Page 32 of The Labyrinth

“An honest conversation about what?”

“Don’t play dumb, Ten. It’s never suited you. I know…” He trailed off, and I waited for him to continue, but he obviously thought better about whatever he wanted to say. “Let’s just deal with this, alright?”

“Okay.” There was no way for him to know, right? There couldn’t be a way for him to know about Rissa. Could there? I just needed to keep him distracted with something else. Besides, I could multitask. “What’s the intel on these Ravens?”

“So my search party counted at least three of them in an abandoned apartment on the edge of Mirstone. They’re definitely making moves to get closer to our territory. The last thing we need is for them to leech their way in. There could’ve been more, but our men were forced to retreat to avoid being caught. I told them to hold position until we could get out there. I have another team meeting us there, too, in case there are more of them they can’t see.”

If she was hidden, I could keep her still, and keep her safe at the same time.

“I don’t like that they’re getting so comfortable. They’re getting awfully bold encroaching on our space like this,” I mused. “I’ve let them be, let them live how they wanted to live on our outskirts as long as they didn’t disrupt our people.”

I didn’t even need her to agree, really. I took her once. I could take her again. Sneak her out in the dead of night to Mirstone, where no one would find her ever again. She would be only mine then.

Griffin made a noise of discontent in the back of his throat. “You’ve been too easy on them. We should’ve knocked them down a peg ages ago. But now they’re confident, and stronger than what makes me comfortable.”

The things I could do to her if she was out of this city. If I never had to share her with anyone else…

“Watch yourself,” I warned.

“Sorry, Sir,” Griffin muttered. “We’re here.”

We stood outside of a brick apartment building that had seen better days. I really needed to get some crews out here to fix up these buildings. “What floor?”

“Second. Apparently they’ve built a bridge across balconies, connecting them to another apartment. Probably how they’ve been sneaking their way in.”

I grunted. “Try and be quiet.” I just wanted to get this over with and get back to Rissa. Knock some sense into these Ravens, get home to her, and deal with this mess in the morning. Except something toyed with my mind as we took the stairs to the second floor—as slow as possible to not make any noise—something I wasn’t sure I enjoyed.

Because these Ravens were in my territory now. My space. Myhome. And you know who else was in my home? Rissa. Rissa was locked away in my home. But if they were to come across her? I couldn’t fathom what would happen. All I knew for certain was there would be a lot of dead Ravens if any of them ever laid a fuckingfingeron Rissa. She was mine, and mine alone.

Fury bubbled under my skin, thick and hot, as we rounded the corner. On the landing stood four of Griffin’s men. Two looked a little worse for the wear than the other two, so I assumed these were the ones who had come across the Ravens. I didn’t waste any time, ready to destroy anything that dared to threaten my little deliciae. “Are we sure how many are in there?” I whispered.

One of the men shook his head. “No. We caught sight of three from the outside, but we can’t be certain that’s all there are. They were already headed inside when we noticed them.”

“They appear to have built a series of bridges that connect the balconies between buildings. They don’t look like much, and definitely don’t look like they would hold the weight of more than one person, but it’s been enough for them to get closer without being spotted,” another piped up.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. Anger. All I felt was anger. They dared to step foot closer to my home, to launch their attacks? Never again. Never fucking again. “Let’s get this over with then.”

“Ten, wait—” Griffin’s protest was cut off by the sound of me violently kicking the door open.

Three Ravens looked up at me from the dirty living room, surprised to see someone in their space. None of them had their standard camouflage face paint on, obviously not expecting an intrusion. It looked like it had been lived in by some dirty fuckers for a while, but not a family. Through the open bedroom door, I could see the bridge Griffin’s men had spoken about, crooked and teetering.

“What the fuck?” The largest one was already getting to his feet, stumbling toward me.

I launched my arm back, and smashed my fist straight into his fleshy stomach before he had a second to move. Fucker. He stumbled backward. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll give you five seconds to tell me why you’re here, and no one will die tonight. Ready?”

“For fuck’s sake, Ten,” Griffin muttered behind me. “We have a protocol!”

I knew all about the protocol. But the protocol meant fuck all to me when Rissa’s safety was on the line. They were in my neighborhood now. My space. I would do whatever it took to make sure none of these fuckers ever touched her. “One. Two. Three.” None of them spoke, but all three were on their feet now, lumbering closer. “Four. Five. Too bad.”

I took a step closer, and rocketed my fist into the big one’s face. His jaw shook with the force of impact, but before I could get away, one of the smaller Raven’s snuck an uppercut into my ribs. “Fuck!”

I spun around, ready to take on both of them at once, but before I needed to, Griffin was at my side. I held my fists to my face. “Anyone ready to give me answers yet? Why are you setting up a base on my territory? No?” I had waited long enough for an answer. I clapped my hands on either of the beast’s ears in front of me, and when he sank to his knees, cupping his blown eardrums with a wail, I gripped his head and gave it a vicious twist until his neck snapped. I looked around me at the other men as their comrade dropped to the floor, dead. “You sure?”

“Jesus, Ten,” Griffin muttered. “I have men for this.”

I knew he did. But there was something about taking my anger out on these men with my own hands, making sure they knew I was the one doling out the punishment. I turned my attention back to the big guy, and he made a couple quick jabs my way, before giving up and trying to put me in a headlock. I ducked out of the way, looking around for a weapon of some sort. I was strong, but strong wasn’t going to be enough against a beast like this. There was a lamp in the corner. I could use that. I darted around Griffin’s men who were taking on the last remaining Raven, and snatched the lamp. In one smooth motion, I snapped it in two, leaving me with a sharp spear-like weapon.

Something through the window caught my eye. Another Raven was sneaking out the balcony in the bedroom, inching his way onto the bridge.

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