looked just as likely to pounce as she was to sit down and make herself comfortable. “Because all of your thoughts are known to us, Skinner.”
“The Mind Singer is dead.”
“We don’t need him any longer. Do you truly think we are so primitive that we cannot think several steps ahead of a bunch of clannish brutes like you? Maybe we should thank you after all, Liam. The Skinners and Amriany alike seem to have mistaken us for common dogs that don’t pay attention to the shifting world around them.”
“Oh, it’s about to shift, all right,” Liam said.
Focusing on Paige, the female werewolf spread her paws out to plant them in a stance so firm that it seemed not even the hand of God could pry her loose. “After what the leeches did to you, there is only panic among the Skinners. I think you don’t even know who I am.”
“I know,” Nadya said. Without taking her eyes off the Full Bloods, she nodded toward Paige and explained, “Her name is Minh. She roams the territory east of Europe.”
“Knowing my name is one thing,” Minh said. “When the Breaking Moon rises, you will be just as surprised and helpless as the rest of the humans.”
“So you don’t think they know about the young one?” Liam asked.
“I’m not sure,” Minh replied while tilting her head, as if that was enough to screw Paige to a wall. “Do you know about the young one?”
Without blinking, Paige replied, “Of course we do.”
“Be careful what you say, Skinner. Your history with the Amriany isn’t pristine, but something tells me you might care what happens to that one.”
When Minh glanced toward the windshield of the SUV, she drew Paige’s focus to the body hanging out halfway through the shattered field of safety glass. Drina was covered in blood from wounds that had been opened by the crash and closed by whatever method the Amriany used to toughen their systems. Even though a Half Breed’s teeth were firmly embedded in her shoulder and sunken in almost to the gum line, she maintained a grip on the side of the werewolf’s neck with one hand while fumbling for her FAMAS assault rifle with the other.
“If we even suspect you’re lying to us,” Minh purred, “she’s dead.”
“We were coming to see if anyone had found her yet,” Gunari said. “It looks like you haven’t.”
“You know the young one is a she?” Liam asked.
Before he could answer that, one of the Half Breeds turned to look at him with eyes that contained much more than the brutish instinct of a hungry animal. Like a cloud dissipating in a windy sky, the feral wildness cleared to show pupils the color of milk that had gone bad weeks ago. “That was just a guess,” it said. Shifting into a lanky form clothed in dirty rags as if he’d simply stepped out from behind a screen, the man hung a head weighed down by a mane of shiny black hair. “More like a bluff, but a good one.”
When she looked at the lean figure that climbed up to stand on two legs, Paige saw the shapeshifter that had held the police away from the warehouse in Denver long enough for the Nymar to get their dirty work done. Even worse, she’d felt the subtle power of the First Deceiver for herself. For all she knew, Rico was still suffering under it.
The pressure of Kawosa’s words pushed against her ears, and his gaze pressed upon her eyes.
Judging by the strained expression on the Amriany’s face, Gunari felt it as well. “It’s not a bluff,” he said in a voice that could have been dipped in the same alloy as Paige’s machete. “We’re here to make sure you didn’t find a way to get to her. How else would I even know it’s a her?”
“Fifty-fifty chance,” Kawosa replied while crossing his arms. “You can’t lie to me, human. Tell me what you know of her.”
Before she could think about saying anything different, Paige told him, “I don’t even know who the hell you’re talking about.”
“And the Breaking Moon?”
“Never heard of it.” Even as she spoke, Paige couldn’t believe hers was the voice that put life into those words. As much as she wanted to staple her mouth shut, she added, “The Amriany found you, and as long as it means killing more fucking shapeshifters, I’m along for the ride. You can take the moon, the sun, and every planet spinning around it and shove them