“Yes, sir,” Parker said as Sienna nodded. When everyone sat at the table, Curtis began.
“We’re meeting here because ST21’s compound may be compromised….”
“ST21?” she asked.
“SEAL Team 21,” Curtis explained, snapping open his briefcase and pulling out a file. He handed a sheaf of papers to Parker, along with credit cards and a thick wad of cash. “Your cover to find the Orb is a couple traveling the country and looking for antiques. Miss McClare will be posing as your wife.”
“Sister,” the lieutenant said roughly.
“Fine. I’m placing you on official leave, Matt, to cover your absence. Can’t take chances.”
Sienna held up a hand. “Can you please explain what’s going on?”
Silence hung in the air. No one looked at her. She sensed no one wanted to tell her, or work with her. They were a team and she wasn’t one of them.
Just as the Fae had, they were shutting her out.
“I don’t like this. We don’t need to work with a Fae. I can find the Orb on my own.” Parker gave her a pointed look. “I don’t trust the Fae. It was a Fae bullet that—”
He cut off his words, staring at the wall.
Oh-kay. Wonderful. She’d made enemies just by flashing her ears. Sienna swept them all with a level look. “Are any of you, or anyone in ST21, an expert in Old Sidhe? Can you decipher Fae runes?”
Not waiting for an answer, she continued. “Scribbled on the Orb are ancient Fae runes. The runes reveal the Orb’s magick and will only react to someone of Fae blood, or someone who’s absorbed a power burst from the Orb. Since no one’s touched the Orb in years, except for the Draicon who stole it, you’re stuck with me or another Fae of your choice. Unless you want to check out every crystal ball from here to California.”
“No Draicon stole the Orb,” Parker said, glaring at her.
Curtis’s expression became stony. “I agreed to have you on this assignment, Miss McClare, against my will. Lieutenant Parker’s identity has been exposed. His life is in danger. No one must know Matt is a Draicon. No paranorms, no humans, not even the POTUS.”
At her confused expression, he added, “President of the United States. Is that clear, Miss McClare?”
She nodded, feeling sweat bead on her forehead.
“You know how powerful the Orb is,” Curtis continued.
“It serves as an amplifier to enhance a person’s natural power, both dark and light, which is why it’s dangerous,” she interrupted. “And it reveals the truth about whatever one desires. For example, if you want to know the true identity of a Fae you suspect is using glamour, you consult the Orb.”
Curtis glanced at Matt, emotion shadowing his gaze. “The person who stole the Orb used it to sell intel about Lieutenant Parker and his teammate. They were ambushed by pyrokinetic demons. The demons burned Lieutenant Parker’s partner and nearly killed Matt.”
Sienna choked back a horrified gasp. The Orb was being used for evil? She had hoped it was merely lost. Now the stakes were much bigger. Pity filled her as she looked at Lieutenant Parker, his expression tight with pain and grief.
“How do you know the Orb is to blame?”
“We have sources. And we have a leak, which is why we’re meeting in secret.” Curtis turned to the lieutenant. “Shay’s providing backup on this op. He’ll brief you.”
Once again, they’d shut her out, as if closing a door. Shaymore opened the briefcase that had been cloaked as a large Coach purse, and pulled out a fat envelope.
Bile rose in her throat as she studied the photographs he displayed on the table. They were horrifying in their simple, stark details. Bodies, unrecognizable and charred, lay scattered on the sands. Their hands curled into claws, stretching out to the sky.
“One of our paranorm assets discovered they’d torched an entire village after attacking you, Dakota. A community of friendlies.”
Sienna swallowed past her gorge. “Why?” she whispered.
Parker leaned across the table, his gaze searing hers. “Because that’s what they do, Miss McClare. These demons feed off fire and terror. It infuses them with energy and power.”
Sienna had a nagging suspicion she’d seen this kind of nasty work before. But she couldn’t place it.
“They’ve been kept in check before because the bolt holes barring entry into our dimension were secured. About two months ago, a group of Darksider rogue Fae opened a bolt hole in an abandoned building in Nevada scheduled for demolition. Using explosives they’d stolen from Libya, they managed to free four pyrokinetic demons before our people sealed the breach. The pyro demons then torched a nearby apartment building, killing twenty-six people.”
She felt sick to her stomach. Her own kind had helped do this?
Shaymore dug out a photograph from the purse. “This is a pyrokinetic demon.”
Sienna stared at the mottled gray skin, the angry red slash of a mouth, the tapered, long fingers ending in sharp talons. “How could they move among the humans if they look like this?”
“Glamour.” Shaymore rubbed his eyes, as if weary. “The Darksider Fae gave the demons their ability to glamour in return for a higher position in the netherworld. The glamour only holds for a few minutes—”
“Long enough,” Parker cut in. “But if they get the Orb, they’ll be able to hold it longer.”
The possibilities were horrifying. Bile, hot and acid, rose in her throat.
The Draicon looked tight and deadly as a honed blade. “A Darksider Fae bought intel about me and my buddy from the slime who stole the Orb. Then he glamoured himself as our C.O. and ordered us on a mission. The demons waited until the marines in our convoy passed. The jarheads weren’t the target. We were. The Fae set us up.”
A low growl rumbled from his throat. “Because of that, my best friend died in agony. If I find the Fae who did this, they won’t need a demon to get to hell. I’ll send them there myself.”
His rage was luminous, raising the room temperature and warming her cheeks. Every instinct urged her to get up, get out and away from this dangerous Draicon. Sienna’s eyes widened as he dragged his fingertips across the wood table, scoring it with claws that suddenly emerged.
“Whoa, L.T.,” Shaymore said. “I don’t have the money to cover damages for this room.”
“Easy, Dakota,” the lieutenant commander murmured. “The Fae who impersonated the major general was caught. He’s been taken care of. We’ve established new security measures around all key personnel.”
Sympathy filled her. She knew how it felt to be helpless and enraged. Sienna watched the Draicon rein in his control. Sweat popped out on his forehead, but his claws retreated.
“This mission is crucial, Miss McClare,” Curtis told her. “If the pyro demons get the Orb, they’ll discover the identity of every member of the Phoenix Force, and our associated powers. And use it to kill my men, who are the last defense against them.”
“Not going to happen,” Parker grated out. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m not going to let innocent civilians be torched like my buddy was.”
A horrific image came to mind. Streets lined with bodies, burned and twisted. Mothers, fathers, children. Not a tiny village on the edge of a desert, but a city filled with living people. Turned to a charred wasteland where the silent screams of the victims still floated in the air …
Nausea rolled in her stomach. She could no longer hold it at bay.
“Will you please