Fated Mate, Mafia Target

Chapter 7: The Midnight Raid

"Don't pull your hand away. If the link snaps now, our brains turn to mush."

Cain’s voice was a rough snarl, but his fingers were trembling against my palm. The blood between us was warm and sticky, a dark bridge connecting my soul to his. I felt a sudden, sharp spike of ice in the back of my head—his thoughts. They were jagged, full of images of burning cities and a crushing weight of duty.

Boom.

The floor groaned. Dust rained from the crypt’s vaulted ceiling, coating my hair in gray grit. The soul-merge wasn't finished, but the estate’s wards had just been ripped apart like wet paper.

"We’re out of time," I gasped, my chest heaving. The silver light in my veins was screaming, reacting to the cold, oily presence now flooding the mansion above us. "They’re inside, Cain. I can feel them. They’re cold. So f**king cold."

Cain grabbed a discarded cloth and tied our bleeding hands together, binding us in a messy knot of linen and gore. He didn't ask if I was ready. He just hauled me up.

"Stay behind me. If anything moves that isn't me, you burn it."

We hit the stairs. The telepathic link was a mess—a dizzying rush of his adrenaline and my terror. I didn't need to see him to know he was shifting. I heard his bones crack and reset, saw his shoulders broaden until his tactical jacket strained at the seams.

The first floor was a slaughterhouse.

The elite Nightfang guards—men who had bullied me for years—were slumped against the mahogany walls, their throats opened with surgical precision. No blood. Just black, smoking holes where their life force had been sucked out.

"Shadow-assassins," Cain hissed.

Three shadows detached themselves from the darkness near the grand staircase. They didn't have faces, just hollow hoods and blades made of solidified smoke.

Cain didn't hesitate. He lunged, a blur of black fur and lethal claws. Slash. One assassin evaporated into a foul mist. Crunch. He tore the head off the second. But the third caught him across the ribs, the shadow-blade sizzling against his skin.

"Cain!"

I didn't think. I shoved my free hand forward. A jagged bolt of silver light punched through the air, hitting the assassin square in the chest. It let out a sound like breaking glass and vanished.

I felt Cain’s pain through the bond—a sharp, burning heat in my own side. I clamped my hand over his wound mid-stride, channeling my energy. The skin knit together instantly, the silver light acting like a supernatural staple gun.

"Keep moving," Cain rasped, his eyes glowing a manic amber. Nice shot, puppy.

The thought echoed in my skull, vivid and smug. I wanted to hit him, but there wasn't time. "Someone gave them the bypass codes, Cain. The wards didn't fall; they were turned off."

We reached the security room. The heavy iron door was hanging off its hinges.

Inside, the monitors were all static, except for one showing the underground docks. Rowan Hastings was standing over a console, his hands shaking so hard he could barely hold the data drive he was trying to pocket.

"Rowan?" My voice cracked.

He spun around, his face a mask of sweating, pathetic terror. "Favor! I... I was just trying to save the data. I swear!"

Cain was across the room in a heartbeat. He pinned Rowan to the console by his throat, his claws drawing beads of blood. "You sold the blueprints. You turned off the perimeter. Why?"

"They promised me!" Rowan shrieked, his legs dangling. "Xareth... he said the new world order doesn't care about bloodlines! I’d be a General! Not just some f**king cousin fetching drinks for a Nightfang prince!"

Cain’s jaw creaked as he ground his teeth. His hand tightened. "I'm going to rip your tongue out through the hole in your neck."

"Wait!" I grabbed Cain’s arm. Through the link, I poured a sense of cold, hard logic into him. Don't kill him. He’s our only way out.

Cain looked at me, his eyes wild. He betrayed you, Favor. He sold your life.

I know. But he knows the way to the escape tunnel. And Xareth thinks he's still a loyal dog. We use him.

Cain dropped Rowan like a sack of trash. "Lead. If you even look at a side-door, I’ll disembowel you."

Rowan scrambled up, sobbing. "This way. The kitchen pantry... there’s a lift to the docks."

We ran. In the kitchen, the smell of burnt ozone was thick. Lucien was there, standing over the bodies of two assassins, his chef’s knife coated in black ichor. He looked at us, then at the bound hands.

"Took you two long enough," Lucien said, his voice remarkably calm. "The tunnels are crawling with them. Rowan, move your ass before I help Cain finish you."

The air in the underground docks was damp and smelled of salt. The black yacht was bobbing in the water, its engines already humming.

"Almost there," Rowan panted, stumbling toward the gangplank.

"Stop right there."

Seraphina stepped out from behind a stack of shipping crates. She wasn't holding a gun. She was holding a remote detonator. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face twisted into something ugly.

"You're not leaving with her, Cain," she said, her voice high and brittle. "If I can't have the throne, nobody can. I’ll let the shadows take her. They promised me I could rule the North once she's 'processed'."

"Seraphina, don't be a f**king idiot," Lucien snapped, stepping forward. "They’re using you."

"Shut up, Lucien! You always were weak!" She looked at me, her gaze full of pure, unadulterated venom. "You're just a biological glitch, Favor. A mistake. My father promised me—"

A shadow rose behind her.

It wasn't one of the faceless assassins. This thing was taller, with a crown of smoke. Before Seraphina could turn, a blade of darkness pierced her shoulder from behind.

"Ahh! What the—!"

She fell to her knees, the detonator clattering to the floor. The shadow-assassin stepped over her, its voice a hollow, metallic echo. "The shadows do not share power with lesser wolves. You served your purpose, little bitch."

The creature lunged for me. Cain snarled, throwing his body in front of mine, but the creature was fast. It was going for the kill.

"Cain, get back!" I screamed.

I didn't aim this time. I let the silver light explode from my skin in a massive wave of heat. The assassin was vaporized instantly, but the shockwave sent Seraphina sliding toward the edge of the dock, her blood trailing on the concrete.

"We have to go! The estate is going to blow!" Rowan yelled, already jumping onto the boat.

Cain grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the yacht. "Leave her, Favor. She tried to kill us."

I looked at Seraphina. She was clutching her shoulder, her face pale, staring at the fire starting to consume the tunnels behind us. She was a traitor. She was a monster.

But she was also my cousin.

"No." I broke away from Cain. I knelt by Seraphina, slamming my glowing hand onto her wound.

"What are you doing?" Seraphina gasped, her eyes wide with shock. "I hate you! I f**king hate you!"

"Then live to hate me tomorrow," I snapped. The silver light cauterized the wound in a spray of sparks. "Lucien, get her!"

Lucien hauled his sister up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. We scrambled onto the yacht just as Cain hit the throttle.

BOOM.

The Nightfang Estate disappeared in a roar of shadow-fire. The shockwave hit the boat, nearly capping us, but Cain held the wheel steady.

The yacht cut through the black water toward the Grey Coast. The silence on the boat was heavy, broken only by the hum of the engine and Seraphina’s unconscious moaning.

Cain stood at the stern, his back to me. His knuckles were white where he gripped the railing. Through the link, I felt his world crumbling. He had lost his home. He had declared war on his father. He was a prince of nothing.

I walked up and stood beside him. I didn't say anything. I just reached out and took his hand.

He looked at me, his amber eyes softened by the moonlight. You saved her. Why?

Because I'm not like them, Cain. And neither are you.

He pulled me into his side, his arm a heavy, protective weight around my shoulders. "We're targets now, Favor. My father... he won't stop. He'll send everyone."

"Let them come," I said.

A sudden, sharp pain lanced through my skull. A voice, cold and ancient, echoed in the center of my mind—a voice that didn't belong to Cain.

Thank you, Silver Queen, Xareth’s whisper hissed in my brain. The Blood Pact is a powerful thing. And now that you’ve touched my shadows... I have the link I need. See you soon, little bird.

I gasped, my knees buckling.

"Favor? What is it?" Cain’s voice was frantic, his hands catching me.

I looked at the burning horizon, the silver light in my eyes flickering. "He’s in my head, Cain. Xareth... he's in my head."