Alpha Ember (ALPHA KANE BOOK 2)

41. An Assassination Attempt

Long story short: Rina could spy on people through bodies of water- including bathwater- and we were going to watch her try and kill the Autumn Lord from the comforts of Kane's bathroom.

If she failed Light would kill her and then come for us.

My lips thinned.

"Oh no, not that again," Ian sighed. He got up and waved Kane my way while settling himself down on the other side of the tub. "Sit together if that calms you down but don't get all lovey-dovey and make me throw up in the water, then we'll have to watch Light's assassination through a film of my vomit."

I cringed at the image, letting Kane draw me into his side. "Gross."

Ian winked. "Just keep that in mind."

"Do you think Rina can do it?" I asked Kane.

He was quiet for a moment. "I think she's our best chance," he said finally.

I traced circles on his chest. "I keep wondering if maybe she could've helped with Alpha."

His lips twitched with the effort not to frown. It was getting easier to read the small cracks in his poker faces, or maybe he was letting me see those lapses? "I've wondered the same as well," he replied.

"Hey!" Ian clapped his hands together, gaining our attention. "Sob parties aren't allowed here either."

"What is allowed here?" I asked.

"Watching a mermaid get to work," he replied, the teasing in his voice suddenly gone. He leaned toward the water and when I followed his gaze, I found the clear liquid was coming to life, images moving on its surface like a TV screen.

I untangled myself from Kane and rose to my knees, the discomfort of my position a secondary thought at the moment. "Someone call Jett and Tyra, it's starting."

***

The gate the Autumn Lord had chosen for his grand entrance into the human world was close to an amusement park, a decision that hadn't shocked me. Although unsettling, I could see Light stuffing his face with cotton candy while riding the merry-go-round, scaring the living daylights out of the kids and their parents.

The amusement park was also quite conveniently the perfect place for a date with a newfound love. And the last place one would expect to die.

But the place Rina planned to kill him wasn't inside the actual park- even she wouldn't shoot a man in that kind of crowd. It would be at the construction site behind the amusement park, an expansion project that was set to begin during the summer and currently barred off to the public.

Rina's first trial was getting Light away from his guards and whatever entourage he brought along.

Actually I'd jumped the gun, Rina's first task was to make sure the magic spell she'd used to conceal her scent worked. If it didn't and the fae recognized what she was, she'd get killed immediately. End of mission.

"Halt," one of the steel-clad knights ordered. The quality of sound was so good it felt like they were in the room with us, the image in the water was as sharp as the voices too- my only complaint was that we could only see what was going on from a single angle. No different camera shots like an actual television.

On the bright side, we didn't have to stare at Light's horrible person from all sides.

"Halt or you'll kill me like you killed Prince Thorne?" Rina asked, unaffected by the threatening undertones in the fae's command.

Fists clenched at her sides, she stood with her back straight in front of Light and his escort of a dozen guards, wearing an old top, ripped jeans and her unconcealed hatred for Light. (She really did hate him, him and every other fae out there for hunting down and killing her kind.) Her appearance wasn't what I'd expected, I thought she'd wear a more alluring outfit but I guess the way to succeed as a seductive assassin was not to appear as a seductive assassin on sight. Besides, dressing to the nines to lure in your prey wasn't exactly necessary when you could spellbound them by simply humming.

Good thing it wasn't something like making eye contact because Light wasn't even looking in Rina's direction...he was signaling to his guards, making a curt motion with his hand across his neck.

Kill her.

The slink of swords being drawn in unison cut right into my hopes, leaving it in shreds on the cold floor.

Ian cursed, Kane snarled.

"Run," Tyra whispered.

Rina didn't run. Instead she gave the guards and the Autumn Lord the same unimpressed look she had worn when we first met in her shop. "You can't even be bothered to dispose of me yourself?"

Light finally looked at her. "You're oddly fixated on your own death, don't tell me you were in love with that spineless fool of a prince?"

The knights had surrounded her but Rina held his gaze, unblinking. "If I did, would that bother you?" Before he could answer, Rina hummed a single note, a short but high pitched sound.

Light blinked. Shook his head as if to clear it. He spoke to his guards again, this time his attention remaining on Rina. "Put your weapons away and return through the gate. There's been a change of plans."

"Holy crow," Ian laughed, moving forwards until he almost fell right into the bathtub. "Is it working or is it working?"

"There's no way to be certain unless his guards leave him," Kane replied.

"They normally wouldn't," Tyra said. "But in this case I'm guessing they'll give Rina their blessing and leave. They want to be rid of him too."

They didn't give Rina their blessings but they did go without a single protest, marching over to a crevice inside a large tree nearby where they disappeared through it one by one.

Leaving Light and Rina behind.

This was it.

Rina only had to shoot him in the heart with her bullet, it was made of silver and iron, metals that were deadly to both his fae and werewolf halves.

"Ember!"

"What?" I replied automatically, belatedly realizing the person who had called me wasn't in the room with us.

As if he'd been the one they'd called instead, Kane leapt to his feet and began striding out of the bathroom- seconds before the shooting began.

The gunshots were coming from outside the house, loud and insistent. I hesitated, caught between watching what would play out with Light and following after Kane to make sure he had backup.

Jett placed a hand on my shoulder. "We'll stay here and watch what happens. Go."

I glanced briefly at the water- Light was moving closer to Rina, his butterfly mask glittering as if it belonged in a children's book and not on the face of a monster- then I tore my attention away and ran after Kane with the shots still ringing out from downstairs.