SEVEN MEN. SEVEN BULLETS. They fired nearly simultaneously.

Ulrick’s bullet hit Adam in the lower left side of his abdomen and turned his body enough that the second shot missed. The third and fourth went into Linx’s head and chest. Kill shots. The fifth went through Rym’s upper arm as he pushed Trel to the side. The sixth missed Karo completely. And the seventh grazed my temple, leaving a narrow furrow that weeps green blood down the side of my face.

Matt, the only one on our side who had a gun, drags Adam behind some boxes, then stands and return fire. Our attackers retreat, Ulrick giving us a mocking salute as he and his men turn the corner.

With Stella.

After a plaintive look from me, Trel shakes her head, presses her lips together, and redirects the Vi’askari to follow the escaping humans, so for now we remain undetected. But for how long?

Adam breathes in sharply as Karo presses a wad of fabric against the wound in his side. There is plenty of blood, but Karo appears to be hopeful about Adam’s chances—if we can get him to where his wound can be treated.

If any of us can get out of here at all.

“So, any more bright ideas? Any more of those helpful human friends of yours around?” Rym wheezes between clenched teeth as he clutches his arm, his eyes squeezed shut and a grimace on his face.

Matt scowls. “This isn’t a time to make jokes.”

Rym cracks open one eye. “I was shot. I believe I am entitled to do whatever the bloody hell I please if it makes me feel better. The alternative is to listen to me blather on about how much of an idiot your boss over there is. Your choice.”

Matt mumbles something under his breath and rolls his eyes.

With one of Adam’s arms around his shoulder, Karo assists the human into a standing position. Adam is pale, his features strained, but he is up and moving. “We need to get to the trucks before they take off with them,” he says. “There’s no way I can make it back to base on foot.”

“Back to base? Why in the hell would we go back there after what they just did?” asks Matt. “Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”

Adam rubs his temples with his free hand. “They have the child—”

“Stella. Her name is Stella,” I say sharply.

Jax’s father dips his chin in a nod. “They have Stella, but they have no way to ensure her safety outside the barrier. We—”

“They no longer have her,” says Trel. “Nor do they continue to live. My father’s guard has taken care of that.”

I lean back against the wall and slide down to sit with my knees bent in front of me. The urge to ask Trel how long it will be before the Vi’askari arrive here is strong. I ignore it.

A short, harsh laugh breaks free from my chest. Then another. And another. After all that, my hope once again crashes and burns. Jax is in danger and I am useless to her. Not only does Vitrad have Stella again, he knows we are up to something. He will never let his guard down. We will never succeed. And we are trapped.

Our plan to take Vitrad down with video footage was ludicrous. Some part of me had always known it would never work, but I had never considered an ending like this. If I am lucky, I will die here instead of being locked away in the dark again with only the kiun for light.

Yet… some of the disdain has left Trel’s face. She walks to her brother, rips a piece of her gown off, and wraps it around his arm. When she is done, he grips her fingers where they lie against his chest and squeezes gently. A silent communication passes between them. She nods and looks away.

Rym forces a pained smile onto his face and winks at me. “Why so glum, cuz? Don’t worry about that little flesh wound you have there. I’m under the impression girls like scars.”

It is perhaps one of the most ill-timed, idiotic statements he has ever made, but blazes does it make me chuckle. I must be losing my mind. My shoulders shake with laughter as I rest my forehead in one palm. It cannot be so bad if he can still make jokes. The thought restores a small bit of my hope, and with it comes determination. Giving up now, when I am so close to getting out of this city, away from my uncle, and reuniting with Jax… that would be not only foolish, but selfish as well. Everyone here has much to lose—too much for me to simply give in without a fight.

Rising to my feet, I turn to face Matt. “How far are your trucks?”

“They’re about a mile outside the barrier, hidden in the woods,” he says. He shifts his gaze to Adam, who is barely standing even with Karo’s help. “I don’t think they’re an option right now.”

He is correct. Adam can hardly stand, much less hike through the woods for any distance, but there has to be a way. There has to be something…

“The storage hangar,” I say softly. My eyes fly to Rym as a grin breaks across his face, a genuine one.

“Good thinking,” he says. “I should still have access from the… ‘adjustments’ I made when I went to pick up Jax.”

“How far?” Matt is still eyeing Adam.

“We will make it. Perhaps not quickly, but it can be done,” says Karo. He studies Trel. “Provided we do not run into any problems on the way.”

Trel’s gaze is directed downward. She bites at her lip and closes her eyes for a moment before raising them to meet mine, hesitancy written on her features. What did Rym say to her that has so defused her anger? “If you are intercepted, it will not be my doing,” she says.

“Come with us,” I reply. The words fly past my lips before I can stop them. She has been my friend for so long and I did not realize until this moment how much I have missed her. Rym and I have become close, joined in exile, and I am more than grateful for his friendship, but he cannot take the place of his sister, my last true link to Kov.

Trel shakes her head and rubs a hand over her stomach. “I cannot. I will look over Stella for you. Until you return. I do not agree with your actions, and I have yet to determine exactly how much of what you say is the truth, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. For Kov.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

A quick nod of acknowledgment, then she waves her hand in the direction of the door. “Now go.”

Adam shuffles forward, leaning heavily on Karo. He fumbles in the pocket of his jacket and pulls out the kitu he showed me earlier. “For Stella,” he says, holding it out to Trel. “I can’t guarantee it will work, but it’s worth a shot.”

She recoils, her mouth open in shock.

“No, no, no.” Adam waves his hand in front of his chest. “It was Tess’s. She gave it voluntarily. There’s another one, Lyn’s, hidden out at the cabin. I can bring it back for your baby.”

Trel’s eyes widen as she takes the kitu from his hand. She runs a finger over the metal and brings it closer to her face. “I thank you for your generosity,” she says softly.

Adam smiles. “It’s never been my intention to create conflict with your people. In fact, I’ve been actively working to avoid it. I have a great respect for your race, and I honestly believe if we worked together we’d be able to solve this problem without resorting to…” He trails off.

“Annihilating your race? I do not believe kidnapping was the best way to go about demonstrating your good intentions,” says Trel dryly.

“We didn’t have any other choice. If I didn’t get some results soon, my superiors were going to look into more permanent solutions. Explosive ones. They’d already sent a team out to take care of the human component of Jastren’s continued experiments.”

“The human component?” My brow furrows. He mentioned that Jastren had outside help, but who—

“Bridgelake,” says Matt. “Dane’s been trying to create hybrids of his own for the past few years. More recently, the past six months or so, he’s had help in the form of Jastren Reva. He’s been impregnating the girls with hybrids. First he marries them off either to old men or his cronies. The old men can’t… do the job, and his cronies know it’s hands off until the pregnancy has taken.”

“But Jax…”

“Doesn’t need the help. She’s already got the DNA. She just has to get pregnant. So he gave her to his son.”

I shake my head, stunned. If they had knowledge of what Dane was doing, does that also mean they know what he required of Jace, what Jace has done? Do they think him a lost cause? Is that why neither Adam nor Matt seemed concerned about where Jace was, only Jax? Has Jax unknowingly been in the company of more enemies than either of us realized?

“Did Flint know this?” I ask.

Matt shrugs. “I didn’t have much opportunity to talk to the guy. I was only undercover as a trader in the market for four months or so, and we didn’t exactly cross paths very often. I had…” He averts his eyes. “… other objectives in mind.”

“This is all very enlightening,” says Rym. “But shouldn’t we get moving? The storage hangar may not be far, but our luck is bound to run out eventually, and I wouldn’t like to press it.” He turns to his sister and pulls her into his arms. “Take care of yourself and my little niece or nephew in there.”

Her lips turn up in a small smile and she nods. “Farewell and good journey.” Her eyes travel the room and land on me. “To all of you.”

Matt slings Adam’s other arm over his shoulder and he and Karo assist the older man to the door. Rym follows. I pause and wave goodbye to Trel before moving to catch up with them.

Progress is slow, but thankfully the area is still quiet and there is no one for us to run into. This time, Rym takes the lead and we are a bit more subtle about it. We slink along the sides of buildings and dart across streets. Well, as much as Adam is able to “dart.”

Once the storage hangar is in sight, I breathe a small sigh of relief. We are going to make it. But as soon as the thought passes through my mind, I promptly collide with Rym’s back. He has stopped at the corner of the last building before the storage hangar. He flattens himself against the wall and leans sideways to see past the edge.

“What—”

“Shhhh!” He jerks his head back and pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “There are four askari at the next cross street. I am not certain what their purpose is, but it will not be simple to get past them undetected,” he whispers.

“Vi’askari?” If my uncle is here… another plan might be in order.

“No. They—”

“What’s the holdup?” Matt says under his breath.

Adam has gotten paler with each block we traversed, and now he is barely holding any of his own weight. Matt is red-faced and breathing heavily, but Karo only looks slightly winded. Still, they cannot carry Adam much farther, and they certainly cannot carry him into any sort of fight. Yet there is no time to think of another plan. We have to find a way to get into the storage hangar.

“We have run into a bit of an issue.” Rym looks to me. “Ideas?”

“Besides trying to talk them into letting us through?” I say. “No. I was raised to be a diplomat, not a fighter.”

Matt snorts. So does Rym. I glare at both of them. “Whether or not I am capable of forcing my way through them does not much matter when between the five of us we have only one weapon.”

“Two,” says Karo. “I have the pulse stick.”

“I’ve got a knife too,” says Matt. “Either one of you have any experience with knives?”

My fingers trace the thin scar on my left forearm. Experience? Yes. Of the type he is referring to? No. But perhaps…

“I have observed Jax with a knife. I may be able to draw on her knowledge through the bond.”

Adam’s head jerks up. “The bond? What bond? Are you saying—”

“That she is my bondmate? Yes. Well, at least that the bond is currently in place.” I shake my head. “It is complicated.”

“You can say that again.” Rym muffles his laugh with his hand.

“Jesus Christ, do you purposely pick the worst possible time for jokes?” asks Matt with an exasperated huff.

“What can I say? It’s a gift,” says Rym in a droll monotone.

Matt rolls his eyes. “Well, funny man, why don’t you go out there and use your ‘gift’ to make them laugh themselves to death.”

“See, makes you feel better, yeah?” Rym grins.

Matt tilts his face up and takes a deep breath.

There are many potential paths we could take, and the possibilities rush through my mind. Most are discarded, but I land on one that is promising. “I am uncertain how feasible it is that I would be able to use the bond to become proficient with a knife in the time that we have. As it is, due to Jax’s unique heritage, it can be quite difficult for me to navigate the connection at all, much less easily access the information I would need. There are only four of them. The gun and the pulse stick may suffice.” I run one hand through my hair. “Karo goes out first. They will not be suspicious of him and he should be able to get close enough to disable one of them with the pulse stick. Matt, you stay here. Once one of them has been disabled, shoot, but only to wound. They are simply doing their jobs and need not die for that. Rym and I will take Adam down one block and cut across the street while they are distracted by you and Karo.”

Matt looks off to the side for a moment, thinking. “That sounds good. But you should take the knife with you in case one of them gets past us.” He pulls a blade from a sheath in his boot and hands it to me, handle first. “If someone gets close enough for you to use this, don’t go for the chest. You’ll probably hit a rib. Neck. Stomach. Armpit. Those are the spots to go for.”

Stomach… I wince. Was Jax able to complete the cut I started? Was she forced to watch her friend’s lifeblood drain out around him? Has she recovered enough to know she needs to get out of Bridgelake, or is she still huddled in Dane’s office where I cannot reach her? I am coming, Jax. Please do not lose hope yet.