He was right. Had it been me, I would have immediately told them to take that chance. But Ava wasn’t like me. For one thing, she had a heart. For another, she would hesitate at just the very thought of anything happening to them – particularly to her brother. “Ava, Evan’s right,” I said. “Diane will be planning to kill the nest no matter what happens. You know it, I know it. What’s more, Sam knows it. You know what that means.”

She nodded. “It means Sam won’t agree to whatever Diane’s request is, because she’ll know there’s no point since it won’t save them.”

“Sebastian really is their best chance, baby.”

After a long moment, she looked at Sebastian. “Do it.”

He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, teleported away…and appeared inside the ring.

“It worked.” Max grinned. “It fucking worked.”

Ian and five of his fellow squad members appeared in front of Evan, their backs to the ring. “I took our injured to The Hollow and then gathered these five together to…What are you all looking at?” Ian pivoted. “Shit, is that a detonation ring?”

Sebastian teleported back to us. “Yes, it is. There is not much space inside the ring for me to move, and I do not want to risk alerting its creator by tripping it from the inside. I could probably teleport two people into the circle with me at a time. We can each scoop up a vampire, and then I will teleport us all to The Hollow.”

“I can help,” said Ian. “Once you’ve gone, I’ll do the same – we’ll alternate.”

“That would help immensely,” Sebastian told him. “It will take us some time, but we can hopefully have the entire nest out of here before a confrontation occurs between Sam and Diane.” Sebastian teleported Evan and Trent inside the circle. He first scooped up Cristiano, to what was likely Ava’s utter fucking relief, while Evan and Trent each gathered another. Once they were gone, Ian and two of Evan’s squad then teleported inside and did the same.

After three runs, Evan called out to us from inside the circle, “Maybe you three should join Sam and Jared, since you can’t do much here. They could probably use your help. When I contacted Jared to let him know we’ve found the nest, he said the interior of the warehouse was more heavily guarded than they’d expected, and quite a few have been injured, but Diane doesn’t seem aware of their presence.”

I definitely wanted to be part of the fight, but leaving these guys alone didn’t sit too well with me. “We should stay and stand guard here.”

“The other squad is patrolling outside. If they see anyone attempting to enter the building, they’ll let us know. If we need help, I’ll contact Jared and ask him to send or teleport some back-up here. You guys just –”

A pain slammed into my head as a strange ‘bong’ sound seemed to drown out all else, and I – to my fucking embarrassment – swayed on my feet. I shook my head, trying to focus. And that was when I saw that everyone else was doing the same.

Max had his hands slapped over his ears. “What the fuck was that?”

My instincts told me the answer. “That was some kind of psychic blast, and we caught the tail end of it. I’d say Diane knows she has company.”

“A psychic blast that almost knocked us out when we’re way over here?”

Ava gasped. “If it almost did that to us, imagine what it’s done to them.”

A growl rumbled out of Evan. “I have to get to Alora.” He was gone before anyone could say a word.

“It’s okay,” said Ian. “One of the others can take Evan’s place here. They need you over there. Go.”

Moving at vampire momentum, we sped out of the building and over to the warehouse, where we crouched beneath a window. Reuben, Damien, and Stuart were sprawled on the floor inside, clearly unconscious. Thankfully, they weren’t piles of ashes.

“Looks like it’s been a psychic blast that’s a little like your punch, but on a grander scale,” said Max.

“If the gift is like mine, they’ll wake after a few hours or once the vampire who released the blast is destroyed.”

“Do you think it’s affected the squad that’s on the lookout?” asked Ava.

Considering they were closer to the warehouse than we had been…“I’d say so.”

She frowned. “I can’t sense Evan close by.”

Neither could I, but I was confident that the last thing Evan would do was anything stupid. All he would be concentrating on was getting to Alora and getting her out of the warehouse. Had I been in his position, I would have done the same.

We crept further along the building, following the sound of a woman’s maniacal laugh. Pausing in the shadows near another window, we slowly stood and saw Giles, Diane, and four male Pagoris glaring at Sam, Imani, and Jared, who were cocooned inside Sam’s energy shield. Unfortunately, it seemed that Jared was unconscious.

Max grimaced. “Coach will be pissed that she didn’t expand her shield in time to protect him from the blast.”

“Going by the mercury glow to her irises,” began Ava, “I’d say you’re right.”

“I’m thinking we do the same as before. I’ll paralyse their senses and you guys attack them before any have a chance to retaliate.”

Ava gave a weak smile. “There’s a huge problem with that plan.”

“What?”

“One of the Pagoris must have acted as some kind of psychic shield if the six vampires in there were unaffected by the blast. That same shield would protect them from your gift and Salem’s. Any attempt to harm them by us would be instantly sensed, and then we’ll be unconscious too. We’re going to have to rethink that plan and –” Ava froze at the exact moment that myself and Max did…which meant we’d all sensed the two presences behind us.

We instantly spun. All at once, I growled, Max cursed, and Ava sighed as she said, “This has been a really shit day.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

(Ava)

“If you kill us, I’ll be totally pissed.”

Knox Thorne’s dark eyes glinted with amusement. “Our fight isn’t with you or yours, Miss Sanchez. You know who we’re here for. My question is…why are you three out here instead of in there, helping your Grand High Pair?”