from being killed. She swallowed, sucking in freezing air. “They won’t kill me. Yet. I’ll go.”
Adare turned his head almost in slow motion to face her. Bruises mottled the left side of his face, and blood trickled from beneath his jaw. “Have you lost your mind?”
She clutched the heavy weapon with her gloves, even though her hands were freezing. Her stomach cramped, but her mind quickly calculated the odds. They sucked. “No. There’s no way out of here, and we’re definitely outnumbered. They have to have all three Keys to kill at once, and they’ll only have me.” She’d at least understood that much of the mythology. She knew her plan made sense. Her voice shook, but she couldn’t stop it. “That’ll give you time to find me.” With a lot more soldiers at his back.
“No.” He motioned for Benny to get the explosives out of the rear of the SUV. “I smell gas. We need to get away from this thing.”
“You have five seconds to decide,” the booming voice continued.
Taking a deep breath, Grace levered herself up to look through the broken windows. With one glance, every organ in her body froze. She’d never seen Cyst soldiers in real life, and they were much bigger than in the drawings Adare had shown her years ago. These were the religious leaders of the Kurjans, but they looked like the bringers of death. One stood in the headlights of the SUV, his stance wide, weapons visible against his black uniform. A strip of white hair down his head continued into a long braid; the remainder of his head was bald and paler than the snow. Despite the storm and distance, she could see that his eyes were an odd purplish red. He apparently stopped counting and reached for a glowing green gun at his waist.
“Wait,” she called out. “Just give me a minute.”
He paused, his gaze swinging toward her location.
“Stop it,” Adare hissed.
Benny pulled the back hatch open an inch. Then another.
Grace panted as her heart rate sped up uncontrollably. In addition to the Cyst, there were at least seven Kurjans spread out, all armed, all waiting. They had either black hair tipped with red or red hair tipped with black, frighteningly pale skin, and light, purplish eyes. Most were closer to seven feet tall than six, and they were lean and muscled. The drawings she’d seen hadn’t done justice to how frightening they appeared. She looked up at the sky, praying for a hint of sun to weaken them.
The clouds were too thick.
Benny pulled a long box out of the hatch and slid it back to Adare, who ripped it open.
It was ten Kurjans and Cysts to the four of them, and though she knew Adare and Benny were good, nobody was that good. Grace bunched her legs to run.
“You won’t make it,” Adare said grimly, not looking up from a set of six square gray blocks with silver pins. “But start bargaining with them as I set these.”
Okay. She could do this. Her stomach rolled over and she forced herself not to gag. “Um, promise you won’t kill me,” she yelled, not having to make her voice shake since it did so on its own. They didn’t answer, so she cleared her throat and tried to kick some ice loudly to give the impression that she was on the move. She had no clue what she was doing.
Adare pressed something on the gray squares and handed a couple to Benny, took several, and then pushed the box toward Jacqueline. “You still have an arm?”
The shifter nodded, her eyes gleaming. “Definitely, and you’re gonna like these explosives. They’re new generation.”
“Okay.” Adare crouched, one in each hand. “Benny, you throw at the group to the left, Jacki right, and I’ll hit the bastard in the middle. Grace, the second these land, you shoot through the window at anything still moving, but keep your body down. On two.”
She couldn’t breathe. A buzzing set up between her ears, but she clutched the gun, waiting for the signal. Thank goodness she’d spent the last five years learning to protect herself.
“Two,” Adare muttered, standing up and heaving the square toward the Cysts while the other two did the same.
There was a beat of silence and then a rush of movement. Three explosions echoed in a row, and a cry of agony came from the left. Grace lifted up, aimed, and fired toward the different smoldering fires. A series of gunshots instantly impacted the SUV from