Three weeks later (mid-April)
Munich, Germany
It was difficult to get anywhere near Margaret Lancaster. During the day, there was always at least one werewolf stalking her. At night, two vampires. The supes were well trained, and it seemed that Margaret had no idea she was under constant surveillance.
As soon as they’d spotted her twenty-four-hour guard from The Garm, Kiyo wanted to bail.
But as Niamh patiently explained to him, this was their current mission.
Margaret was a chess piece. She might not be the king or queen. Really, she was a lowly pawn … but a central one, and she needed to be moved to further the game.
So they’d gone to London where they found her and discovered she was under surveillance, which only signified Niamh’s vision was on point. Niamh had to travel into the financial building Margaret worked in on Canary Wharf to get a surveillance shot without drawing The Garm’s attention.
At forty-eight years old, Margaret Lancaster was still a very beautiful woman. And she was the spitting image of her daughter.
From there, Niamh had broken into the personnel department of Margaret’s company and stolen copies of her personal information. She and Kiyo had used it to track down photographs of her dead boyfriend, his medical files, and the death certificate for the daughter who had been stolen from them. During their own surveillance of the woman, Kiyo had discovered she visited a therapist every week. Niamh decided to break into the therapist’s office and steal copies of that file too. It wasn’t right for Niamh to look through it, but her daughter might be interested in what was in the file.
Information in hand, they’d finally arrived in Munich.
Much to Kiyo’s disgruntlement.
Munich was the new headquarters for The Garm. Probably Niamh’s most dangerous enemy since the Blackwoods didn’t want to kill her, but The Garm most certainly did.
However, Echo Payne, the adopted daughter of William “the Bloody” Payne, new leader of The Garm, was about to become an important player for the fae-borne. She was raised as William’s adopted human daughter until she was twenty years old, and then he’d turned her into a vampire. In human years, she was twenty-six—a newbie vampire in the grand scheme of things—but rumor had it she was powerful and intelligent. She’d also been raised by William to fear the fae-borne and to treat them as the enemy.
Now that just won’t do, Niamh thought to herself as she and Kiyo stalked through the streets of Munich at dawn.
Kiyo bristled at her side with heavy tension, his ears pricked, his gaze swinging from side to side.
“This way.” Niamh gestured to an apartment building two streets over from Echo’s. Kiyo followed at her back, watching it for her, as she used her magic to break into the building. Following the stairwell up to the very top, she unlocked the door to the roof and they strode out into a rooftop garden. “Ooh, I like this. What a grand idea.”
“Niamh,” Kiyo bit out impatiently. “Focus.”
“I am. I’m just saying, those tomatoes look amazing. Ooh, and look at all these potted herbs.”
“Keep walking.”
“I’m walking,” she threw over her shoulder. “Bossy bastard.” Then she turned back around.
“I heard that.”
“You were meant to.”
“Did it ever occur to you that as I am an actual illegitimate child, I might take offense to the word?”
Niamh rolled her eyes, even though he couldn’t see her. She suddenly ran, leaping across the small gap between buildings. She landed silently on the next building and heard Kiyo land behind her, almost as quietly. “No,” she answered as they continued across its lackluster, bare rooftop. “The only thing you take offense to is me wearing clothes.”
At his lack of response, she glanced over her shoulder.
“I can’t argue with that.” His nostrils flared and he grabbed for her, pulling her down beside him in a crouch.
What is it?
Kiyo murmured close to her ear. “I smell wolves.”
“Guards?”
He nodded.
Niamh searched the roofline ahead of them and across the street. “I don’t see anyone.”
“Look down. White van with a satellite dish.”
Glimpsing it down on the way, Niamh sighed. Echo’s apartment was at the other end of the street, so the van wasn’t in sight of her place. Were they guarding Echo or surveilling her?
Clutching the satchel filled with the info she needed to deliver to the vampire, Niamh turned to her mate. “I want you to stay here. I’m going to travel into Echo’s apartment.”
Kiyo shook his head and hissed, “No. You have no idea from this vantage point what room she’s in or how many supes are in that apartment with her. Never mind the fact that they’re clearly listening in.”
“Well, I could mess with their equipment but that might bring them to her apartment to check on things,” she mused. “I guess I’ll just have to be really quiet.”
“Niamh.”
“Kiyo.” She held his eyes, her expression deadly serious. “This is too important. This affects Elijah.”
“Or we could just warn Elijah about her and be done with it.”
Niamh grimaced. “You know that’s not the point. They need to meet, and she has to learn to trust him. Without this”—she patted the satchel—“she’s just another one of William’s puppets.”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kiyo gave her a sharp nod. “You better be back here in five minutes. Five minutes. I’m counting. Or I’m coming for you.”
After pressing a swift kiss of reassurance to his lips, Niamh concentrated on the thought of Echo’s apartment and everything went black for a moment before the world blurred back into focus.
The blackness barely lifted, however, as she found herself standing in the middle of a large sitting room with tall windows fitted with state-of-the-art blackout blinds. Niamh’s eyes adjusted to the dark and she spun around, looking for a doorway. It was behind her. The best thing to do, since it would force Echo to look, was to empty the contents of the satchel across the vamp’s bed. Niamh took a step toward the door but was halted by the shadowy appearance of a female.
Eyes flashed silver in the dark.
Artificial light filled the room as the ceiling spotlights flooded on.
A beautiful blond with pale skin stood in the doorway wearing nothing but oyster-pink silk shorts with scalloped lace edging and a matching cropped camisole. Her arms were relaxed at her sides but in her right hand, she clutched a handgun and in her left, a dagger.
Niamh knew vamps had good hearing, but how the hell had she been alerted to her presence so quickly?
As if reading her mind, Echo Payne replied in an accent borne from living in Canada most of her life, “Silent motion-detector alarm.”
With a discreet flick of her wrist, Niamh created a soundproof bubble around the room so the feckers listening out in their van wouldn’t hear their conversation. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I hate to tell you this, witch, but I’m a vampire. I’m not the one who should be worried right now. What did you just do? I felt magic.”
Niamh raised her arms in a surrender gesture. “I just made it impossible for the members of The Garm sitting in their surveillance van down the street to hear what we’re saying.”
Echo smirked, her green eyes like icy chips. “You think I don’t know my apartment is bugged?”
“I don’t think they know you know.”
“Who are you?” The vampire raised her gun to point it at Niamh.
“I’m a friend.”
“I don’t need a friend.”
“Then think of me as a friendly messenger.” Niamh counted the minutes in her head, and worry made her tense. If she didn’t get out of there very soon, Kiyo would come crashing in. “The message is in my satchel. May I open it?”
“You may not.” Echo pulled back the safety on her gun.
Done with taking the slow route, Niamh thought of the documents, the air around her tingled with magic, and then they scattered at Echo’s feet.
She cursed, jumping back, her attention fixed on the pile that included the photographs of her supposedly dead mother, the therapy session notes, and the medical records that described her dead father’s fatal injuries. The most important aspect of which was the puncture wounds in his neck and the fact that his body had been drained of blood.
Satisfied she had Echo’s attention where it should be, Niamh traveled back to the rooftop.
Only to find Kiyo fighting three werewolves.
Anger burned through Niamh as the wolves crowded Kiyo into a tight circle that didn’t allow him space to fight off their hits with much success. Just as she moved to approach, her mate let out a grunt of fury. He jabbed his fist upward, a flash of silver held within it, through the chest of one of the wolves.
Niamh sent magic across the rooftop, the energy hitting the other two wolves’ carotids. They slumped and collapsed on top of each other as Kiyo stumbled back. He had a cut on his lip but otherwise seemed fine. The silver dagger with its protective leather hilt was clasped in his hand, the tip smeared in blood. He’d started carrying the blade since they’d arrived in Munich.
His expression was grim. “We have to go. More will be coming.”
“Okay.” She held out her hand. “We’ll travel.”
He gave her a hard look. “They’ve seen my face—and yours. If they were anyone else but The Garm …”
Understanding what he meant, Niamh’s stomach knotted with indecision. Had it just been about her and Kiyo, she would’ve let the wolves live. But no one could know what she’d delivered to Echo. Her visions led her to believe that Echo would keep her brief visit a secret from The Garm. If these guards told William, there would be too many questions.
“Where did they come from?”
“The white van. They must be surveilling the rooftops. But they probably sent communication for backup.”
Indecision and guilt pricked her as she said, torn, “No one can know about Echo.”
Kiyo was a blur of movement, sticking the silver through the other wolves’ hearts while they laid unconscious. Once that was done, he hurried to Niamh’s side. “Decision taken out of your hands. Let’s go.” He wrapped his arms around her and then they were traveling.
They popped into the grubby motel room as far away from Echo’s apartment as her gift would allow. Avoiding the station and airport, which was under heavy guard from The Garm, they’d driven into Munich—and they’d have to drive out. Niamh had naively hoped they’d finish their mission without any casualties.
Now she felt guilty that Kiyo had had to make that decision. “I—”
Kiyo took her face in his hands and pressed a comforting kiss to her lips. “Don’t say you’re sorry. We’re in a war, Komorebi,” he reminded her. “You have your job and I have mine. If I can save you from those hard decisions, I will. I don’t regret it. I keep you safe while you do what you do. I’m good with that. Okay?”
She nodded, leaning her temple against his, her love for him overwhelming.
“Did you get the files to Echo?”
Niamh stiffened. “She caught me.”
He pushed her away, a flare of fear passing across his eyes. “She saw your face?”
“Don’t worry,” Niamh assured him. “She won’t tell anyone about meeting me. Not after she’s looked through those files and put two and two together.”
Her mate didn’t argue. With a faith in her that Niamh had come to crave as much as his love, Kiyo accepted her word. “Where to next? The States?”
Niamh shook her head. “Elijah doesn’t need me. Not yet, at least. No. I have somewhere I want to take you. But it’s a surprise.”