her secondary maternal dominant duties, Riaz and Drew went across to wish Eli a happy birthday.
Not surprisingly, Hawke, Judd, and their mates turned up bare minutes afterward, as did a number of others, word clearly having gotten around that a party was in progress.
Riaz was with Hawke a quarter of an hour later when his alpha’s phone gave a sharp ping. “It’s time?” he asked.
Hawke nodded, his husky blue eyes holding the wolf’s hunger for the hunt. “BlackSea’s going in.”
PART 5
Chapter 39
AS PER THE plan he’d worked out with Miane’s team, Vasic teleported in alone to the compound that might hold the vanished BlackSea woman. The location he arrived in proved to be as perfect as the neighboring lynx pack had stated: a corner of the property swathed in shadows because of large trees the owners had probably left up in order to further shield the back of the property.
There were lights on the fence but they didn’t penetrate much deeper than a few feet. The house itself was only lit up in one discrete section. Between the house and this spot lay a large area of lawn and foliage. Teleporting right to the house would’ve been easier, but he had no way of knowing what security measures were in place; it was better to be patient than to set off a sensor.
Having pulled on his night-vision goggles, Vasic was calculating the best route to the house when he felt a telepathic scan pass over him.
Psy guards.
They wouldn’t have picked up his presence. Arrow minds were too well shielded—but this wasn’t a one-man operation. Miane hadn’t been arrogant about BlackSea’s involvement, had told him that if he could pull out Leila or any other captive on his own, then he was to do it. However, once Vasic did a scan of his own and realized the number of guards, he ’ported back to BlackSea’s floating city.
Then, he, Miane, and Malachai overhauled the plan in light of his reconnaissance. It took precious time and he could feel the changelings straining inside their skin, but they forced themselves to remain calm and controlled. Every member of the team knew that this would be no empty substation in the wilderness but a heavily guarded fortress they’d have to breach with stealth.
“Close in,” Vasic said after everyone in the team had been briefed on the updated plan; he then teleported without delay.
The first part was simple—to get to the house without alerting or harming the perimeter guards. It would slow their progress but give them longer to search the property before an alarm was raised—because the instant that happened, if Leila was here, she might either be harmed or moved.
Upon arrival, the team split up as agreed and each individual made his or her way to certain points. Four of the changelings would remain outside, ready to pick off guards should they come running in from the perimeter in response to an alarm. Vasic was already using his telepathic abilities to conceal their presence from a psychic sweep.
He, Miane, and Malachai would go inside.
The plan was to do it as quietly as possible, to confirm this was the right place and these were the right people, before they made any lethal calls. There was, after all, a chance that the house was, in fact, occupied by a celebrity or plain old drug dealer or another individual with a need and/or desire for extreme privacy.
Psy bodyguards were all the rage in certain quarters.
In the darkness, the BlackSea people became ripples of black against black. Vasic saw them, but he was highly trained at night ops, and from what he could tell, most of the property’s guard complement was far from well trained. Good enough to guard an isolated home. Not good enough to spot men and women who knew how to move in the dark.
Part one went off without a hitch.
Meeting at the closest entrance, from beyond which Vasic could pick out no light, he and Malachai waited while Miane tried the old-fashioned door. It was locked. The BlackSea alpha pulled something out of a thigh pocket, used it on the door. The next time she twisted the handle, it opened. No audible alarms.
Instead of rushing inside, Vasic used a miniature low-beam flashlight to check for any electronic beams or signs the door was wired for a silent alarm.
Nothing.
The other two moved at his nod to clear the room; the three of them had worked out their responsibilities and tasks back on Lantia. Entering behind