be serious,” Lachlan growled. “Alek, it’s against the laws of our kind to expose—”
“I know our fucking laws,” I snapped. “My wife is missing, Lachlan.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” My level-headed second flexed his jaw.
“I’m not losing my mind!” Valor yelled, her teeth starting to chatter as she reached into her back pocket.
Both Lachlan and Hawke palmed their weapons.
Valor pulled out her cell phone.
“Says the woman with no coat,” Lachlan muttered.
“I know you’re out here, Alek!” She flipped her cell phone’s screen up toward the trees, as if she knew there would be cameras watching—which there were. We just happened to be closer. “See?”
Every muscle in my body locked. Fuck the rules, we had to bring her in.
“I put a tracker on Lyric’s phone, and it’s pinging loud and clear beyond this hill!” She shook the phone, or maybe she was just cold. It was hard to tell with humans.
“Fuck,” I snapped, my hands forming fists as the ounce of hope I’d let myself feel drained out of my heart. Ockham’s razor: the simplest answer was the truth. Just because Valor knew where Lyric’s cell was didn’t mean she knew where Lyric was.
But she’s out here at four in the morning.
“Didn’t see that one coming,” Hawke lifted his brows. “Time to upgrade the glamour for modern tech.”
“Let’s take her to Benedict,” Lachlan suggested, holstering his weapon.
“Good idea. If she’s telling the truth, we’ll just wipe her memory, and if she’s not, we’ll kill her.” Hawke shrugged.
“We don’t kill females.” To hell with the rules, Hawke was right. We’d just wipe her memories.
“Technically she’s a woman, not a female,” Hawke muttered.
A quick glance told me exactly what Lachlan thought about that suggestion.
“Chill the fuck out, Highlander. I get the point,” Hawke snapped.
“Alek! For fuck’s sake!” Valor screamed, her voice going hoarse. “I know she’s been taken, and I know where she is!”
That did it. I walked straight through the glamour to the soundtrack of Lachlan cursing under his breath.
Valor’s eyes flew wide as we came into view, the three of us side by side. She took one look at Hawke and stumbled backward, bumping into her car’s hood, but damn if she didn’t lift her chin. “It’s true.”
“You’re the one out here screaming for me. Why don’t you tell me what’s true,” I retorted. “Now tell me where my wife is.”
Valor swallowed. “Promise not to kill me?”
At least she had the good sense to negotiate terms.
Lachlan scoffed. “Lass, you came looking for us, not the other way around.”
“Fuck this. Hawke, drive her car up, Lachlan—” I started.
“On it,” he replied, already marching toward Valor. “Dining room,” he said over his shoulder before palming the back of her neck and dematerializing, taking Valor with him.
I wended out before he’d completely faded, and materialized at the head of the table a second before Lachlan appeared with Valor. There was zero chance in hell I was taking her to the war room, and the formal portion of the estate had too many wagging tongues, so the residence it was.
“Sit,” Lachlan pointed to a chair and whipped out his phone. “Dining room. Now.”
Valor sat, taking in her surroundings with a thorough glance and tucking her hair behind her ears.
Benedict walked through the door a few seconds later.
“Where is she?” I immediately demanded an answer now that Benedict was here.
“It’s not that simple,” she hedged, her gaze darting to Benedict. “But I can take you to where she is.”
“She’s telling the truth.” Benedict crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.
“We don’t have much time,” Lachlan noted, nodding toward the window. December meant longer nights, but we only had a few hours at most before the sun would incinerate us.
“We can get her out before sunrise.” Valor’s brow furrowed. “At least, I think we can.”
Every pair of eyes in the room narrowed in on the human.
“What would you know about sunrise?” I asked, my voice low and dangerous.
“Enough.” Valor quirked a brow. “You have to trust me.”
“No offense, lass, but you showed up at our door hours after Alek’s wife went missing, so trust isn’t a cheap commodity, especially saying things like enough.” Lachlan tilted his head at her.
“And I didn’t have to haul my ass out to the middle of nowhere and risk my life with a bunch of fangers, but I want to save my friend, so how’s that for cheap?” she fired back.
The highlander cracked a smile, then ran the tip of his tongue over his fangs.
Valor sucked in a breath and turned to