Shadow's Awakening: The Shadow Warder Series, Book One (An Urban Fantasy Romance Series) (36 page)

“Wasn’t going to.” It was like the lock picking. Conner knew better than to ask how Kiernan had managed to produce an untraceable truck to replace his very well-known SUV. That was Kiernan. Getting the job done, no questions, no hesitation. Conner looked at his friend, relaxed in the oversize chair, seeming not the least bit worried that he was about to firebomb his entire life.

“Kiernan.” Conner waited until Kiernan met his eyes. “I appreciate the loyalty, but you don’t have to do this. You won’t be able to go back. We’ll be outcasts. You’ll spend the rest of your life dodging the Sicari.”

“Do you really think I care about that?” Kiernan put down his pizza and finished his beer in a long swallow. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, warm hazel eyes intent on Conner. “You’re the one who always bought into the whole Warder thing. They pulled me off the street at thirteen, gave me a bed, food, and education. They gave me training and a purpose. But I never planned on staying in.”

“What do you mean?” Conner asked, taken aback. He’d been friends with Kiernan since they were teenagers at the Academy. He remembered Kiernan when he’d first come in. Sullen, suspicious, constantly in trouble with the instructors.

“Look,” Kiernan said. “I know you see our role as Warders as our destiny. That we’re a force for good and owe the Warders our loyalty. I get it. But to me, they’re an employer. A generous one, but no more than that. I let them tell me what to do, put up with Alexa and the Directorate, because they pay me very well for the inconvenience. But I could give a shit about them. I can kill Vorati without the Warders. So can you. They’re a job. You’re my family. You love this girl? You’re willing to blow it all to get her? Then I’m with you. Fuck the rest of this shit.”

“Okay,” Conner said, voice thick. “Thanks.”

“I’m kind of offended you had to ask,” Kiernan said, lightening the mood.

“Yeah, well, it's a big deal. Walking out on everything. I wanted to make sure you’d thought it through.”

“Whatever,” Kiernan said. “You try to make a withdrawal?”

“No go. They have my account on hold.” He scowled at Kiernan’s laugh.

“Figured it would be,” Kiernan said. “I managed to get about half out of mine. At least I got the cashier’s check. Remains to be seen if they’ll honor it once the shit hits the fan. Aren’t you glad I talked you into using a human bank?”

At the moment it was more like deeply grateful. Leaving behind his entire world was enough of a shock. Doing it with empty pockets would be nearly impossible. Running from the Sicari would take money. Years ago, uncomfortable with the insular system of keeping their Warder salary in Warder banks, Kiernan had talked Conner into siphoning money into human banks. Conner humored him, never imagining that the money he’d stashed away would fund his new life. It wasn’t a large fortune, but it was a small one. Enough that he and Hannah wouldn’t have to worry about money for a very long time.

“Did the pizza and beer work? Got any ideas for getting past the wards?” Conner asked, half joking, half hoping Kiernan would give him a usable answer.

“Not yet. Guns blazing is still the best shot.”

“What if one of us goes in and the other keeps the door cracked? If he’s got hostages in the lab, I doubt he’s got a ward that will kill if it’s breached. He could accidentally take out his hostages if it goes off by mistake.”

“Agreed. I think we’re looking at an alarm ward or one that traps the intruder.”

“Any idea how to get through one of those?” Conner asked. He didn’t have a clue. This was mage territory, not the kind of stuff a soldier had to learn. Kiernan liked to play, but only with spells that blew shit up. Anything Michael had was guaranteed to be way over their heads.

“No. I know some people we could call, but I can’t guarantee they’d keep their mouths shut. They might if we paid them enough. I have a few more reliable sources, but we don’t have time to bring them into play. Not unless we want to wait a few days.”

“Maybe.” He dropped his head, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

He was so close to Hannah, he could almost smell her skin, feel her under his fingertips. It was taking everything he had not to go charging over there to drag her free of Michael. But the only thing worse than not saving her would be getting her killed because he was a dumbass. Frustrated, Conner mechanically ate another piece of pizza and tried to puzzle out a way to get Hannah free of the lab. None of his training or experience had anything to do with a job like this. He knew a thousand ways to fight and kill the Vorati. Rescuing hostages in secret from a fortified location? That required a completely different set of skills. The shrill ring of his phone broke into the silence of the room. His heart gave a lurch. It was Zach.

“Yeah?”

“Are you ready to go after her?” Zach asked, ignoring the preliminaries.

“Do you know how we can get in?” Conner asked, gut squeezed tight with hope.

“I know if you try to storm the castle you’ll get yourselves killed and your girl will disappear.”

“Fuck,” Conner swore. “Tell me you have another way.”

“As far as I can tell,” Zach said. “Hannah’s working on something. But she’s going to fail. She needs a diversion. If you can create a diversion for her, I can help her on my end so her plan might actually get her out of there.”

“Might get her out?”

“There are no guarantees, Warder.” Zach sounded tired.

“What kind of diversion?” Conner asked.

“I don’t know. That’s up to you. You need to draw the power away from the lab. You know who’s holding her?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Then get him away from her. Figure it out asap. You need to be ready to go as soon as I call. Then get the hell out of the city. I’ll text you where to meet up with Hannah once she’s out.”

“I don’t like leaving her to do this on her own,” Conner said, both relieved there was a plan and frustrated that he wasn’t going to be on hand to make sure Hannah got out of the lab.

“She can handle it. She’ll have to,” Zach said in a wry tone. “You can either be the hero and lose her, or you can do what I’m telling you and she’ll probably be alive and free. Are you in?”

Conner didn’t like the word probably. But at least Zach was offering a possible happy ending. All Conner had was ways to get them all killed. “I’m in,” he said. “We’ll get rolling on a diversion.”

“Okay.” Zach paused. Conner waited. The silence hung between them, rising in tension. Finally, Zach spoke again. “You need to be very careful.”

“I know,” Conner said, impatient.

“No, I mean, extremely careful. I’m going to tell you something, and I need you to promise me that you’re not going to fly off the handle.”

“I promise.”

“Your friend there?”

“Yeah. What is it? I need to fill him in so we can get started.”

“I’m making a judgment call here. Part of me doesn’t want to tell you because it's going to make you crazy. The other part of me thinks that if I don’t tell you, you won’t understand why you have to be so cautious. Don’t make me regret my decision.” Zach sounded unusually hesitant.

Whatever Zach was going to say, Conner knew he wouldn’t like it. Restraining his impatience, he said, “I’ll keep it together.”

“Given your history, it’s going to be hard,” Zach said.

He was beginning to freak Conner out. What did he know? Conner held his breath as Zach continued.

“It’s not a hundred percent, but I had a vision about your girl,” Zach said, the words drawn out. Conner’s awareness sharpened.

“What did you see?” he asked.

“I think she’s pregnant.”

Conner’s breath whooshed out of his lungs as Zach went on.

“If she is, it would be the first time a Warder has impregnated a Shadow in over fifteen hundred years. If they know, and they must, considering they’re doing tests on her in a lab, they’ll do anything to keep her. Anything.”

Conner barely heard the rest after the word “pregnant.” Fuck. He’d never thought about the possibility of a baby. Warders rarely had children. He’d been so overwhelmed by Hannah, by being with her, he hadn’t thought about the very slim chance of getting her pregnant.

“Are you sure?” he heard himself ask.

“Not completely. It’s possible it’s an event to come and not the present. But it felt like I was seeing the now. Not the future. This is why you need to be careful. Focus on the diversion. Stay away from that lab. Avoid anyone who might have anything to do with the lab. If they have any idea you’re after her, they’ll hide her so deep you’ll never find her. Ever. It’ll be like she never existed.” At that, Zach hung up the phone.

Conner let his drop to the table with a clatter. Kiernan, attention alert, came to his feet.

“What?” Kiernan asked. “What’s wrong?”

Conner shook his head, scrubbing his hands over his face. His brain was a whirl. A baby. With Hannah. His chest squeezed, cutting off his breath. In every scenario he’d imagined for their future, he’d never dared to hope they might have a child. Not to mention a child who would make history. If he’d been dead set on rescuing Hannah before Zach’s call, his mission had just become more important than anything else on earth. He wouldn’t lose his child. Not again.

“The Oracle thinks Hannah is pregnant,” Conner said. “He said if we tip them off, they’ll run with her where we’ll never find her.”

“Fuck me,” Kiernan said, sinking into the chair opposite Conner. “Is he sure?”

“No. But he seemed pretty convinced.” Conner tipped his head back, staring at the white ceiling. Could he do this? The uncertainty. The hope. The weight and joy of a vulnerable being, totally dependent on him. He hadn’t done that well the last time and it had shattered him.

“Fuck,” Kiernan repeated. “This just got a lot more complicated.”

“Not really,” Conner said, shaking his head. “We just have to make sure Michael has no idea we’re coming. I hope I didn’t fuck this up by getting Alexa involved.”

“You didn’t know. And this is Alexa we’re talking about. The last thing she’d want to do is get on Michael’s bad side”

“Yeah,” Conner agreed, running back over everything he’d said and done since he’d started looking for Hannah. Had he left any tracks for Michael to find, other than through Alexa?

After a minute, Kiernan broke the silence. “You okay?”

“No.” Conner scrubbed his hands over his face again. “I never thought I’d be in this situation. Never wanted another child.”

“After what Marie did, it’s understandable. But from everything you said, Hannah is nothing like Marie.”

“She’s not. Hannah is pretty much the opposite of Marie,” Conner said. Beautiful, cold, ambitious Marie. Marie who had ended her pregnancy at six months when she’d learned their child would be born with a rare mutation. Humanity. Conner’s otherwise healthy baby boy was going to be born human, not Warder. Conner hadn’t cared. He’d wanted the baby, already been in love with it through the sonograms.

Marie’s ambitions hadn’t included the stigma of giving birth to a human child. His barely formed dreams of being a father had fallen to dust. Kiernan had been the only one who understood Conner’s grief. The rest of their peers sided with Marie. Conner had been utterly crushed, devastated by his loss. Four decades later and he still missed the son he’d never met.

Now he was getting a second chance. In the worst possible circumstances. But still, a second chance. With Hannah, a woman he knew would defend her child with everything she had. Conner had let his first child down. Not again. This child would be protected. Whatever he had to do, he would keep his son or daughter safe.

“So we’re going on the run with a baby?” Kiernan asked with a grin.

Conner gave him a sober look. “I understand if you want to reconsider. You’re right, this did just get a lot more complicated.”

“Hell no. I’m going to be Uncle Kiernan. We should make a toast or something.”

“You’re sure? I wouldn’t hold it against you,” Conner said.

Kiernan narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? Stop asking. I’m not backing out.” Kiernan settled into the chair. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve got money. I’ve got some connections you don’t know about.”

Conner raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you do,” he said. He knew his friend had more than a few sketchy associates. Conner wasn’t going to complain. They’d probably need some of them before this was over. A baby. With Hannah. His head was still reeling from Zach’s news.

Kiernan stood up and headed for the kitchen. “I’m getting us a drink,” Kiernan said. “And then we’re going to come up with a diversion guaranteed to get Michael out of the Citadel.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Zach shoved the phone in his pocket. The early afternoon sun was high in the sky. Almost time. All the players were in position. They were as primed for success as they’d ever be. He gave a futile wish that he could see the outcome. But he’d been lucky enough to see what he had. Despite his efforts, Zach hadn’t been able to force another vision. Everything inside him said they had a good chance. But, as he’d told Conner, there were no guarantees. He wanted one. So much rode on this untrained Shadow. If she didn’t get out, if they took her child—it didn’t bear thinking about. Everything Zach had been working for would fall apart.