Page 103 of Forged Bonds

I glanced to Nolan, who was nibbling his bottom lip. After a moment’s pause, he nodded for me to tell Julian.

“I can manipulate memories,” I said, exuding more confidence than I had in my ability to do it. “We’re going to figure out who to use as an inside man, and fuck with their memories so they help us get into the mansion unnoticed to kill Kylan.”

“The amount of risk in that plan is astounding. Are you sure you can’t wait for a better opportunity to kill the man? I know he’s out for your head and, well, other parts of you, but running and hiding is usually a better option when you have a plan as haphazard as that one.”

“He has two of my mates, and I’m not going to let him kill them.”

Julian blinked a couple of times. “Oh, angels. So he knows you’re coming? You all are going on a fool’s errand.”

“I doubt he’ll be expecting anyone to let us in the back door.”

“That is literally the only thing you have working in your favour here. Who do you plan on using as your inside man?” Julian asked.

He was increasingly horrified as Nolan tossed him his phone to swipe through the options. “If you use any of these men, you’re all going to die,” he said confidently, placing the phone face down on the coffee table when he was done. “There’s only one person who’s going to work.”

“Who?” Nolan asked. “I looked through all of Kylan’s associates.”

“Somehow, you missed the most obvious of all. Grey Easton. He gets close enough to Kylan to kill him in his sleep, and there’s always been a rumour that he wants to.”

“Grey? Wanting to kill Kylan? I doubt it. You’ve met the man, haven’t you?” Nolan asked, exasperated. “He follows my cousin around like a silent shadow, at his beck and call.”

“He’s quiet because he wants to stay alive long enough to turn the tables. I’ve seen his type before, and I’ll see it again. If I were Kylan, I would have gotten rid of him years ago as a precautionary measure, but your cousin isn’t actually as smart as he believes himself to be. There’s a reason he isn’t a Duke, and it has nothing to do with having been born on Earth.”

I thought about my experience with Grey — limited to only a short surveillance video and a passing glance as he’d stolen Shan and Cas out from underneath me. Was he someone who could be susceptible to memory manipulation? There was nothing especially strong about him, honestly. None of the elemental magic vampires sometimes had, though it was possible he just hadn’t had need to use it. He would be harder to get to than any of the other men we’d tapped, but my sense of wrongness wasn’t kicking in when I thought of him being the one I used.

“How are we going to get to Grey?” I asked, fishing for ideas.

All three of my men were rightfully horrified by the idea of me using him, but Julian was right. He was close enough to Kylan for this to have an impact, despite the risks.

“Considering how much energy Kylan is putting into the search for you, I’m willing to bet Grey is leading the charge. He handles everything remotely important. Just give him a lead on where to find you, and he’ll show up himself. Of course, he’ll show up with himself and an immense army, but that’s where a bit of trickery comes into play.”

“Trickery?”

“Kidnap him, but don’t let his men know you kidnapped him or Kylan will never allow him back into the inner sanctum.”

“I’m not following.”

Julian waved a hand. “I hardly follow it. Illusion is what I’m talking about. Trick his men into thinking he’s there with them the whole time, muddle through his memories to fuck them up as you please, and drop him back in the middle of them with no one the wiser.”

It sounded like far too simple of a plan, and would require more than one witch. I couldn’t maintain an illusion while doing dangerous memory magic. Luckily, I remembered someone had created some wonderfully torturous illusions for our captive back at HQ. We would need Amabella for this plan, though I hated to take her from May’s side and put her in any sort of danger.

“We’ll consider it as a method,” I said, already mentally working through all the options for drawing Grey from Zemterra for long enough to do this.

“Glad I could be a help. Was there anything else you needed, other than the address and floor plan of Kylan’s Zemterran mansion?”

Floor plan would be helpful. I wasn’t going to ask how he had access to it. I’d just accept the offer.

“You’ve been more helpful than I’d imagined, and significantly less of a pain in the ass than I’d expected,” Nolan said.

He lifted me from his lap and placed me down onto the couch so he could stand. Stepping over to Julian, he shook his hand in a tight grip.

Something about that handshake had my hormones raging a little bit.

Nolan’s hands were so sexy, with long freckled fingers, and maybe the gripping was making me remember what it had been like when he’d had those fingers wrapped around my throat.

I tried to put a lid on it, not wanting to perfume the place while Julian was around, but nostrils flared and it was obvious everyone noticed. “When you control the mafia, I want your loyalty,” Julian said, avoiding looking at me.

“You’ve got it, though I’ll never control the mafia. Not my scene, and my family would be far too keen to kill me.”

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