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  The silver of steel flashed, and I took a single step forward, my eyes tracing the spinning arc of a throwing dagger aimed for Todd’s back. Steel rang on steel, and the projectile clattered to the floor and slid beneath the food-laden table rather than slamming home in the stallion.

  Todd whirled and drew his own weapon in a smooth, graceful motion.

  A hint of red disappeared out the side door, and I spat curses. I dumped the heels, tensed to launch into a sprint, but halted when Todd lashed out with his weapon, the blade dangerously close to my throat.

  “Trap,” he hissed.

  I straightened, stepping back so I wouldn’t end up with my neck slit open. “It was aimed at your back.”

  “You’re my bodyguard. How better to get you away from everyone than to make a run at me?”

  A still hush fell over the room, and the pressure of so many eyes focused on me left me shaking from a mix of fury and unease. Crouching, I turned towards the table, lifting the draped cloth to search for the throwing knife. I found it several feet away used the tip of my katana to drag it across the floor.

  It was no more than four inches in length, the type of blade I’d throw with two fingers rather than out of my palm. The sheen of liquid marked the knife.

  “Poisoned,” I announced, rising to my feet. Without a lab in an electricity zone, I had no hope of identifying the type of poison. One of the canine shifters possibly could, if I could somehow track down a willing bloodhound.

  At least it wouldn’t take much to get someone to dust the blade for fingerprints, although I didn’t have much hope anything would be found.

  A good assassin erased all evidence of their misdeeds, including scent, prints, and DNA samples, which could only be processed at labs within the electricity-powered zones. Sighing, I hunted down my shoes and put them back on, keeping one eye on the attempted murder weapon and the other on the crowd.

  It didn’t take long for several men I recognized as from the Lancers’ Alliance to join us. Only one of them came close, while the others formed a staggered perimeter to watch the crowd, who decided to find something else to do in a hurry. The murmur of talk resumed, leaving us alone near the table with twenty feet all to ourselves.

  Any other day, I might’ve found their presence reassuring, especially the one who came to find out what had happened. I liked Paulus, a wolf shifter so ugly he terrified children and put the fear of God into his enemies. Maybe others found his twisted, gnarled nose and scarred face off-putting, but his blue eyes gleamed with an intellect I appreciated.

  He didn’t bullshit anyone, and there were few others I’d prefer guarding my back.

  Even with the bounty on my head, I trusted him with my life and had many times before, too. Would the lure of so much money entice him into turning me in? I hoped not; people like Paulus were difficult to find. I doubted it, too. Once the wolf gave his loyalty, I doubted a hurricane could change his course and would accomplish no more than spreading the stink of wet dog and annoying him.

  I grimaced, wondering if I’d ever be able to allow anyone to get near me without fear they’d betray me. Cleo had meant well enough, but I hated feeling helpless, lost in the fog of drugs. Maybe Todd had been upset about it, but he let the mystic do his work anyway.

  Damn them both.

  “What happened?” Paulus growled, looking us over before staring at the throwing knife near my feet.

  “Seems someone found my back offensive,” Todd replied, gesturing to the weapon. “Do you think it’s my outfit? I took such care to look nice tonight, too.”

  I contemplated the discarded weapon and then the katana still in my hand. The light gleamed where the oily substance had transferred between the two blades. “Well, fuck.”

  Todd frowned at me. “Jesse?”

  I gestured to the contaminated section of katana. “Know anyone with a good nose who can figure out what this stuff is?”

  “Ketamine,” Paulus replied. He leaned towards me, inhaling while his eyes focused on my weapon. “Something else, too. Probably a sedative. Why else waste good ketamine? Unless it is a spine hit, blade that short wouldn’t do much to Todd. Make him woozy, maybe knock him on his ass for a few minutes. Look like a spine trajectory, Jesse?”

  Thinking back on the attack took effort; it’d happened so fast I hadn’t had enough time to focus on the details, but I remembered how I’d moved to intercept the projectile. I shook my head. “Shoulder, left side, unless they have really bad aim.”

  “No vitals and bone to stop the blade.” Paulus squatted beside the knife. “Two inch penetration at maximum before hitting the guard, plenty deep to do serious damage on the spine. Could hit vitals.”

  I regarded the pitiable excuse for a guard—not much more than a protrusion from the knife’s center—with open disgust. “Plenty long enough to kill someone or sever their spine.”

  I’d practiced with tiny blades just like it thousands of times until I could hit any target I wanted with no doubt of my aim. In a room without wind, it’d be trivial to throw a blade so quick no one would be able to stop it. My eyes widened. “They pulled the throw. Tossed slow.”

  Todd and Paulus stared at me, without speaking, the guild master waved his hand for me to continue.

  “If he—or she—knew what they were doing, no one would’ve seen the toss until it was in your back, Todd. It was a slow throw. I shouldn’t have been able to bat that knife out of the air with an unsheathed blade.”

  The werewolf growled low and deep, and the way his scars twisted on his face and pulled his nose to the left made him look all the more vicious. “She’s right. They wanted her to see it, to be able to intercept it. If I wanted to throw one of these right, it’d be fast and hard—too fast to stop. Not as fast as an arrow, but deadly quick. A blade this small? No doubt about it; they were testing Jesse. Nice kitchen knife, little girl. Who’d you mug in an alley for it?”

  I couldn’t help myself; I grinned at my fellow mercenary, who had known me longer than even Todd. I’d played his daughter a couple of times for jobs, something I’d enjoyed well enough. When the going got tough, I could trust Paulus to find his way right into the middle of it.

  “According to a reliable source, I’m all grown up now and had to take off my little girl britches and wear proper panties. I didn’t mug anyone. I coerced, just like a proper adult should.”

  That got both of Paulus’s eyebrows to take a hike towards his hairline. “Coercion? From you? This is new. You, who are so direct with everything, have the brains to make use of such tactics?”

  I planted my foot on his face and shoved. “Asshole.”

  “Nice. You weren’t kidding about the panties, were you?”

  I sighed, kicked the shifter in the ribs, and tried to figure out where I’d gone wrong in my life to deserve the friendship of people like Todd and Paulus.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It took ten minutes to come to the conclusion no one knew anything. It didn’t surprise me. In the heart of a Starfall crater, cameras malfunctioned, as did most technology. Without strong magic or a knack for combustion and other pre-Starfall antiquities, such as I possessed, using most surveillance equipment equated to a waste of money.

  Closer to the train station, it would be a much different story.

  We had been close to one of the hall’s exits, and the other guests had been so absorbed in their gossip they hadn’t noticed anyone with a knife. Rumors spread as they were prone to do, leaving me as the focus of too many discussions for my liking.

  I ignored them, shadowing Todd’s every move, my hand resting on my katana’s hilt. Cleaning the oily substance off the blade using the tablecloth probably counted as rude, but no one stopped me.

  Gentry sidled up to Todd and stared.

  My curiosity made concentrating on the crowd difficult and left me grateful Todd kept to the walls without windows without straying too far towards the center of the room. He also kept a safe distance from the food tables, which meant
I stood guard on an empty stomach.

  “Wager, Jacobson?”

  Those who didn’t know Todd well would’ve taken his snort as disinterest rather than acceptance of a rival’s challenge. I cursed the stallion in my head.

  If the wager involved me, I’d make him regret it for the rest of his life. As though reading my mind, Todd glanced at me, flashed a grin, and winked.

  “Ten groups are here to make a run at your date tonight. A hundred says they’ll have her by dawn, and she’ll be asleep like a baby when they grab her.” The grizzly’s low laughter rumbled.

  For a wager between two guild masters, leaders of many cranky, egotistical, stubborn mercenaries, a hundred dollars was pocket change.

  Todd’s answering snort blended amusement, disbelief, and annoyance. “You’re going to be busy tonight, Jesse.”

  I’d probably be a lot more grateful for the week-long nap after staying up all night avoiding bounty hunters. Without a shifter-sensitive nose, I wouldn’t be able to trust any food or drink unless someone determined it was safe first. “So it seems.”

  Satisfied I understood the hell I faced, Todd turned his attention back to Gentry. “Yours?”

  “Most of them.”

  Todd crossed his arms over his chest and leveled a glare at his rival. “You’re being awfully nice today, Adams. When you’re nice, bad things happen to someone—usually me. I don’t like when you’re nice. You’re a grizzly. You don’t do nice.”

  “Maybe I like your little girl.”

  Todd’s laugh spilled out of him. “Trust me, if she were mine, she’d still be in my home under the tightest guard I could put on her, probably in my bedroom. She’s her own. She just graces me with her presence and offers me her skills if I pay her enough.”

  “That’s because she’s smart.”

  “Info for info then, and we’re even on it,” Todd offered.

  “Deal. Eight of the groups are mine, and they’re under careful instruction; she won’t come to any harm. I’d rather they didn’t come to harm, either, but they’re aware she walks light and knows how to use the sword she carries. Teams of six, some former military. They prefer quiet takedowns, and each team has at least two martial artists. They’re armed with oral sedatives. Needles, darts, and poisoned blades count against the bounty, although it won’t surprise me if they try to use them if they think they can get away with it. Two of my teams have mystics capable of hiding the damage.”

  My eyes widened and my eyebrows arched high. “Looks like I really did put on my lady panties, Todd.”

  “No kidding. Don’t you think that’s overkill, Adams? That many of your best after one young woman? I mean, look at her. If she were truly one of mine, I wouldn’t let her out of the house without at least two weeks of good meals first. Scrawny.”

  I jammed my foot against Todd’s in warning, a threat he answered with a chuckle. The desire to jab the heel of my shoe into the top of his foot rose, but instead of indulging, I resumed my careful inspection of those nearby.

  Most folks didn’t pay us any attention. However, somewhere deep in the crowd, I got the feeling someone watched us—or me. I wasn’t sure which.

  “The other two teams are ten-man teams, and they’re almost as good.” Dawnfire’s guild master chuckled. “I normally hate the bounty work. A lot of bloodshed, a lot of effort, little reward. This time? Probably minimal bloodshed, rules of engagement excluding death, and a lot of a reward—and a life bounty to ensure the target’s safety. It’s a game of chess—a very complicated game of chess. It doesn’t hurt the target’s a good one, too.”

  Todd glanced at me. “I think he likes you, Jesse.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but I decided a little bit of snark wouldn’t hurt too much. “Please. He’s in love with a wolverine. I think he just likes when women beat him up.”

  “I think he appreciates your skill and creativity.”

  “The shoes to the face were rather inventive,” Gentry acknowledged. “They didn’t hurt much but definitely got the point across.”

  Like hell they hadn’t hurt; I’d kicked them both off as hard and fast as I could. Then I blinked, realizing the grizzly had just punned me. “Freakish teddy bear.”

  Todd cleared his throat and, when he captured Gentry’s attention, asked, “I don’t suppose you’ll listen to a suggestion regarding your teams, would you?”

  The way Todd phrased his question put me on full alert.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Rules of engagement on our side and yours; you tell me who is on the team, give the descriptions to Jesse. If they catch her and could, without a doubt, administer the sedatives, she cooperates with the capture. No drugs.”

  “Why?”

  Todd leaned towards the grizzly bear and whispered so only we could hear him, “She was sedated for almost a week, and she’s still got residue in her system. She came back to Charlotte worse for wear, and Cleo worked his magic on her while she was napping. Her metabolism isn’t up to par with a shifter’s. Sedatives could become dangerous, especially if you use something that reacts with what we used. You’ve my permission to discuss safe oral substances with Cleo if you feel it necessary, but I’d really rather avoid drugs.”

  Clenching my hands into fists, I forced myself to remain silent despite wanting to scream profanities over how nonchalantly they discussed my bounty. Todd’s suggestions protected me—and prevented me from spending even more time down and out for the count. It meant, if caught beyond reasonable escape, I’d have to surrender.

  The thought of surrendering infuriated me almost as much as the calm discussion of my inevitable capture if Gentry Adams had his way.

  He probably would, considering he had so many of his best guild members hunting for me.

  “I’ll spread the word,” Gentry promised. “How about you, Jesse?”

  When all else failed, joking around made the shit in life easier to bear. “I have not had enough beer for this, and those prissy cocktails taste terrible.”

  Todd frowned at me. “You already had a few. You’re not going to be much of a challenge if you drink yourself under the table.”

  “Todd. There are sixty-eight mercenaries, almost fifty of whom are from Dawnfire. There is exactly one of me. This is not a challenge. It’s a massacre. Mine. Consider it drinking away the humiliation.”

  “Flattery,” Gentry corrected. “There’s sixty-eight of Charlotte’s best against one of you. That’s flattery, not humiliation. If you were counted as an easy mark, you’d have exactly one six man team, even with the non-injury clause.”

  “I want to know why. Why this bounty? There’s no way I’m worth that much, sir.” The sir cost me a bit of pride but made it clear I meant business while remaining respectful.

  “Consider it a job interview, one for Dawnfire and any group who wants to take you in, and one for anyone who might want to hire you. I vetted the bounty from top to bottom. I don’t issue illegal bounties on anyone, especially not on the friends of my fellow guild masters. You’re rather well connected. There are a lot of people who like you, even when you’re toeing the wrong side of certain lines.”

  I stiffened, sucking in a breath, a response I regretted the instant I made it. While Todd’s eyes narrowed in speculation, Gentry Adams smiled, a pleased little expression that warned me I’d revealed far too much.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Gentry leaned towards me, his mouth near my ear. “It means some of us know exactly what you’ve been up to and know you’ve been a naughty little girl. It means exactly what you think it means, and I have proof. And if they hadn’t deserved it, I’d have to do something about it.”

  My throat closed as terror tensed every muscle in my body. Dawnfire’s guild master knew. He knew what I was, who I’d killed, and was certain enough of it to tell me—and he wasn’t the only one who knew.

  I couldn’t breathe while my heart thumped an erratic beat in my chest. With numb detachment, I recog
nized my response. Fear caught those new to death at some point in their careers; working with green mercenaries in the field came with the challenge of keeping the recruits together when they saw the end of their lives staring them in the face.

  I had first experienced the fear of death long before I’d decided to become a woman rather than a man. The memory of cold steel sliding between my ribs, the heat of my blood on shock-chilled skin, and the flash of pain seared through me.

  Mystic magic had spared me from death, but the fear remained, sharpening me, honing me, and guiding my steps as I learned the sword so I wouldn’t brush so close to my death again.

  I needed to escape, run, regroup, and get out of Charlotte as soon as I could. One, ten, a hundred following me made no difference.

  Gentry Adams knew the truth, and others with him. If I stayed, my days were done. I wasn’t ready to die, not yet.

  I drew in a trembling breath, shifted my weight, and bolted for the door, kicking off my shoes and leaving them behind.

  I made my first mistake right outside the great hall. I made a sharp left and ran for it. The maze of the mayoral palace could screw anyone up, and if I’d bothered to stop and think—even for a moment—I would have remembered left took me deeper into the palace while right led to the safety of the outdoors.

  I ended up in the central courtyard, and I wasn’t alone. Six shadows surrounded me, and the number warned me they were Gentry’s mercenaries—people potentially aware of my second job as the Water Viper.

  If they caught me, they’d drug me, and with my luck, I’d overdose, thanks to Cleo’s machinations, and die. It’d be more mercy than an assassin like me deserved. Gentry knew, and no matter what he said, I faced a long, hard death.

  Wise assassins took their own lives in the face of capture. In my situation, the best I could do was stab myself with the katana or try Todd’s gun and hope it worked. It probably would.

  Either death would be far more merciful than what waited for me after capture.

  I never should have gone to Florida, I never should have toyed with the handsome man with the nice mouth, and I never should have left my mark on him or told him my name. My stupidity knew no bounds, and I was about to pay the ultimate price for it.