Masked By Danger by Christa Wick

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Not alone"was an understatement Cade thought as he low crawled along the rear exterior wall of the Lackawanna Founders' Museum.

Unable to turn back on the highway, he had pushed his team into Scranton, driving silently with the lights out through residential neighborhoods, looping slow circles, creeping along, parking for minutes at a time where they couldn't be seen.

Waiting for an enemy that never presented itself.

With only Esme sensing the presence of Hunters, Cade decided to proceed with the mission. He took Remus and Tanner into the museum, leaving Iris and Navarro in the van to protect the witch and act as lookout.

With a charm from Esme, the museum's security system was easily put out of commission. Locating the desk and secret panel, the papers still inside, proved even less challenging.

Everything was smooth as silk until they exited the building with Tanner running point.

A silver shrapnel grenade landed two feet in front of the team.

Cade knew he should be dead. Tanner, too. But they weren't because of Remus.

The man whose neck he had almost snapped earlier cast one apologetic glance over his shoulder then threw himself forward and down. The explosion lifted his body two feet off the ground before scattering it in pieces in a circle almost fifteen yards in diameter.

Witch light erupted a second later, missing Cade and Tanner but herding them away from the van where Navarro waited with the women. Cade dragged a stunned Tanner back into the museum, purposefully tripping the alarm system.

Cade figured in a town of less than a hundred-thousand people, in the pre-dawn hours, the police would be there in just a few minutes. That was all the time he had to reach the van, save his mate, and evade the cops.

But it was also all the time the Hunters had.

It took twenty seconds for Cade to reach the rear exit, five to push his wolf outside in search of the enemy, another second to open the door and pull Tanner with him, growling at the old wolf to keep his fucking head down because he did not have permission to die on Cade's mission.

No one else was allowed to die unless they were Hunters.

He and Tanner took another fifteen seconds to reach the end of the wall, two to hit the tree line, then another three before the van was fully in view.

Seeing the side door open, the interior pitch black, Cade's heart sank.

Then another bolt of witch light almost took his head off.

"There!" Tanner whispered urgently as he tapped Cade's right shoulder.

Turning his head, Cade saw a blue tactical van, three men and a woman sheltering behind it.

The woman was Camille Stone. And, if Cade had to guess, he would say the black-haired man beside her was Quentin. But no Navarro, no Esme, and no Iris.

The question of where his mate had disappeared to was answered a second later as twin blasts of opposing magic hit the blue van. Taking cover behind a heavy dumpster, Iris and Esme unleashed on their attackers.

Crouching next to the witch, Navarro aimed a high-powered rifle a few feet to the right of the van.

He fired. The bullet hit a fourth man previously unnoticed by Cade or Tanner as he returned from the direction of the museum. The back of the Hunter's head exploded, the momentum of the bullet forcing him backward where he fell into the bushes through which he had just low crawled.

Sirens pricked Cade's ears, their faint wail telling him his team had maybe two minutes left. He pushed his wolf at Iris, capturing her attention.

He felt a flood of relief and joy burst from her.

His own relief was equally potent. Cautioning her back then, his hand did a small twirl with the index finger extended, focusing her thoughts on the sirens.

Next to him, Tanner started to crawl forward. Cade grabbed his collar. Tanner tried to shrug it off.

"Let me draw their fire," the older wolf pleaded.

"You will damn well hold position until I tell you to move!" Cade snarled, his grip on Tanner's shirt unrelenting. "Remus didn't die so you could turn around and commit suicide."

Cade gave another push of his wolf, this time at Navarro. The younger man's reaction was only slightly less exuberant than Iris's had been at discovering him alive. Cade grinned at the young shifter despite the dire circumstances.

Discreetly gesturing to Navarro that he should turn his rifle on the men hiding next to the blue van, Cade released his hold on Tanner.

"Go," he whispered.

Tanner moved forward. One of the Hunters, his gaze locked on Tanner, pulled a pin on another silver shrapnel grenade. He missed noticing the rifle pointed in his direction as he pulled away from the van to throw the grenade.

Navarro's bullet tore through his eye socket. The pin dropped from the dead man's hand and then the grenade fell next to it.

The explosion took out the Hunter standing next to him, nothing remaining of either man but meaty red splotches on the van and ground. Quentin staggered toward Camille. Blood seeped from his chest from the grenade's shrapnel.

Half falling, he lunged toward the old witch. His hands found the sides of her face. He yanked her close, his mouth opening, sucking at air until blue light flowed from the woman into his body and he started to heal.

Another bolt of magic erupted from the dumpster and then Esme ran toward her mother. Quentin hesitated a second, his mind calculating the chance of catching the young witch and draining her before escaping.

Another bullet from Navarro ricocheted off the vehicle, changing the man's mind.

Or maybe it was the sirens and the barely detectable flash of blue and red as the first police cruiser turned onto the street that made Quentin run. Cade didn't care. Tossing the bag with the papers to Tanner, he screamed for the rest of his team to get into their vehicle.

Not waiting to see if they obeyed, he raced toward Camille, hoping to intercept her before she could harm Esme or Iris. The woman raised her hand. The blue glow at the end of her fingertips told Cade that Quentin hadn't consumed all of the witch's magic.

He only hoped she didn't have enough left to fry his ass at such close distance.

Red fur flashed in front of him, and then three of Camille's fingers disappeared down the throat of the loveliest, deadliest she-wolf he could ever imagine.

The van, with Navarro driving, screeched to a halt beside the old woman. Iris jumped in next to Esme and Tanner, turned swiftly and clamped her jaws on Camille's shoulder as Cade lifted the traitorous witch toward the van.

Cade slammed the van door shut.

Navarro hit the gas and what was left of the team got the hell out of Scranton.