Page 146 of Stormhold

“Because nothing was reported stolen.” Mikhail sighed. “They thought it was a glitch in the system.”

The White Hand has the Invictus, and now fucking knows to use it. But when? How? Where?

“Twenty-three hundred, that’s only twenty minutes away, Ark.” Bella was on her feet, folding her arms across her chest as she regarded me with dead-serious eyes. “We need to act fast.”

“I know,” I mumbled, shaking my head as I continued pacing the room. Think. Fucking think, Arkane. But I didn’t have time to think. She was right—it was time to act.

My steps halted, and I spun toward Mikhail. “Shouma, ask him if the Valerians noticed something about the Surmans. Get every last one of our men here and make sure the family estate is safe. Be ready to expect anything,” I ordered.

Mikhail leaped to his feet, already halfway out the door.

Bella approached me, shaking her head. “Arkane, I don’t like this. He’s inside our home right now, and he wants you dead.” Her eyes roamed around the room. “The Invictus could be swarming this room right this second…” I placed a finger on her pillowy lips before she could continue. Something about the worry in her eyes simmered my anger into nothing.

For someone who didn’t worry, she worried a lot about me. What she didn’t know was that I was worried about her more. This was the last place I wanted her to be if it was going to turn into a war zone. But knowing her, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“But at least we’ll die together, right?” I joked, a whisper of a smile on my lips.

“Arkane,” she chided, pinching my side. “This isn’t the time to joke. We’ve no idea what’s going to happen…”

This time, I shut her up with my lips, and her gasp filled my mouth in the softest way. For a second, I forgot all about our troubles as I slanted my head, taking her deeper into my kiss. My fingers gripped the back of her neck, finding the perfect angle to glide my tongue along hers.

The warmth and heat of her sweetness consumed me entirely.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “If it were here, my system would’ve picked it up. I created it, remember?” My fingers circled over to the base of her neck,

I put my arms around her, holding her close to me. Just for a second, I told myself.

“I still don’t like this,” she whispered. “This time I feel we’re not going to make it.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “It isn’t like you to worry.” I swept her hair away.

“I know.” She exhaled, nuzzling closer to me.

“We have made it through worse, haven’t we?”

“Yes, but nothing is guaranteed,” she replied. “Just because we got lucky a couple of times doesn’t mean we’ll get lucky again.” Her nose touched mine. “Maybe we should give it all up and run far, far away,” she whispered.

I kissed her lips. “But my wife would ask me to stand and fight for my rights, till my dying breath.”

“She would,” she mumbled, smiling slightly, “but she also doesn’t want to lose her husband.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Mikhail burst into the room just then, this time with a serious-looking Shouma who gave me a sharp nod of acknowledgment and Bella a squeeze on her shoulder as he bounded up to her side. If I didn’t know the extent of their relationship, I would’ve killed him for just touching her.

My eyes shifted to Mikhail’s, and I didn’t like the look in them. “Good news and bad news,” he announced.

“Bad first,” I muttered.

“I can’t reach any of our men,” he said in a hurried whisper. “All our comms have been cut off. They’ve completely closed us in.”

Fuck. “How many men do we have on the property?”

“Same as always.”

“Keep them in the same position,” I told him. “Let’s not alert the enemy. We’ll deal with this ourselves.”

“More bad,” he muttered, laying out an old, dust-covered blueprint on the table. “You know the ‘80s underground railway project that was canceled halfway? We’re on top of it right now.” His gaze locked on us. “The same tunnel is under Petra Hagen’s mansion. The Valerians lost track of the Surmans right near the Lexan Cross, the road that leads straight to Hagen’s backyard.”