with being a Key, so my tests went in that direction. But when you were arguing with Dage about how she was tracked to your cabin, I had another idea.”
“Hurry it up, queen,” Adare growled.
“Right. Okay. It was tracking dust. Also known as tracing dust. We’ve dealt with it before in other ops, and this was sophisticated stuff, but that’s what it was. They somehow got it into her blood stream. Probably her lungs, too. Maybe liver.”
Adare stood stock still, anticipation licking through his veins. “Can you track it?”
“Already have,” the queen said quietly. “I’m sending the coordinates to your phone. Happy hunting and good luck.”
Chapter 38
Grace struggled against Terre as he dragged her from the vehicle and into a large rustic lodge set amongst many smaller wooden cabins. The area looked like a camping facility or corporate retreat rather than the hellhole she’d imagined. He pushed her through a doorway and down several cement steps. The air cooled even more, and she shivered, trying to look behind him. Were they bringing Benny too?
Terre turned down a corridor, blowing past several closed doors to what looked like a cell with some type of Plexiglas wall on one side. Using a keypad, he opened it and pushed her inside. She backed away from him. There was nothing in the cell but a small door to the side that revealed a bathroom.
Two Cyst soon followed, lugging Benny. They threw him into the cell, and he landed on the cement with a hard thud, not moving on his own, not even a little bit.
Terre shut the cell and stood on the other side, watching her.
She ran for Benny and turned him over, wincing at the burns across his face. One was so deep, she could see singed parts of his skull and maybe brain matter.
“He’s lucky the blast didn’t take off his head,” Terre said, his voice coming clearly though a set of round holes across the glass.
Her legs shook, but she stood to face him, keeping Benny behind her. “What’s your plan? Why did you bring him?”
Terre crossed his arms, still looking so much like Brian that the perversity was frightening, especially since Brian didn’t really exist. “Benjamin Reese has been a member of the Seven since the very beginning. He’s one of the few originals, and he has a lot of information in that crazy head of his. Information we need to extract before cutting it off.”
Bile bubbled in her stomach. “I suppose you think I have information in my head.”
“I look forward to finding out.” He licked his lips.
The bile rose and burned her throat.
Heavy footsteps sounded and another Kurjan joined Terre, this one a couple of inches taller. His black hair was tipped with red. “This is the Key?” His faced was angled and his skin pasty, but he had a sharpness to him that was compelling. His voice was deeper than Terre’s and his stance more casual, but he had an aura of power around him that was almost physical.
Her fingers itched for her camera. She wanted to capture him on film and now.
“Yes, brother. We’ve found one.” Terre lifted his chin, satisfaction flaring his nostrils.
The other Kurjan stepped closer to the glass. “I’m Dayne, leader of the Kurjan nation. Show me your marking.”
Words escaped her, so she stood tall, all the while wanting to curl into a ball behind Benny and make him wake up and deal with these assholes.
Dayne tilted his head to the side and smiled. At the sight, her legs almost gave out. Her breath shortened, and she allowed her lips to open slightly so she could breathe out of her mouth. He was oddly intriguing, definitely imposing, and with that smile, he should’ve been handsome.
But she saw beneath the surface—and the vision of who he really was chilled her flesh as if she’d been stuck in a freezer all day.
“She’s stronger than she looks,” Dayne said.
Terre nodded. “Definitely. I’ve known that for a while.”
Dayne slipped his hands in the pockets of his black pants. His shirt was a black cotton button down and showed a muscled chest. “You were right about the approach. Plus, you liked the undercover work.”
Terre laughed. “I really did. I think I have a new calling.”
They were joking around right in front of her? She’d never been dismissed or treated like nothing before, and a sputtering of anger percolated through her terror. But she had to find out what had happened to Adare. If she asked straight out, they