struck a nerve.
When he lowered his shotgun, one of the guards attempted to grab it from him. Randolph bared his fangs and reached into the elevator to grab the guard’s head and hold him in place. Cole kept the shotgun down and stooped down to take something from out of his canvas shoe and toss it at the Full Blood. Randolph caught the chip of metal, growled, and closed it in a shaggy fist.
“I cut that out to interfere with the runes cloaking this place from you,” Cole explained.
“You knew I was close enough to get here so quickly?” Randolph asked.
Shrugging, Cole admitted, “I didn’t have a clue who or what might be in the area. I just hoped that something big and mean would be able to sniff out this place and come running to get to a bunch of Skinners.”
“You would sacrifice your own kind for a slim chance of survival?”
“These assholes may or may not be Skinners, but they’re not my kind,” Cole said. “They’re fucking parasites who took advantage of me getting framed for the deaths of a bunch of innocent cops. They’re bloodthirsty assholes, and if I have to gamble with my own life to get the hell out of here and throw some real justice their way, then that’s how it’s got to be.”
“Justice,” Randolph snarled in a manner than made it unclear whether he spoke the word as a question, statement, or joke.
“If you want to level this place, go ahead and do it,” Cole said. “My friends and I will gladly leave you alone.”
“And what about them?” Randolph asked as he fixed his crystalline gray-blue eyes upon Waylon and his men.
“They could barely contain three prisoners,” Cole said grudgingly. “What could they do to you?”
Randolph seemed to consider that until his ears pricked up and he reached in to grab Waylon’s arm. Somehow, the man in the suit had gotten a cell phone in his hand and made a quick connection. “I need all firepower to converge on Parking Level One,” he shouted at the phone. “The prisoners are escaping and there is a Class One Shifter on site. Repeat, Class One Shifter.”
Randolph grabbed Waylon’s arm and squeezed until bones broke and the phone dropped from his grasp. “Where is the other Jekhibar?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Waylon squeaked.
“The Unity Stone,” Randolph snarled. “It’s here. I can smell it.”
“Then you can find it yourself.”
“You truly want me to tear this place apart?” After a few more sniffs, his eyes drifted toward the floor. “Below. The Jekhibar is below.” He pulled in another breath. This time, he didn’t like the taste. “There are more coming.”
“You’re damn right there are,” Waylon said defiantly. “More than enough to blast you into pieces. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll run before—”
Randolph pulled Waylon from the elevator with such force that his arm came away from his body and blood poured down the side of his suit. Waylon was too shocked to make a sound as he dropped. Even if he could have found enough breath to scream, it would have been washed away by the Full Blood’s bellowing voice.
“No human tells me to run!” Randolph bellowed. “You have survived this long only because we have allowed it. I thought to hinder this madness by collecting the artifacts that would lead your kind to the brink, but perhaps Liam was right. Perhaps things should be allowed to take their course even if it leads to this world being engulfed in fire and humans are all forced to endure the Breaking.”
Cole picked up Waylon’s cell phone and listened to the voice coming through its speaker. “Shit,” he said while disconnecting the call, then tucking the phone under the front of his jumpsuit. “There’s more coming this way.”
“What?” Lambert asked. “Who?”
“I don’t know. Sounded like soldiers.”
“Guns and machines,” Randolph said. “You can go if you commit yourself to one task. Protect the young one.”
Lambert tried easing past the werewolf but was stopped by an open hand covered in Waylon’s blood. “He’s with me,” Cole assured him. “And so is he,” he added, indicating Frank. Randolph let both of them move past him and into the parking garage. “What young one?” Cole asked.
“One of my kind. She is still wild, but must be hidden from the others.”
“Other Full Bloods?” Cole asked as confusion threatened to suffocate him like a rising pool.
“They’ve come for the Breaking Moon and are seeking any way possible to get more than