open like it should have a hook in it. His mouth snapped shut after a few long seconds but his eyes narrowed into slits, watching every move Kaine made.
“Hey, eteri. It’s not polite to stare. You may get your hand bitten off.”
Blinking hard, John dragged his gaze away to meet Duke’s. “What the hell are you people?”
Duke had a string of curse words ready to fly off his tongue but with what he considered a supreme effort, he managed to bite them back. The guy hadn’t yanked their chain about the address. If Dan and Kyle were here too, something had to be going on.
“You know what we are. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. But we’re not monsters. We’re not mindless animals and we don’t take shit from anyone. We promised we’d help get your sister. We will. But Nic and I have someone we care about down there too. If she gets hurt…” He couldn’t even bear to think about it. What the hell had Kyle been thinking to bring her here?
Duke threw open the door and unfolded himself from the seat then flipped it forward so John could get out.
When John stood next to him, Duke waited until the guy looked into his eyes. “If anything happens to her, get your sister and get the hell out because it’ll be bloody and it’ll be nasty.”
John paused before nodding once. “Understood.”
A flash of movement caught Duke’s eye and he turned to see Nic’s and Kaine’s wolves run for cover of the trees on the hill leading down to the industrial park.
John turned to watch them as well. His sharp gaze followed them even through the trees.
Smart guy. Very smart guy. Hopefully smart enough to keep himself safe.
Because Duke had only one objective in mind—get Tira out unharmed.
Tira felt the strength of the power hit her as soon as they got within twenty yards of the building.
It made her skin crawl and the fear she’d so far kept at bay made a rousing return.
“Kyle,” she whispered as softly as she could, knowing he’d be able to hear her. “Do you—”
“Yeah.”
Then he made a slashing motion across his throat that she figured meant shut up. No problem. She could barely breathe as it was.
Whoever or whatever was in this building, it wasn’t good. But she didn’t exactly sense evil either, which didn’t mean anything because she wasn’t sure she’d ever been in the presence of true evil.
Even the man who’d kidnapped her months ago hadn’t felt evil. Just stressed and under enormous pressure.
While the sense of wrongness was strongest at the rear of the building, they slunk around to the front where the feeling was weakest.
Dan’s wolf sat by the front entrance, staring up at the security camera mounted above the door. The little red light blinked as it swept the opposite side of the building from where they approached.
Kyle motioned her back around the corner and they slipped out of sight as the camera made its way back around.
After a few seconds, Kyle stuck his head around the corner again then strode up to the door, pulling something out of his pants pocket as he went.
Following behind him, she watched him pick the lock on the front door in under thirty seconds. As Kyle turned the knob and pushed open the door, Dan slipped through first as she and Kyle waited. When Dan returned, they followed him into what appeared to be the reception area for a business.