Tes Hilaire - Prince of Shadows

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“My friend’s coming over to say hi too,” he told his band of gun-toting groupies. “Tall, blond, British accent. Don’t shoot him when he shows up, ’kay? He has my clothes.”

“What a shame,” someone said from the back of the group. Valin was pretty sure it wasn’t sarcasm, and similarly sure the husky voice was a woman’s. Well, that was one out of a dozen or so who probably wouldn’t go postal on him at least.

An awkward five minutes ensued. Valin figured it was a toss-up to see who got there first—Bennett, Gabby, or the person in charge of this shindig. Turned out it was the last, though he was followed almost immediately by a tightly packed group of men surrounding a familiar blond head. And yeah, Valin couldn’t be sure this guy was the leader of this hodgepodge base of operations, but he was fairly certain. Tall, muscled, and bearing scars on every available bit of exposed skin, the older man oozed calm confidence. Of course, the fact that everyone’s gaze at one point in time during his walk across the cafeteria met up with, checked in, then resumed their task of playing guard dog or dashed off to do something else if given a mere nod of his head was a real clue in too.

<> He cast the thought into the room, not caring who overheard this conversation with Bennett. Besides, it was always good to know what you were up against and when at least a half-dozen other minds jumped into the stream he wasn’t all that surprised.

Oh yeah, Senior was not going to be happy with the amount of power these less-than-pure-bloods had.

<> The words were cast calmly, but Valin could sense the accompanying lash of annoyance.

<> he assured him.

“As my men told you at the front doors, your weapon will be returned when you leave,” the man in front of the group said over his shoulder to Bennett. What went unsaid was if you leave. Wise, since saying things like that tended to not invoke cooperation.

The man turned his hard stare on Valin. Valin suspected most men flinched under that brown gaze, so he wasn’t sure it was to his advantage or disadvantage that he didn’t. Another half-minute game of who will blink first ensued before the man conceded a tie and spoke.

“I’m Jacob. My men said you wanted to speak with someone?”

“Mind if I get dressed first?” Valin nodded at the bundle of clothing Bennett was holding. Definitely some major holes in security if they’d allowed Bennett to keep them. Unless of course they’d already searched them and found what was inside—Bennett wasn’t the only one capable of pilfering his own blade from Senior’s lockbox.

Jacob considered a moment, then nodded. The bundle was passed from Bennett through one of his guards to Valin.

“Thanks.” He took the clothes and started pulling them on. When he got to the knife that had been wrapped in the center, he noted the immediate rise in tension, including how the soldier who’d passed it to him shuffled uncomfortably under Jacob’s glaring look and also how Valin’s favorite fan shifted his grip on his gun ever so slightly, as if he might either take the shot…or maybe just forego the weapon and reach for Valin’s knife.

“Bennett’s better natured than I. You try to take my blade and I’ll have to kill you,” Valin said, injecting what assurance he could with his calm tone.

Trigger Happy opened his mouth, but Jacob laid a hand on his shoulder, though his attention was all on Valin as he gave him a look that said he didn’t appreciate being fucked with.

“Sorry. Just saying how it is.” Valin quickly pulled on his T-shirt. And resisted smiling when the same soldier in the back—definitely a woman, a pretty little blonde, actually—sighed in disappointment.

Jacob flicked her a quelling glance before replying, “And I’m sorry, but you seemed to be under a misimpression when you came here.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“That we welcome visitors,” Jacob said, his hand closing over the hilt of the K-bar on his belt. And though he was further away than at least three of those surrounding him, Valin thought it most likely that Jacob would be the first to connect if Valin did something threatening.

Valin flashed a grin instead. “Oh, I don’t know. This kind of animosity makes me feel right at home. Right, Bennett?”

“You are a right bastard,” Bennett replied, eliciting a brief glance from Jacob. “Valin’s the black sheep,” he explained.

“And he’s the one you sent to say hello to your neighbors?” Jacob asked.

Bennett shrugged. “He’s good at what he does.”

“Ah. A spy then?”

“Hard to spy when you know I’m here, but yes, I do that too.” Valin didn’t expand. Scout, spy…assassin. Yup, he did it all. Not this time though. This time he was simply searching for lost treasure, and this old schoolhouse had a big ole X painted right on it. The mental shield, the one he hadn’t even sensed from outside the building, had the distinctive taste of Gabby all over it. Not the Gabby he’d touched minds with back in the mines though, but the one he remembered from the street a couple weeks ago when he’d briefly skimmed along a succubus’s shields. She’d run from him that night too, before he’d recognized her for who she was. And though he knew now that she hadn’t been part of a trap, but rather leading them to one where a human, Logan’s mate to be precise, had been in danger, it still didn’t negate the fact that there had been a darkness to her that set off every instinct of wrongness he had.

Something had happened to Gabby between now and four months ago. Something that could account for the taint of evil he sensed stamped upon her. A taint that hadn’t been there before, despite her maker’s best efforts. Valin would be damned if he would go another day without finding out what had caused it. And it would be a cold day in hell before he let her leave again before he could fix it.

“I’m afraid you also have another misimpression,” Jacob said.

Valin tipped his head questioningly.

“We don’t know who this Gabriella is that you’re talking about.”

Behind him, Bennett raised his brow. Didn’t need projective thought to get that question across: Who and what the hell is he talking about?

Yeah, yeah. He’d explain it all later. “Bullshit. Amazon and her little group of buddies that broke into Haven already gave away that you do.”

“Haven?”

Valin sighed. “Are we really going to do this dance? You know exactly what I’m talking about and who I’m talking about, both the red-haired Amazon woman and Gabriella. I’ll even guarantee you that I’m not here to bust your ass about sending troops into our sanctuary if you’ll cut the crap and tell me where Gabby is.”

“What about him?” Jacob jerked his head over his shoulder at Bennett. “You speaking for him too?”

“Bennett’s pretty good at speaking for himself if you ask him.”

Jacob twisted his head. Bennett lifted and dropped a shoulder. “Don’t know anything about this Gabby my mate here’s talking about. But I’m here to discuss what happened last week at Haven and to hopefully come up with a solution to the problem the null presents.”

“The problem?” Jacob asked dangerously.

“Aye, namely the fact that she would be positively lethal to us if she were to be captured by Ganelon and subsequently used against us.”