Page 14 of Fate of the Fallen
“And what, pray tell, do you suggest we do next?” Dallas inquired, doing little to hide the irritation in his tone. “Tie ‘em up and interrogate ‘em?”
I shook my head, answering for Richie. “Nope. They’ll never talk. All we need are samples to get to Hilda. If anyone knows what this stuff is for, it’s her.”
With the grin that spread across Caleb’s face, I guessed he liked where this plan was headed, liked that we didn’t need to be careful to spare any lives. We may have all been a bit eager to get our hands dirty for a change.
“We’ll go east,” he volunteered, pointing at himself and his brothers.
“Then, west it is,” Richie countered, just before we split into ourowngroup—him, Ben, Kyle, Dallas, and me.
These woods were dark. Darker than those surrounding Seaton Falls. With this town practically being dead, there was no residual light illuminating the sky. Only the striking contrast between the void of space and the intense glow of its stars.
The closer we got to our mark, the more my body pulsed with anticipation. My fists filled with heat and faint, red light pulsed through them.
Red.
It was new, very different from the usual pale orange I was used to from my dragon. And this wasn’t theonlychange. The day I forced Elise’s hand, made certain she had no choice but to reanimate me, I was …different.I felt it.
Felt the power beneath my wings that now spanned nearly twice their normal width, moving air in powerful gusts.
Felt it in my entire body that was now unmistakably larger when in my shifted form.
Felt it in the white-hot rage that swelled within me.
The change left me feeling as though I no longer knew myself, my dragon. It was still part of me, only now, it was a part of me I wasn’t quite familiar with yet.
One of Elise’s main concerns was that, by me already having genetic dragon DNA within my cells, when she turned me I’d change in ways none of us could predict. I suppose she’d been right about that part. While I still had a lot to understand, I was certain of one thing.
I was better off this way.
And I’d do it all over again if it came down to it.
“Something’s up ahead,” Dallas whispered.
Our steps halted at his words. I scanned until I spotted it, too—two figures beside a window on the first floor of the warehouse. Not too far from where they stood, an open door to a second loading bay provided us with a point of entry.
“That’s our way in,” Richie decided, speaking my thoughts aloud. “I’ll lure them out and—”
“And I’ll take it from there,” I interjected.
More heat surged through my forearms and fists, as I anticipated the opportunity to give Sebastian’s men exactly what they deserved.
Richie didn’t argue. As soon as we reached an understanding, we filed out. He made quick work of moving toward the entrance and, tossing a small stone against the aluminum siding of the warehouse, the two lycans we had our sights on showed themselves.
They assessed Richie, scanned to gage whether he was alone. I knew the instant they caught my scent from around the corner. One pivoted on his heel, but I was on thembothin an instant, cinching their throats as my forearms forced out their last breath. I left them no time to call out to the other soldiers, no time to shift, or react atallfor that matter. We had to make this quick and clean.
The last sputters of air left the guards’ mouths. They seemed so frail. Both bodies slumped to the ground and gashes in my skin slowly healed where their nails had torn into it. They did their best to claw their way out of my grasp, but it simply wasn’t enough.
“The others should be moving in on the other side by now,” Dallas whispered, keeping his back flush against the siding. We still had to maintain a low profile until we brought their numbers down to match ours.
“Three at the top of the stairs,” Kyle breathed, settling his head back again after the brief glimpse inside.
“We’ll wait for them to come down, then strike,” Ben whispered back.
A nod confirmed this as our plan and we waited, listening as soft-soled shoes thudded against the metal steps.
“Sounds like all three,” Dallas confirmed. “Two heading this way, one toward the east entrance.”
“I’ve got one this time,” Kyle volunteered, not bothering to hide how much he looked forward to it.