Chosen by Blood by Virna Depaul Page B

at her.
    “That’s right,” Mahone said softly. “No mention of what happened to you. Just the necessities we agreed to. ‘Hands off’ being the primary one.”
    Still holding the files in one hand, Wraith threw her arms out and grinned. “Then let’s get the fucking show on the road, shall we? Because the sooner we get the damn antidote, the sooner I get what I want.”
    What I need, she internally amended as she followed Mahone down yet another hall. First, information. Then the means to kill herself the way nature should have done in the first place.

SEVEN
    A week to the day after Mahone had offered him a position on Team Red, Knox realized exactly how much faith Mahone had in his abilities.
    Too much.
    Mahone must have thought Knox was a miracle worker in addition to a masochist. Why else would he have introduced the three Others in front of him as his team members? The fifth member of the team, Dex Hunt, hadn’t yet bothered to show, but Knox wasn’t surprised or concerned by his tardiness. From the little he knew about him, the werebeast would arrive in his own good time, but he’d be there. Knox was more surprised by the three he’d just met.
    The mage, Lucy Talbot, and the human, Caleb O’Flare, each sat in a chair. Both appeared relaxed. No one looking at them would guess at the blood they had on their hands or the blood they were willing to shed in order to get what they needed.
    As for the wraith who was pacing the floor? She seemed too unstable to function on her own, let alone in a group during intense combat situations. She’d removed her sunglasses over ten minutes ago, but Knox still hadn’t gotten used to her filmy eyes. They, more than anything else, announced how dead she was inside. And it had nothing to do with her lack of a pulse. This female had been through things that went beyond the horrors of war. Maybe beyond anything that Knox could imagine, which considering who he was and what he’d seen in his lifetime, was saying something.
    Still, Lucy was the biggest surprise.
    To cover her baldness the way most female mages did, Lucy was wearing a dark chestnut wig styled into a razor straight bob with bangs. Her face was lightly accented with makeup but she still looked younger than she had in the surveillance photos. Too young to have killed her first mark at sixteen. Too young to have studied with a Senior Mage learning the kind of magic that less than 5 percent of the mage population could master. The kind of magic most mages spoke of in whispers using words like “dark,” and “unpredictable,” and “abomination.”
    “This is ridiculous!” The wraith came to an abrupt stop and braced both hands on her hips. She snapped her gum. “So what if the piece-of-shit wolf isn’t here yet? Let’s get this show on the road.”
    Knox frowned and opened his mouth to reply, but Lucy beat him to it.
    “What would be the point in that?” Lucy countered. “We’d just have to go through it all again when he got here. Why don’t you take a seat and relax instead of trying to show us what a badass you are.”
    They all stared at the mage. She’d managed to make her jab without sounding remotely hostile. The wraith glared at her anyway, as if deciding the best way to take her down. O’Flare didn’t even try to hide his amusement.
    O’Flare was another one who’d take time to understand. He gave the impression that little bothered him. With shaggy blondish-brown hair and green eyes, he’d be almost pretty but for the strong, angular bone structure he’d inherited from his Native American mother. Plus, he was tall and broadshouldered, with a long, muscular body that would look equally at home slouching in a chair or rappelling down a mountain. According to his bio, mountain climbing was a favorite hobby of his. The face would be useful for missions requiring the assistance of a swayable female, but Knox would have to trust the body to protect his life. And possibly save it. By all