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.Robin’s lack of sight clearly didn’t impact his ability to kick ass.About one-third of the congregation was still seated; the other two-thirds were fighting one another in whatever snug space they could find.“Quite a conference,” I muttered, then positioned my body for round two.The second wave of attackers had seen us best the first wave, so their faces weren’t nearly as confident.But they bore the grim, determined expressions of believers—they didn’t care if they won or not; this fight was about principle.They were also smarter fighters; they’d waited to see the infantry move, and they knew how we fought.At least I got to use my sword for this round.The first shifter was a woman, a petite thing with permed hair and curvy, Gothic daggers in her hands.She was nimble with her steel and good at defending my slashes.But she didn’t strike out; her moves were all defensive.That meant—at least I assumed—that she’d tire out before I did.But there was no sense in delaying the inevitable.When she nicked me on the forearm, I put the final plan in motion.I slashed forward, rearranging our positions so that she stood a few feet in front of the first pew, her back to the seat.A sideways kick to her torso threw her back against the bench.She hit the pew and slumped, hitting the ground, still upright, head forward as if in midnap.“Behind you!” Fallon yelled.I dropped down and heard the whoosh of a kick fly over my head.I rolled and kicked both legs out toward the shifter behind me.I wasn’t close enough for a full-contact shot, so he stumbled backward before regaining his balance and coming at me again.Fallon, finished with her cluster of traitors, used one hand to tuck long curls behind her ear, then delicately stuck out a booted foot.The man tripped and went sprawling, arms pin-wheeling as he hit the ground.Fallon nudged him on his back, then put a boot on his neck until he passed out from lack of oxygen.Hands on her hips, she glanced up at me.“I appreciate the help,” I told her.“Anytime.You’re good.”“So are you,” I said, with a smile, thinking Jeff definitely had his hands full.The sanctuary was a mess.A couple of pews were broken.Candles were overturned, spilling wax onto the floor, and there were bullet holes in the marble columns.The violent shifters had been hauled into mostly unconscious piles, ready for their punishments.I wiped down my katana with the edge of my tank, then slid it back into its scabbard.It deserved a better cleaning, but that would have to wait until we were safe at home again.I scanned the crowd and found Jeff and Fallon in a corner.They chatted, their bodies close, their body language speaking of mutual concern.and mutual interest.Jeff looked up and over.“You okay?” I mouthed.He gave me a thumbs-up before turning back to Fallon.I’d all but lost him, I thought with a grin.But who better to keep Jeff busy—and smiling—than the gorgeous, dagger-wielding heir to the North American Central Pack?Jeff secure, I moved back to the podium to check in with the bodyguards.Ethan, Adam, and Gabriel sat in the choir stalls.Ethan met my gaze and nodded—an employer satisfied with the effort of his employee.Unfortunately, this time it was Gabriel who’d taken a hit—a shot in his left bicep.Adam attended to it, wrapping what looked like an altar cloth around the wound to staunch the bleeding.Gabriel glanced up at me.“So,” he said, a hint of a smile at his lips, “I guess we’re staying.”“That’s what I hear,” I said, then adopted a schoolteacher tone.“I’m really going to need to see some better behavior out of your children.”He smiled grandly.“I do enjoy your smartassery, Kitten.”I nodded at the compliment, then looked to Ethan.“You okay?”“Quite.You and Fallon made a good team.”“Don’t give them ideas,” Gabriel muttered, then slid Adam a narrowed gaze.“Could you possibly make that tighter?”Adam gave him a grunty smile as he tied off the make-do bandage.“I was taught by a certain big brother not to half-ass things.”“Yeah, and look how well that turned out for me,” Gabriel said ruefully, surveying the sanctuary.“We’ve half destroyed a church.Although the damage still isn’t as bad as the ninety-two ConPack.”“Or ninety-four,” Adam added with a wicked smile.He rubbed a hand across his stomach.“Ninety-four was a wild ride.”Gabriel gave a gravelly chuckle, then knocked knuckles with his brother.“True, true.”“What’ll happen to the fighters?” I asked.Gabriel stood, cradling his arm.“We’ll have a little discussion about Pack behavior and what it means to abide by Pack rules.”“They try to take you out, and they just get a discussion?” I wondered aloud.Gabriel gave me a sardonic look.“I don’t mean ‘discussion’ literally.”“Will you punish them the same?” Ethan asked.“I mean, those who set up the hit and those who actually tried to take you out?”Gabe muttered something I didn’t catch.Given his tone, I assumed it was unflattering about vampires.“We don’t just line them up and start shooting, Sullivan.There are degrees of culpability, just like in the human world.As for convocation, the decision’s been made.Irrespective of the contract or the hit, they voted the way they voted, and the Packs will stay.” He glanced over at Ethan.“The things we discussed—about friendship?—my people are too wired for that right now.Maybe in the future, maybe never, but certainly not right now.”Ethan did a good job of maintaining his composure in the face of Gabriel’s rejection, but I knew he was cursing inside.He’d practically bet the House—or at least his Sentinel—on the possibility of an alliance between Cadogan and the Pack.“Understood,” Ethan said, “but the contract wasn’t fulfilled.You’re still alive.That means there’s still a possibility someone will take a shot.”Gabriel shook his head.“Pack leadership passes through the family.So if something happens to me, Fallon becomes Apex, then Eli, and so on down to Ben and Adam.The only reason to try to take me out would have been to influence the vote.But the die’s been cast, so there’s no chance of that now.” He shrugged.“By my math, I’m off the hook.”I wasn’t sure if I bought Gabriel’s theory, especially since the violence had erupted after the vote was counted, but I understood the urge to move on and clear the vampires out of his belfry.Besides, we couldn’t guard him twenty-four hours a day.We barely had staff enough to cover our own House.Gabe held out his uninjured hand to Ethan.“Thank you again for your help.Your Sentinel does good work.”They shook hands.“That she does,” Ethan said.“Might be time to think about that raise.”“Don’t push your luck, Sentinel.”A girl had to try
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Tematy
IndexCidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Christine Wood [Life Plan 01] A Life Plan Without You (epub)
Cheryl McIntyre [Infinitely Infinitely (epub)
Clair Delaney [Coral 01] Coral (epub)
Christine Cody [Bloodlands 01 Bloodlands (epub)
Christina Ross [Unleash Me, A Unleash Me, Vol 3 (epub)
Christine Flynn [The Hunt for Once Upon a Christmas Eve (epub
Christian Fletcher [The Left Left on the Brink (epub)
Christopher G Nuttall [Royal The Royal Sorceress (epub)
Private Practice 1 Private Practice Samanthe Beck