“Idiots,” I said in a sugary whisper, putting a hand on each of their shoulders and squeezing hard as I smiled for my audience. “Please move your testosterone-crippled asses outside right now.”

Their glares singed me, then they marched to the exit, side by side. Zak’s slightly longer stride won out, and he shoved through the door first, Aaron right behind him. I followed them outside, rolling my eyes so hard they blistered in their sockets.

“What’s wrong with you, barging into our guild?” Aaron snarled the moment the door shut. “With your face showing, no less?”

“Was I supposed to come in with a hood and mask?” Zak snapped. “You were the ones broadcasting your reactions to the whole guild. If you and Tori had an ounce of brainpower between you—”

“Why are you here, Zak?” I interrupted, folding my arms—partly for sass and partly because it was freakin’ cold out.

“I don’t have any of your phone numbers, or secure access to the MPD database to get your numbers. This was the only way to talk to you, and it couldn’t wait.” His gaze cut across us. “Where is Kai?”

“Kai?” I repeated. “I have no idea. Makiko took him away, remember?”

“So he’s with her?”

“We think so.”

“Can you contact him?”

“He isn’t responding to messages,” Aaron said flatly. “I don’t know if he’s seeing them.”

Dread built in my chest like cold liquid compressing my lungs. “Why are you asking, Zak?”

“I’ve been gathering information about Varvara and her plans. The Pandora Knights are the highest-grossing bounty guild in the city. She got them out of the way first so they couldn’t interfere with her next move.”

I almost asked him how many people he’d killed to get that information, but I really didn’t want to know.

“What’s her next move?” Aaron demanded.

“To consolidate her new power in Vancouver, she needs to eliminate her competition.”

My heart stuttered. “You mean the Yamadas, don’t you? That rogue guy said the Yamadas were taking over, and Varvara showed up to oppose them. That’s why you want to know where Kai is?”

“She’s going after the Yamadas’ presence here in the city next—probably tonight while the Pandora Knights incident has everyone distracted. I want to head her off. Where can I find the Miuras?”

Aaron swore. “I need to get my keys.”

“If you know where they are, just tell me.”

“No way.” Aaron put a hand on the door, his blue eyes blazing. “If you didn’t need information, would you even have warned us that Kai is in danger?”

He pushed into the guild, letting a wave of conservation out into the quiet street. The door thumped shut behind him.

Zak leaned against the wall. “Next time I show up somewhere unexpected, Tori, try not to act like I’m a specter returned from the dead.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just tell my guild you’re my ex-boyfriend and I dumped you for being an egotistical dickhead.”

“Nice try, but you haven’t been part of the mythic community long enough to have a mythic ex. Unless you want them to think you were cheating on Aaron.”

“Huh.” I thought for a moment. “Then I’ll tell them you’re in love with me and you’ve been stalking me like a total creeper.”

“I’m sure that will get a great reaction.”

I grimaced. “The women would probably ask me why I’m not all for it.”

“All for what?”

“All for the hot alchemist trying to get in my pants.”

“When have I tried to get in your pants?”

“We’re talking about my cover story, not real life, Zak.”

He grunted irritably.

“By the way.” I stuffed a hand in my pocket, feeling for the square of fabric. “You took off last night before I could give you the Cara—”

The guild door swung open. Aaron marched out, his jacket over his arm, sheathed sword slung over his shoulder, and keys in his hand. Zak gave his head a slight shake and I reluctantly left the Carapace in my pocket.

Ezra followed Aaron through the door, carrying his pole-arm—and my combat gear. I grinned as he passed me my belt and badass leather jacket. Too bad I wasn’t wearing my matching leather pants—too hot for a long shift behind the bar—but good enough.

As I buckled on my belt, I realized I was forgetting something. “Uh, one sec, guys.”

I stuck my head back into the pub. Chatter circled the room, the gossip engine revving hard. Several people looked around at my reappearance, including the four girls still at the bar.

“Hey, Cooper,” I shouted.

More conversations broke off, gazes swinging toward me. I scanned the mythics for a familiar greasy head.

“Cooper!”

“What?” came the reluctant response from the back corner.

I spotted him tucked at a table between Cameron and Cearra. “Cover the rest of my shift.”

“Huh? No way. It’s Friday night and—”

“Just do it!” I bellowed.

“Tori—” he began in a whine.

I stepped outside and shut the door firmly. Turning to the three men, I shrugged. “Okay, we’re good to go.”

Six minutes later, Aaron pulled his SUV up to the curb of a downtown street, the streetlamps glowing and a handful of cars zooming past. Though it was Friday night, it was a cold, dark, windy Friday night, and this was the business sector of downtown. Almost everyone had gone home for the weekend.

I looked around, then leaned over the center console. “Uh, Aaron? Why are you stopping?”

He cut the engine and pulled the keys out of the ignition. “We’re here.”

“This is, like, twelve blocks from the guild.”

“Yep.”

From the passenger seat, Zak scrutinized Aaron. “You sure about this, Sinclair?”

Ignoring him, Aaron directed his words at me. “Remember what I said about that time we tagged a Yamada associate and Kai disappeared for a night? After that, I made sure I’d know where to look if he went missing again.”

Nodding, I threw my door open. “Let’s go get him.”

We climbed out and gathered on the sidewalk, facing a towering skyscraper with one curved end, like a closed-in U. It was sleek, elegant, and all windows, the flawless glass reflecting the surrounding lights.

Beside me, Ezra craned his neck back. “It’s completely dark.”

I blinked. At least a few windows glowed in all the surrounding buildings except this one.

“Zak,” I muttered, fishing a hair tie out of my pocket. “What exactly is Varvara’s plan?”

“All I know is she’s targeting Yamada holdings next.”

“What’s our plan?” Ezra asked.

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “Go inside. Get to the top floors. Find Kai.”

Zak snorted.

“Got a better idea, asshole?”

The druid reached for the hood of his long coat. As he pulled it over his head, dark wings swept out of nothing, and a feathered body followed. The huge eagle collided with Zak’s back, and her wings furled around him as she melted into his body.

Aaron made a harsh noise. “That’s freakin’ creepy.”

Zak strode toward the tower’s main doors.

“Let’s go,” I muttered, trotting after him as I pulled my curls into a high ponytail and looped the hair tie tight around it. Unobstructed visibility over fashion.

Aaron and Ezra followed as we boldly approached the building, passing an industrial but sort of pretty water feature that bordered the broad sidewalk. Zak reached the glass doors, grabbed a handle, and pulled. It opened without resistance.

The four of us entered a grand concourse, the ceiling three times the height of the doors. Upscale shops, closed for the night, faced a wide swath of shiny tiled floor, and an understated security desk sat in the middle of the space. The only illumination came from the street, shining through the endless windows.

“Is it supposed to be abandoned?” I asked, my quiet voice echoing.

“Not sure,” Aaron muttered.

Zak approached a bank of elevator doors lining a short hall and jabbed the call button. Nothing happened. No light to indicate an elevator had been summoned. No dings or glowing numbers to show what floor the elevators were on and how long we needed to wait for one to return to ground level.

Aaron crossed to a door with a small sign that marked the stairwell. “Guess we’re taking the stairs.”

This building was over thirty stories tall. He didn’t actually think I could climb thirty flights in one go, did he? Because I did not have buns of steel, unlike these guys.

Opening the door, Aaron peered inside. “Shit. The lights are off in here too. Is the power out?”

“Guess we can’t take the stairs either,” I said brightly. “What a shame.”

Aaron flicked on the light attached to his protective vest and grinned at me. I grumbled under my breath.

Ezra turned on his light as well, then tugged up the tops of his steel-reinforced bad-guy-smasher gloves. “You can do it, Tori.”

“I’m pretty sure I can’t,” I muttered, reluctantly following them into the dark, echoing stairwell.

To no one’s surprise, twenty-six flights proved me right.

“I … am … going … to … die,” I panted with each agonizing step. “Just … die.”

“One more flight to go,” Ezra assured me, two steps behind, his light illuminating the endless mountain of concrete stairs waiting for me.

“You’ve been saying that for ten flights now!” I accused between gasps.

“It’s true. There’s one more to go. And then one more, and probably one more after that. At least.”

I rolled my eyes.