Page 64 of Skyla

It was a testament to how dire our entire situation was that Delta didn’t protest or complain that he wouldn’t get in on whatever action was about to go down. He simply held out his arms and gently took our mate from me when I gathered her into my arms and carried her to him. Summoning my shadows, I donned my clothes, leathers included. My fae senses already told me this wasn’t good.

The others were dressed too.

“Do not engage,” Silver growled. “They are baiting us. Do not give them a fucking reason.”

We strode out of the building to find the entire club in the plaza, facing off toward the gate.

Our club was smaller than the Blazing Legion. Shadow fae were rare and mostly male. There were a few of our kind outside of the club, but not many.

The motorcycles swarming outside our gate were easily double our numbers, and I knew it wasn’t their full strength. I wasn’t worried. If they’d been coming for us tonight, they wouldn’t be circling outside the gates and revving their engines. They would have come like they had before, silently attacking us all at once in order to overwhelm us, and they would have used far more than Molatovs.

Silver headed straight for the gate. I wanted to call him back and ask him whether going out there was a good idea, but I knew better than to question him, and I flanked him at his right shoulder, Wraith on his left. Grave had our backs.

The fact that Delta was with Skyla made my instincts calm. Despite the wards on that building being the strongest magic that could be created, leaving her alone wasn’t acceptable.

Two of our sentries threw open the wrought-iron gates, and we walked through. The wards didn’t open when the gate did, and the five of us could walk through shadow if absolutely necessary.

Silver stopped, the rest of us following, and the Blazing Legion surrounded us in a half circle. His voice carried farther than it would without his power lacing it. “I don’t recall inviting the Blazing Legion into my territory.”

Fang took off his helmet and dismounted, standing next to his bike. “Just out for a midnight ride. You know how it is, you go where the wind takes you.”

Our President didn’t respond.

The rest of us took stock of who they’d brought. They were certainly armed, and paying attention to Fang’s every move. But something told me they weren’t here to start a fight… yet.

After another long moment of staring each other down, Silver slipped his hands into the pockets of his leather pants, the picture of ease. “Since you came all this way, you might as well tell me why you’re here.”

“I came to inform you of what’s about to happen,” Fang said, sauntering forward. All of us went taut, ready to jump in and gut the warlock at the first sign of aggression. The man had balls to get this close to us. I would give him that.

“Please enlighten me,” Silver said, amusement coloring his tone.

“You’re going to hand over the hybrid,” Fang said. “You will deliver her to our clubhouse before her birthday.”

What he wasn’t saying: before his ability to turn Skyla into a mindless slave disappeared.

The four of us were strung so tight we could snap. But we didn’t show it. “Or?” Silver asked.

“Or the Iron Shadows, No Man’s Land, it all disappears,” Fang said.

Silver widened his stance and stared him down. “How do you imagine that happening? You already tried earlier, and that didn’t even make a dent.”

A ripple went through the assembled Legion.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Fang said. “It sounds like you’re accusing us of attacking you earlier this evening. I can assure you, no member of the Blazing Legion has taken any action against the Iron Shadows.”

Of course. They’d gone to great lengths to make sure it couldn’t be directly connected to them. But Delta would help us prove it, if he could.

“But,” Fang stretched his arms over his head like he was taking fucking yoga or something, pretending he didn’t have a care in the world. “You don’t give us Skyla? That’s an act of war.”

“In what world?” Wraith snarled.

“The world where you took what was rightfully ours. Five hundred thousand dollars for a hybrid? It hardly covers the loss.”

Silver was close to snapping, but he held it back. “So you want money? How much? We’ll give it to you.”

“I don’t want yourfucking money. I want you to understand that actions have consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?” Silver asked. “You forget I’ve known you since you were cum in your father’s balls, Fang. Or is that your name?”

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