nearly black, from head to toe. Military-style stuff, except tight, to show off muscle and weapons, and solid-color matte, no camo. He stood beside me, one arm slipping around me, pulling me tight to him, not the gentle caress he gave my human shape, but a firm, almost demanding pressure. In combat boots he stood five and a half inches taller than me in my bare paws. I reached up and scruffed my knuckles across his beard. “Don’t get killed.”
“Don’t get killed,” he echoed.
Outside, I heard the sound of the helo. “Who’s guarding the inn?”
“Shaddock’s humans are guarding the children and Alex, who is well trained with firearms, thanks to his sessions on the range. Stop worrying.” He indicated the front lawn. “After you, my Dark Queen.”
* * *
* * *
This was the helo’s third trip into Asheville, which was possible only because the refurbished Bell Huey had new deicer systems on the rotors, couplings, windows, and pretty much every other part. A storm system slid along the mountain range, which always made the weather unpredictable, but Eli had kept a bored former military pilot on retainer to fly at a moment’s notice. The first two runs had brought in equipment and the support team. I had watched them take off from the parking lot at the inn, two of the heavily dressed bodies carrying long cases and gear bags that clanked, probably long-distance rifles or maybe that rocket launcher I had thought about, as well as equipment for accessing empty buildings and getting to the roofs. B and E stuff. I didn’t want to know. Even with the extra seats removed and multiple trips, the refurbished Vietnam-era Bell Huey could only carry a few people, so it wasn’t like we had many fighters on our side.
Kojo, Thema, Shaddock, Eli, and several of Shaddock’s humans with combat experience were already in place—people risking their lives and their undeaths trying to save my friend. For this trip, the seats had been put back in and the passengers were Molly, Big Evan, and me strapped into chairs, with Bruiser crouched down in the cargo section behind the seats. I had forgotten how horrible the vibration was. No ear protectors worked on my not-human-shaped head and the sound was deafening. Beast growled and complained the whole way. I ignored her.
The Huey jostled hard on landing. The empty parking lot on Hendersonville Road chosen by the pilot as landing site hadn’t been scraped and was still carpeted in many inches of white, the asphalt beneath deceptively lower. Fortunately or otherwise there were so many of us in the helo that we didn’t slam against anything hard enough to injure, though my teeth did clack together. We disembarked from both sides and sped away from the helicopter, through clouds of prop-dusted snow, good cover as we raced into the protection offered by a brick wall. Eli appeared out of the night, shouting over his comms systems. He asked how we were, filed away the answers, filled us in on who was where, and passed out headgear with mics and earbuds.
Mine didn’t fit. We had never tested for my higher-than-human cattish ears. Beast chuffed in amusement as Eli made a fix that included a part of a plastic spoon, some duct tape, and an extra shoelace. The shoestring tied under my chin, hidden in my pelt. It might have been a pretty cool idea except that the spoon was red and the duct tape was some special-order pink stuff. Not badass at all. But it worked and that would have to do. As he worked, the snow stopped and the city lights flickered, throwing us into snow-bright darkness. The earbud crackled. I adjusted the mouthpiece.
“Yellowrock, you copy?” Alex asked into the earbud.
“I copy.” The helo rotored out of sight. The city lights came back on, a dull yellow that slowly brightened.
“Listen up,” Eli said. “Everyone maintain prearranged positions unless fired upon. Thema at my ten. Kojo at six.” That made Kojo the best shot, and me the one who was being protected. A well-armed human woman appeared out of the weather and took her place at Kojo’s side.
My partner moved into point in a crouched run, in the glow of streetlights reflecting from the snow. The Regal’s entrance was ahead on the corner. Eli was dressed in his cold clothes but I could see him in Beast’s vision, weaponed up like a black-ops mercenary on a limitless budget. Which he was, I realized. Money for this