“He saved my life that night.”

  “I’m sorry for all of you.”

  Angela sighed again, hating the subject. “We’re going to spend more time together, Conner.” Angela ignored the way he tensed. “I need to know that I can trust you because I’m going to use you for things. One of them will pit you against Charlie, enough for him to see that there’s someone else to take his place.”

  Conner wasn’t sure if he was okay with that, but he was also positive he would agree if it helped him get what he wanted.

  “I only care if it’s what she wants. Without any more manipulation.”

  Conner flushed. He had contacted Candy when he wasn’t supposed to. It’d been to offer comfort, but it was still a violation of his conditional banishment. He refused to think about the other moments while sitting by the alpha.

  Seeing her destination coming up, Angela let the boy off the hook, mostly because the reports about his behavior on the trip had been exemplary. “You were on conditional banishment during the times that you were in Safe Haven’s perimeter. Any contact you had with her after that is not a violation unless she reported it as one.” Angela gestured. “Around the next curve is a field. The weeds around it make a good cover. Do not change your speed. I’ve accounted for it.”

  Conner understood she was getting ready to exit the vehicle. “Good luck.”

  Angela popped the handle on the truck so that she would be ready when they reached the right location. “Same to you.”

  Angela shoved the door and lunged toward the ground, tucking and rolling.

  As Conner went around the curve, gravity forced the door shut.

  Angela was poked, scratched, bumped, and jostled on the way. It had been a long time since she’d done anything like this and her body reminded her of it with pain that flared up in several areas, including an ankle that smacked against a rock.

  Angela rolled to a stop deep in the weeds and curled into a ball to wait for the convoy to pass.

  Less than a minute later, she felt two large, warm forms join her, one on each side.

  The trio braced for someone to roll down a window and point, or call on the radio asking what they were doing. They were only hidden by weeds and half of their clothing didn’t match.

  It was a relief when no one noticed, but it was also a problem. Before they’d come to the mountain, the men and women who were passing by them would have noticed people hiding in the bushes along the road.

  While they waited for the convoy to pass, the trio kept their thoughts normal to avoid alerting descendants who weren’t going with them.

  Adrian concentrated on figuring out a way to earn more respect. It was a common thought in his mind since his banishment.

  Marc centered on finding the next location for their camp, something he had done on travel days even though Angela or Adrian usually chose the route.

  Angela thought about her missing babies.

  As soon as the last vehicle was out of sight, Angela got onto her feet and marched toward the campsite. Without Safe Haven sitting in the middle of it, bringing light and life, the bare ground was like every other abandoned space remaining from a society that had destroyed itself. Trees waved mocking greetings and the wind blew through the underbrush in ominous growls.

  Marc and Adrian stayed on her heels, searching the cold, snowy cliffs and trees around them. There had been enough time for surviving refugees to track them and there was always a chance that Bryson’s mercenaries hadn’t taken the bait and were setting up their chance to pick people off.

  Angela knew all of that. She’d been worrying about it for weeks, but now that the moment was here, she was certain she had made the right choice. It was bothersome that it would be hours before she could make contact and verify a location, however. Eager to be on the way, Angela made a quick signal in the air.

  Marc and everyone else watched the RV come toward them with frowns. She’d told them the vet was going along, but they hadn’t realized he would be their driver. Among the Eagles, that was an honored position.

  Angela hurried into the vehicle, sliding over so she could view Chris in the mirror.

  Jennifer and Samantha were put in next, with Kenn helping both females. They were the reason Kenn was along. As an Invisible, his gift to read minds during the battle would help, but he would have been better served taking care of Safe Haven. With Jennifer weak and Samantha injured, Kenn’s big shoulders were needed more than his descendant ability.

  Kenn knew that, but it didn’t bother him. He was thrilled not to have been left behind for the run.

  The last one in, Adrian took the passenger seat. As soon as he shut the door, Chris pulled out in a wide arc and turned them back toward the mountain.

  No one spoke for a few minutes. Warming up from their short walk in the cold weather, it was also a tense minute of deciding to trust the vet when they weren’t positive he was worthy of it.

  Marc and Adrian both swept the RV and then exchanged glances. The woman wasn’t here.

  Angela kept her mind on the kit between her feet, mentally running down the gear she had brought as if she wanted to be sure she’d brought everything.

  Adrian wasn’t fooled. He scanned to discover if Marc had been.

  Marc snorted. “I’ve known her longer. That stopped working before I was out of school.”

  Adrian chuckled as Angela frowned. “Good. You can give me pointers.”

  The rear of the RV was packed with boxes and crates that obviously hadn’t been opened since the war. Wrapped in thick layers of dusty plastic and yellowing tape, some of the items were clearly intended for Safe Haven. The bottled water and canned peaches would go over well with everyone. Some of the other items, like the stack of vests and the ammo cans, the team assumed they would use in their upcoming confrontation.

  The temperature in the RV was stifling. Jennifer lowered the window, inhaling the fresh air.

  The team around her did the same. Fresh air had been hard to come by over the last few months.

  For a little while, there was quiet. They observed the devastated land around the road through the windows or rested to conserve energy like Angela had instructed them to. Other than Adrian, none of them had faced their kind enough to know how to prepare for a fight like this. Marc and Kenn relied on their military training. Samantha and Jennifer worked on their lessons. The others did a similar version that they found comforting, bringing a mood of teamwork and companionship that only the level leaders usually shared.

  “I don’t understand why I’m here.” Morgan looked at Angela. “I’ve had a little bit of the mountain sickness, but I’ve been better since we left.”

  Realizing Morgan believed he’d been brought along to be eliminated, Angela put his mind at ease and stirred him up at the same time. “You’re a descendant. That’s why you’re here.”

  Morgan was as surprised as everyone else. “I thought the voices were from mountain sickness.”

  “There is no such thing as mountain sickness.” Angela confirmed what many of them had suspected.

  It took Morgan longer to put the pieces together. As he did, the myriad of expressions that ran across his face kept the team distracted.

  While they were, Angela handed Chris a small pouch.

  Chris tucked it under his seat and put his hands back on the wheel.

  “Do I have a gift?” Morgan couldn’t help himself. Everyone wanted to be a descendant.

  “I don’t know. Do you?” Angela regarded him expectantly.

  Morgan tried to find out, but he had no idea how to do that. He looked to Marc for help.

  “Told you he’d want you.” Angela leaned back and tried to rest.

  Marc leaned forward. “Shake my hand.”

  Morgan put his hand in Marc’s, unable to keep from tensing. Even without being a descendant, Marc was lethal.

  Marc entered the private space and guided Morgan toward a small door in the rear of his mind. It was dark and narrow, but felt powerful. “I’m leaving now.”

  Marc withdrew as Morgan opened the barrier.

  Morgan flinched from the red orbs that appeared in his mind. When he wasn’t attacked, he stole a glance at his demon. Tall and muscular, with a nasty sneer, Morgan was intimidated. He was also impressed. “Now that’s a badass.”

  Laughter filled the van.

  A cold wave came a few seconds later.

  Chris switched on the van CB, not needing Angela to tell him to do it. He had felt it coming.

  “We found her! We found her!”

  The vet drove faster.

  “What happened?”

  “We’re bringing in the body.”

  An awful scream filled the air, one so ugly that even the vet shuddered. He reached down to flip off the radio.

  “Leave it on.”

  Angela’s order stopped Chris, forcing him to listen to the man’s pain. The scream was followed by more of the same.

  “That’s Erik.” Adrian recognized the voice. “Not a good guy.”

  “Did you work together or was he someone you brought in?”

  Adrian frowned at Marc’s question. “A little bit of both. After he lost command, his wife conceived and he tried to leave. When she sold the baby to the government, he went crazy and kidnapped it. No one has heard from any of them in decades.”

  Angela reached down and flipped her radio to the correct channel. When she lifted the mike, everyone in the RV tensed, knowing it would be bad.

  Angela let her hatred come forward as she purred into the mike. “She thanked me for setting her free.”

  Stunned silence filled the air for a few seconds and then Erik’s cold voice echoed across the radio. “You know where I am. Come set me free.”

  “I’m an hour out. Is there anything left of Market Town?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Good. You saved me a lot of work.”

  The radio went dead as Erik realized he had been tricked into wiping out a town for her. Angela hadn’t told him that they were slavers, but she doubted that would have mattered. Erik had also confirmed his location and it was exactly where she needed him to be.

  “Right about now, he’s realizing they’ve used up all their energy on the wrong targets.” Adrian’s voice held more approval for her than any of them were used to hearing in public these days. “He’ll order his men to take any life forces of captives they have, but the crew he keeps are true killers. There won’t be many survivors and none of them will be descendants. He’ll be lucky to find enough energy to replenish even a third of his army.”

  Angela glanced at Marc. “And that’s where you come in.” She gave him a soft, evil smile. “I like your sonic gift, baby.”

  “There are refugees ahead.” Chris’s call got attention.

  “Pull over.”

  It took Adrian a few seconds to figure out what Angela was going to do. He studied her in surprise. “Really?”

  Angela didn’t answer.

  As the RV slowed, the dozen desperate men and women ran towards it, shouting and waving. At first, they looked like normal survivors who needed help. As they began to pound on the windows, screaming about death to all Safe Haven citizens, it made Angela’s decision more palatable.

  Crash! Something heavy rapped against the rear window, shattering the corner of it to let in a cold draft.

  “Open the door.”

  Marc did it, recording every second of the encounter to study later.

  The force that shot out of Angela’s hands slammed into the first two refugees, knocking them into three others. Two more angry bandits lunged toward the door only to be driven backward by a wall of flames that burned them alive.

  “No one escapes.” Angela’s order came out in the double timbre of the alpha, allowing no refusal.

  Marc and Adrian jumped from the RV.

  Angela climbed out, signaling for Kenn to bring the girls. “What you do here is your choice, but you need to view it to understand how awful it is. Once you do this, you can never go back.”

  The refugees were too well covered to determine if they were Mexicans, UN men, mercenaries, or just desperate survivors. They slipped and stumbled across the rocks and snow, chasing Marc. Attacking without provocation or thought, they only looked like wild animals.

  Kenn set Samantha on her feet. With Jennifer nearby, they watched the other descendants hurry toward the attacking refugees.

  Chris and Morgan didn’t participate, but both of those men observed in fascination as empty husks hit the ground in horrible, dull thuds of blasphemy.

  Angela glanced at Jennifer, who was studying the scene as if she were a student learning a lesson. Samantha climbed into the vehicle, determined never to experience either side of that moment.

  “It will heal your health and split your soul.”

  Jennifer considered everything that she had been through and everything that she had done to survive, and didn’t find this more than she could handle. The only thing that made her climb into the RV was how disappointed Kyle would be when he found out.

  Glad the teenager had made that choice, Angela turned to see how Marc was doing.

  Marc dropped the body, able to feel the man’s life force replenishing his gifts. It was an incredible experience and he was sorry that he had done it.

  Marc let Angela hug him, but he already knew nothing would eliminate the stain from his soul. Like Jennifer, he could have resisted, but this was something that he needed to know how to handle. It was the only way he was going to be able to bring Angela back from her depths of corruption. He had to be able to understand everything that she had done.

  Angela let Marc put her in the RV, reading his thoughts but not responding to them. Some problems, a person had to work out for themselves.

  Kendle hadn’t left the RV. She was watching the vet.

  Chris got them rolling. “Three minutes.”

  Hoping to settle everyone’s nerves, Angela went over the plan.

  “The leaders are inside the gates that they crashed through to take the town. They have snipers on top of the buildings that we’ll have to pass through to reach that open entrance. There are four dozen descendants and two dozen invisibles.” Angela looked at Kendle and Sam. “We need an ice wall. Lock them inside with us.”

  Kendle knew how to do it. She’d been in Market Town. She knew the small alleys that would have to be blocked. “I’ll need a lot of wind and it will take time.”

  “Start on it as soon as we’re in range. Samantha will provide the wind. Kenn is whatever you need, but mostly, energy.”

  “I’m the shield, right?”

  “Yes, Jennifer. You and Adrian are the shields.”

  That left Morgan, Chris, and Marc.

  “Chris will stay in the driver’s seat to take us out if we need a fast escape. Morgan will keep Chris covered.” Angela lifted a brow at Marc. “Are you mad yet?”

  Marc shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “A little, yes. The angrier you are, the more powerful the fear attack will be when I tell you to hit them with it.”

  “Ninety seconds.” Chris slowed down a little to give her more time.

  “We’re gonna step out together. Shields will be up before we step out. All you guys have to do is hold the shield and build the wall. Marc and I will do the rest.”

  Plan in place, everyone concentrated on getting ready for their part in it.

  Angela and Marc clasped hands for a last peaceful second together before the battle began. Then she made him mad.

  “I’m asking for a vote tonight to lift Adrian’s banishment.”

  Raw fury slammed through the RV, making Adrian and the vet cringe.

  “Perfect.”

  2

  “Here they come!”

  Erik and his top men stood in the middle of the smoldering square, surrounded by bodies. Market Town had been destroyed. They’d rammed the gates to get in, encountering little resistance that could penetrate their shields. Even the UN tanks hadn’t been able to stand against his crew. Within ten minutes of starting the attack, Erik and his band of dissidents had slaughtered all of the military and the residents. It had been frustrating to discover that they’d been tricked into doing it, but it was too late to change that now.

  “Get ready! Mitchel is tricky. Don’t give him a chance to hit you with anything. Concentrate on Mitchel!”

  Erik began to gather his energy for his most powerful spell that would stun everyone in the oncoming RV.

  “Now!”

  “Start now!”

  Angela and Erik gave the order at the same time.

  Magic filled the air.

  Chris hit the gas, feeling the shield come up over the rolling RV.

  Fueled by Adrian and Jennifer, Erik’s blast was useless. There was no evidence that he’d even fired at them. He stared in shocked fear as the RV kept coming. That’s never happened to me.

  You’re gonna have a day of firsts. Adrian enjoyed the taunt.

  Recognizing the tactic, Erik ducked behind his men. “Kill them!”

  The snipers on the rooftops began to pepper the RV with bullets in place of the magic that they didn’t have. While they fired their weapons, Erik’s mercenaries concentrated on the passenger they could see through the front window of the RV.

  Pushing his luck, Adrian waved at them.

  The windshield in front of Adrian’s face bowed in from a powerful burst of energy that slammed into them from above.

  Jennifer groaned in concentration, managing to absorb the hit instead of deflecting it. “I didn’t know I could do that!”

  Adrian felt the shield strengthen and tried to copy her actions. “How did you do it!?!”

  “Like a straw–slow and steady!”

  Adrian felt the next hit bow in the windshield and inhaled mentally, not sure if he was doing it right.

  “That’s it!” Jennifer took the next one, loving the way she was able to feed the awful blasts into the power of the shield. It was too bad that the enemy was already figuring it out and not shooting with magic.

  Relieved that their protection was holding, Kendle and Samantha concentrated on the walls of the town around them. The RV was half a mile from the gates, but the ice would need to come out further than that to account for the missing front door.