Meryn sighed. "No explosives, that's all I can promise."
Byron pinched his nose the same way Aiden did when he got aggravated. "Fine, but if anything happens to you, Adelaide will skin me, and use my fur as a rug. No putting yourself in danger, young lady."
"Pffft, would I do that?" She held up a hand at their dubious expressions. "Never mind." She turned and darted away with Ryuu and Doran in tow.
"She will either save us or be the death of us all," Byron said, heaving a great sigh. He turned to Beth. "And what will you do?"
"I'll head inside. I'm used to coordinating large groups of people from when I worked with my uncle in Noctem Falls. Pretty soon, we'll have a lot of scared people looking for someone to tell them what to do." She said looking at the small groups already arriving.
Byron clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Gavriel is very lucky to have you."
She smiled. "I feel the same way about him."
Beth blinked as she watched Meryn bounce past them wearing a green army helmet and carrying a gun slung across her back.
Dears Gods in heaven!
"Meryn, what in the hell are you doing? Where did you get that helmet?" Sascha roared.
"I'm helping, and I got the helmet from one of the duffel bags behind the sandbags, cool, huh?" she asked, rapping her knuckles in it.
Beth didn't have the heart to tell her she looked like a child playing soldier. The helmet kept sliding down over her eyes.
"Help? Help how? Dammit, Menace, that gun is bigger than you!" Sascha said, trying to pull the gun off her back.
Meryn backed up. "I got this!" She ducked behind Ryuu then ran inside the Council Manor, Ryuu, and Doran following.
Sascha grimaced and held a hand to his midsection. "My stomach hurts. How does Aiden do this all the time?"
Beth patted him on the arm. "She'll be fine. She's been practicing with Penny and Colton. Aiden forbade her to use handguns after she accidentally shot him, but he was okay with her learning how to use a rifle."
Sascha gave her a sour look. "A high power sniper rifle?"
They heard men shouting to their right. Beth and Sascha turned to see a small group of three ferals bearing down on them.
"Shit! They must have gotten past Delta!" Sascha brought up his gun, but before he could fire the three ferals went down, one right after another.
Sascha's walkie-talkie crackled. "Gamma Kitten One, did you see that? I got em! Over."
Beth laughed. Sascha shook his head in defeat. "Good work, Menace. I owe you one."
Slowly, in small and large groups the entire city was evacuated to Council Manor. Beth stayed outside to help give them direction trying to keep neighbors together. Since all the units had now fallen back to the manor, she was about to head inside when she looked up and saw a thick white mist begin to roll in toward them from every side street.
She hurried over to Sascha. "What is that?"
Sascha shook his head. "I have no idea."
"Gamma Kitten One can you let everyone know that I've borrowed some of your peeps and we're creating that mist. Over." Meryn's voice broke the silence.
Sascha picked up the radio and looked up at the roof. "What is it, Menace?"
"I haven't seen any ferals in a while. That's when I remembered some of them could be invisible. So I had two of our witchy friends use earth magic and water magic to make a flour-based, glue-like mist. That shit will stick to everything. So if you see a blob of white coming at you with no face. Shoot it. Over."
"Shoot faceless, white blobs. Roger that Menace, Gamma Kitten One over and out."
Beth smirked at him. "You know, now that you used that call sign, you're stuck with it for eternity."
Sascha shrugged blushing. "It's grown on me."
Beth looked down the street. "Not to ruin your night, but you have faceless white blobs appearing in the street."
Sascha gave an evil grin and turned to the men around him. "Light those motherfuckers up, gentlemen!"
Beth put her fingers in her ears as dozens of different caliber guns started going off all around her. She hurried inside to help keep the people calm. She couldn't let Rheia and Meryn do all the work.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Darian checked his gun and stood with his back against the wall. Amelia's light had led them to an abandoned clinic.
"Darian, you sure?" Aiden whispered.
He nodded.
"You'll get her back, I promise," Keelan whispered.
Darian looked down at his friend. "Did you have a premonition?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
Keelan's smile was sad. "Something like that. When the time comes, don't hesitate. Make sure Aiden leaves."
"Keelan, what..." Darian started.
"Move out!" Aiden whispered loudly.
Colton took point and checked the door. Luck was on their side; the door was unlocked. Stealthily, they made their way down the dark hallways. Darian could tell it was making everyone extremely nervous that there was no resistance. He was about to concentrate on Amelia to get a direction when they heard screams.
"Amelia!" Darian hissed. The men ran toward the sound of the screams. It took everything in Darian to resist the urge to run into the room. Aiden held up a fist and peeked in the open door. He nodded and they ran inside.
Darian watched in horror as his mate writhed in pain under a glowing crystal. Keelan darted forward and pressed a series of buttons. The crystal dimmed, and the straps holding his mate were released.