Page 3 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

"Go!"

He knew better than to argue. As the others retreated with the prisoners, Kyra turned to face their pursuers. Four men in tactical gear rounded the corner, weapons raised.

Elite forces, given their uniforms, but she could handle them.

She had done it before.

Time seemed to slow as they spotted her. Kyra's body moved without conscious thought, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. The first man's eyes widened in shock just before her knife connected with his throat. The second managed to squeeze off a shot that she somehow knew would miss before it even left the barrel.

She moved through them like a ghost, her strikes precise and lethal. When it was over, she stood among the bodies, breathing heavily, not just from exertion but from the strange euphoria of combat.

The killing was never easy, and she would pay the price later in nightmares and in missing pieces of her soul, but for now, it felt good to be alive while her enemies lay in pools of their own blood.

As she followed her team's exit route, the pendant's warmth faded to a comfortable glow, telling her the mission was complete.

Kyra caught up to the others at their fallback position. The prisoners had already been loaded into the vehicles, and Soran nodded as she joined him at the cabin.

"Did you get them all?" he asked.

"Of course." She touched her pendant through her shirt.

It had led them true again, but tonight's mission left her unsettled, and it wasn't just about the dead bodies she'd left behind.

Those guards had been better trained and more coordinated than usual. If she hadn't been there, her team would have failed the extraction and probably ended up dead.

2

SYSSI

Syssi burst into Kian's office, her heart still pounding from that horrible dream that had felt more like a vision. She needed to tell him what she'd seen, but more than that, she needed the comfort of his arms around her and his solid presence to ground her.

He was her rock, and right now, she needed an anchor.

The sight of him at his desk steadied her somewhat, but it wasn't enough to disperse the horror she'd seen, especially since the office was steeped in darkness and Kian's face was illuminated only by the soft glow of his laptop screen.

"Syssi?" He got up and strode toward her. "What's wrong?"

"I had a dream or a vision. I'm not sure what it was, but I saw Kyra again. Or rather, for the first time. She didn't have a scarf on, and I heard her name spoken, so I knew it was her without a doubt."

He wrapped his arm around her and led her to the couch. "What did you see?"

Syssi opened her mouth to speak, but then another vision washed over her, hijacking her mind without warning.

"Syssi?" She heard Kian say her name as if it was coming through a tunnel.

She latched on to the sound like a lifeline, pulling herself out of the vision that was trying to show her what she'd managed to avoid seeing the first time around.

Clutching on to Kian's arm, she forced her eyes to open. "Oh, dear Fates. The poor woman. We have to help her."

"What did you see?" he repeated, sounding alarmed and impatient.

Syssi's throat was so dry that talking was difficult. "I need coffee."

To anyone else, that declaration would have sounded strange in light of the frazzled state she'd arrived in, but her mate knew it was exactly what she needed to calm down.

"Of course." Kian lifted her into his arms and walked with her to the family room.

How did he know that she didn't want to be left alone, even for the few minutes it would take him to prepare the coffee?

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