Gravity (36 page)

names have been floating around among his pride; Leo called and passed along the warning. He

said to lay low until they sort this shit out.”

“Is she okay?” Adam demanded again as they detoured out a side door that spilled into an

alley.

“Leo’s going to check it out.”

“Where are they?”

“With all the ears around us? I’d rather not say, brother. It’s just like old times, except now I

got something worth living for, and that makes me dangerous. You can stay at our place in the

spare bedroom and if they come for us, I got your back. Let’s roll.”

They crossed the parking lot in large strides, moving toward Knox’s Jeep Commander. Sunny

unbuckled her belt, getting ready to move into the back to let Adam ride shotgun. Her face looked

distressed and Knox spun around unexpectedly. Without saying a word, he pulled a knife from a

holster. “Something ain’t right.”

It sure as hell wasn’t right. Adam could feel the surge in Mage energy and he sharpened his

light, scanning the parking lot.

“Lock the doors!” Knox shouted at Sunny.

Adam’s heart was a drum in a marching band. They stood back to back, just like old times. But

Knox was at a disadvantage, being human.

“Remember that time in Mexico?” he said with a chuckle.

Adam’s eyes were alert. “I said to never bring that up again. Feel me?”

Knox turned his head, scoping the parking lot. “Yeah, what the fuck ever. Stripping down to

distract the opponent was the classiest thing I ever saw. God, you were so green.”

“I was also drunk on a bottle of Cuervo.”

“Well, well,” a voice said from the right. A figure emerged from the dark shadows and he was a

short man with thin hair and round glasses. “You must be Adam, Knox… and of course, the lovely

Sunny.” He glanced in her direction.

Knox stiffened, looking over Adam’s shoulder as he kept his back pressed tightly to prevent

someone approaching from behind.

The man used his finger to push his glasses up, strolling along as if he didn’t have a care in the

world.

“Do I know you?” Adam asked.

“You probably should know the name of the man who’s going to flip your world off its axis,” he

said with an apologetic voice. “I’m Nero.”

“Fucking hell,” Knox muttered.

Adam scraped him up and down with a single glance. Nero had an imperious demeanor, but his

looks were anything but. He was nothing more than a lean scrap of a man with thinning hair,

glasses, and a medallion around his neck. He had a sharp nose and looked more like a taxman

than a mastermind.

“So you’re the big cheese, huh?” Adam sniffed out a laugh, keeping his light as sharp as it

could possibly get.

“Let me quash any notion that I have a personal interest in Silver,” Nero said, rolling a

toothpick around in his mouth. “Her light is very special, but she’s caused me more than enough

trouble. Tarek in a leadership role would have made me privy to inside information. That was a

tremendous opportunity; do you know how hard it is to buy a good Chitah? Even Logan pissed on

my doorstep,” he said, scrunching his face. “But I had Tarek in my pocket. When you buy loyalty

from a man like him, you have a stronger army.” With each step, Nero made a point. “I had

connections, access to private information, and my own enemy doing my dirty work. Chitahs can

track, they’re determined, ruthless, and are walking weapons to our kind with those revolting

fangs.”

“I hear golden retrievers are loyal,” Adam mocked.

Nero’s mouth twisted into an angry smile. “I was going to take her off Tarek’s hands eventually.

Her light is strong and I want that power, but this is the second time she’s severed one of my

connections. Merc was the only one I knew who could pull core light, and I had just acquired an

Infuser. I plan to pull some of that savory light from my guests and infuse it to my own. Now Merc

is gone and I have to find a replacement.”

“Bummer,” Adam said unapologetically, stealing glimpses of the parking lot. What Nero said

was of no consequence; their situation was. What were the odds this man was alone? Looking at

his size, Adam could take him down for sure. But that was contingent on any rare gifts he might

have. This was a man with an agenda and Adam’s senses were fully alert. A Mage couldn’t use

their basic powers against another Mage because it would only juice them up. Therefore, it was

always hand-to-hand combat using whatever skills they possessed in fighting, and techniques in

movement using their abilities.

Nero didn’t look like much of a fighter.

“Yes, quite a… bummer. On top of that, I’m on the list of outlaws. All this because of that

repugnant woman. Do you know how Tarek won her over?” Nero chuckled and stuffed his hands

into the pockets of his beige slacks. “Quite clever, actually.” He nodded a few times and turned on

his heel. “Quite.”

Nero flashed away and Knox pressed against Adam’s back. “Is he gone?”

“Yeah,” Adam said skeptically. “Eyes alert.”

They simultaneously walked toward the truck while keeping their backs to each other and their

eyes on their surroundings. Laughter could be heard coming from the bar, and an angelic voice

briefly floated on the wind like a haunting dream as the door opened and closed in the distance.

Their boots crunched on the pavement and Adam reached into the lining of his coat, pulling

out a stunner—a dagger that could paralyze a Mage. Hopefully, it wouldn’t have to be used. But

he didn’t have a good feeling about this. Nero wouldn’t just unload that kind of information and

walk off.

Adam sent a text to Novis that simply said:

Nrthn Lights. Trouble.

Probably misspelled because Adam didn’t look down. They were still a good ways from Knox’s

Jeep and while he could flash to the car, Knox couldn’t.

So they walked together. Slow and steady.

Adam saw a glimmer of a blade cutting through the air as a Mage flashed at him from the left.

“Get low!” he shouted at Knox, ducking before the dagger made contact.

Knox engaged, sweeping out his leg and tripping up their attacker. The Mage rolled over as

Knox tried to stomp on his wrist to release his grip on the dagger.

Adam briefly flicked his eyes around, but the man was alone.

The Mage hopped up, dusting off his bare arms. Adam’s coat restricted his movements, but it

offered protection against the cut of a blade.

“Cover me,” Adam said, and Knox stepped back.

Adam sliced his blade in a series of patterns, but the Mage blocked the maneuver, throwing out

a fist and clipping him in the jaw. He swiped the blade low at the Mage’s belly, forcing him to hop

back. They went into a series of expert moves that looked like something out of an action-packed

espionage movie.

It wasn’t Adam’s first knife fight.

His blade sliced the Mage in the leg and he yelled out, flashing away before Adam could twist it

in and take him down. It was times like these that being scarred worked to his advantage. The

Mage eyed him apprehensively; uncertain what kind of man Adam was and how dirty he was

willing to fight. Adam must have looked scary as hell with his black-handled dagger and fire in his

eyes.

Knox stepped to the left and rushed the Mage, but the man flashed toward him unexpectedly.

Adam’s buddy had tactical skills in the bag. It’s what he did for a living. The Mage may have been

fast, but Knox could anticipate the move of an epileptic fly caught in a hurricane.

Knox dropped on one knee and stabbed the Mage in the back of his leg. The man shouted and

jerked his leg so hard the knife tumbled on the concrete. Knox dropped low and kicked him in the

knees from the side. The Mage folded like a piece of paper and hit the ground.

Lifting the infused dagger, Knox shoved it to the hilt in the attacker’s thigh and clamped his

hand firmly around his throat.

“What do you want to do with him, Razor?” he said in that familiar voice, the one that declared

he was willing to finish the job.

“Fuck it. Do him in; you need the knife!” Adam shouted as three men emerged from the

shadows and closed in from different angles. Two against four—they had faced those odds before,

just not with Breed.

Adam made an unexpected move that startled the Mage in the red coat.

He attacked.

Adam didn’t play defense like they had expected. He flashed toward him and plunged his

stunner into the Mage’s chest, taking him down and finishing the job.

The second Mage wasn’t armed and attacked from behind, kicking Adam in the back of his

knees. He fell, flipped over, and immediately hopped to his feet. With a clean swipe, Adam sliced

the man across the chest.

“Fuck!” the Mage growled, holding his hand across his heart. “You’re going to pay for that.” He

had a full beard and the darkest eyes Adam had seen next to a Vampire or a serial killer.

Adam caught sight of Knox, who spat curses at a Mage with long dreadlocks. He gripped his

dagger and stalked forward fearlessly.

Adam’s heart hammered against his chest, his back ached, but adrenaline kept him focused

and alert. The Mage circled around him, grimacing from the fresh blood pooling on his shirt. Adam

swiped his blade again and the bearded Mage spun around and flashed behind him. This one was

bigger and stronger than Adam, so his punches hurt like hell.

Especially the one that rammed against the side of his head.

Flashes of light filled Adam’s vision and he was off-kilter, stumbling to his left as he sliced with

his blade, keeping the Mage at bay. His attacker picked up on his disorientation and weaved left

and right, making Adam dizzy.

Meanwhile, Knox was kicking ass and taking names across the lot.

That’s when it happened.

The Mage came up from behind, and in a quick motion, grabbed Adam’s wrist and plunged the

dagger into his chest.

Adam had felt the power of a stunner before; Novis expected him to understand and

experience all the weapons that could be used against him. It worked immediately like a numbing

agent and all feeling evaporated as he hit the ground, landing on his left side.

“Piece of shit,” the Mage muttered, kicking him in the back. Then he stooped down and patted

Adam on the cheek. “I was given instructions not to kill you, although I’m having serious second

thoughts at the moment. You’re just supposed to watch; so I hope you enjoy the show.”

Adam watched in horror as the bearded man stalked toward Knox, who was holding his own

against the Mage with dreadlocks, getting in a few clean breaks with his fist. Somewhere along the

line, Breed magic was put aside and these were just two men using their fists to solve problems.

But Adam’s bearded attacker had a different agenda.

His heart sped up when the Mage flashed toward Knox’s Jeep, pulling on the door handles.

Adam couldn’t yell out. He couldn’t even feel his own heart, which he knew raced out of control.

Suddenly, the Mage smashed the window with his fist.

Sunny’s eyes widened and she scrambled to the other side of the Jeep to escape. The door

swung open and she stumbled out, running.

He flashed up from behind and grabbed Sunny’s blond waves of hair, yanking her back so hard

that she screamed and her purple scarf tumbled to the ground.

Adam used every ounce of will to move his hand—to somehow reach for the knife and pull it

from his chest. He thought he felt his pinky finger move, but the magic was too strong. His

stomach turned, fearing what he was about to witness.

“Take your hands off her!” Knox roared.

And then he transformed into a mountain of fury, striking the Mage he fought against with

such precision you would have thought he was one of them.

A blood-curdling scream poured out of Sunny as the Mage threw her to the ground and

prepared to juice her light.

Christ, Adam couldn’t bear the thought. Memories of his sister’s death came back, and now he

was forced to watch helplessly as Sunny was slain in front of him. She kicked her legs and the

sound of her snow boots knocking against the concrete broke his heart.

The scumbag pinned her hands to the ground, struggling to remove her purple mittens. Sunny

fought wildly, thrashing about and screaming as he straddled her. The wind picked up her scarf

and it floated on the air, tangling around a light pole.

Knox’s eyes were on Sunny but he wasn’t able to get to her because of the Mage that circled

around him. In a quick motion, he grabbed the dagger at his feet and threw it at his attacker. The

blade plunged into his gut and he fell like a bag of concrete.

Leaving Knox unarmed.

Knox could have finished off the Mage to gain the advantage of a weapon, but he didn’t have a

second to spare. Sunny’s body grew lax and her screams waned as the life drained from her.

Knox charged at them from the side.

The Mage rose to his feet as Sunny lay helpless on the ground. She was still alive, and while