“Remember I put a tracking device on your phone?”
That’s right! Thankfulness smacked me straight on like a powerful wave. I’d stuck the phone down my shirt in the car, which was goddamn bloody brilliant of me, if I did say so myself.
“Did I ever thank you for that?” I asked with a watery smile.
“I don’t remember that being your first reaction.” He smirked. He managed to get the ropes untied, and the pins and needles shot up my arms. They’d gone numb being in that position for so long. With a hiss of pain, I let Ryder help me to my feet.
“Get rid of your shoes. I don’t want to make any more noise than is absolutely necessary.”
Without question, I slid them off, feeling the cold marble against my bare feet.
“Is he alive?” Ryder nodded toward Paul, taking a moment to rub my arms back into usefulness.
“He was twenty minutes ago. I hope he just passed out. He took such a beating!”
Ryder quickly checked the pulse at his neck. “He’s alive, but he’ll have to wait. We need to secure the perimeter.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Sy and my father’s personal team of six from Te’re.”
“His personal team?” My eyes widened.
“I’ll let him tell you.” Ryder stopped the line of questioning as he pulled me toward the sliding glass doors. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Then came the part that really felt like a horror movie.
A powerful arm snagged me from behind, yanking me firmly from Ryder. It was like a slow-motion dream. I could feel the pressure of being pulled away, the slow slide of our outstretched fingers sliding off each other. Ryder’s scowling confusion became savage ferocity, and an all-too-familiar voice spoke silkily.
“Too late, boys and girls.”
With a gun trained on my temple, I could do nothing but freeze. My blood turned cold. I felt my face drain of color. Frank was more than capable of killing me. Rosser was only a few feet away in a pool of his own blood. That could be me at any moment. I looked to Ryder, my heart pounding in my throat, and wanted to scream my frustration. Was he about to witness my execution?
“Ranik.” Ryder spat out the name, gnashing his teeth.
“Did you hurt Pen?” Frank shook his head sadly, looking down at Crew Cut. “And to think. All he ever wanted was to fix his teeth. He will be missed.”
“I thought you were waiting for your guests,” I snarled, tired of feeling thwarted. When the hell was this going to end? This episode was supposed to have wrapped up. Wasn’t the half hour over?
“A little birdy warned me that trouble was brewing on her way out. Seems she caught sight of some blue light. Now I need to leave the party early. It’s a shame, really. I was so close to concluding my business here.”
“The shame would be in you not leaving,” I taunted him, my frustration finding an out.
“What do you want?” Ryder growled, his eyes telling me to shut the hell up. “There’s nowhere for you to go. The house is surrounded.”
“Mylunate.”
“Done,” Ryder agreed. He reached into the neckline of his crewneck T-shirt and brought out the quarter-sized vial I’d seen there before. It made me angry to see Ryder have to give it up. Such beautiful craftsmanship had been made especially for him, to represent his energy, his spirit. It was wrong to think of Ranik’s filthy fingers touching something noble and pure.
“No! I have some.”
“Taylor!” Ryder glared at me.
I’m sure my expression read What? as I looked at him sharply.
“Oh, Taylor. You lied to me earlier. You are a bad girl. Now give it to me. Where is it?” His voice had lost its charming edge and was now just hard and uncompromising.
“On my toe.”
“Get it carefully. And, please, Senior Officer. No heroics. I’d hate to be jostled and accidentally pull the trigger. Would be a great big mess, don’t you think?” The barrel of the gun was still digging into my temple.
Ryder’s lip curled in reaction, his eyes boring holes into Frank’s.
I slowly knelt to pull the metal off my toe. It was like the thing had sunk roots into my brain or something, because I gasped in pulling it off. It was painful, like separating something that was a part of me, that had its tendrils wrapped around me, anchored into me. I had to grit my teeth to keep from crying out, but I did finally pull it loose. I hadn’t quite regained my equilibrium before Frank began a story.
“This piece of mylunate has history, Taylor. Your father found a small cache of the ore that was deep within one of the Brausiian Trenches and managed to get a piece of it for himself and a few close friends.”
“This piece was my father’s?” I asked, suddenly pained to hand it over, but Frank grabbed it and shoved it onto his own finger. After a moment of resistance, the metal liquefied and conformed to him.
A devilish smile slid across his face, and he demanded, “I’ll take the other bit as well, Senior Officer.”
Ryder clenched his teeth, his lips pressing into a firm line.
Shit. That was why Ryder had protested my stating I had any. We were going to be left with none, and then he’d be able to kill us both and get away quickly. Ryder hesitated in pulling his necklace off, obviously stalling for time, so Frank shoved the gun into my temple, hard. I winced with the discomfort.
“Don’t fucking hurt her,” Ryder growled. “I’m giving it to you.”
Reach for it, Taylor! The Gods’ plane is yours by right. Reach for it. The power is here.
I was surprised by the voice in my head. Dreya?
Reach for it! There’s no time!
But the mylunate is off my toe!
You can do it! The Gods’ plane exists everywhere!
Okay, okay!
Taking a deep breath, I opened my mind, encouraging its fingerlike tendrils to seek out the energy signature that would lead me where I needed to go. It took a moment to find without the battery boost of the mylunate, but after fumbling desperately, I found it. Holy cow! Without the mylunate! I felt the warmth, the connectedness, the power.
“Thank you.” Frank had his fingers around the necklace. He took aim at Ryder. He was going to shoot him!
I unleashed mental shrapnel with ferocious intensity into Frank’s brain, and when the gun blasted, it went wide. His face was etched in pain as I unloaded on him with all the power of the love I had for Ryder. The necklace dropped to the ground.
Quick as lightning, Ryder smacked the gun away. It skittered across the room.
“Fucking murderer!” Ryder growled. He became a wild man, unleashed. He connected a set of combination power punches, his muscular body moving with grace and agility. With grim determination, Frank backpedaled, trying to block and dodge the attack, absorbing some of the hits with guttural grunts of pain. He was being propelled across the room toward the sliding doors, away from me. And away from the gun, I was glad to note.
I wanted to grab it. Secure it. Keep Ryder safe. But I couldn’t move. I was fighting off black smudges of unconsciousness that wanted to shut my mind down.
Frank was obviously trained, or he would have gone down in the first five seconds. With surprising speed and strength, he ducked a punch and came up with a knee to Ryder’s gut, taking him by surprise.
No! My inner cheerleader turned fearful.
Frank took advantage of Ryder’s lapse and twisted sharply. Swinging an elbow, he caught Ryder in the cheek, knocking him back a few feet and leaving him gasping for a quick breath. Ryder’s rage only intensified. He whipped a device from his pocket.
“Dear boy,” Frank gasped, quickly propelling himself to take up position behind Paul’s inert body. “I believe I’m going to take you up on the sparring match another time.”