Rage and Ruin | 2

3 | 7

D E L P H I N I U M

I walked with Jake to the square with quiet-treading steps. Hundsen's people knew that Jake would be there, but not me. My job was to hide in the shadows and protect him from any ambushes. Claudia had been instructed to arrive alone, but I knew Hundsen. He'd take any chance he could get to kill Jake, especially now that his possibly-pregnant wife was being held hostage.

Softly, I asked, "Hundsen's wife isn't actually pregnant, is she?"

"No," he answered, "He only needs to believe that she is." A wave of relief washed over me. I'd been partially sure he wouldn't do something like that, but I wasn't quite sure where Jake drew the line. Or if there were even any lines he wouldn't cross.

We both stopped in our tracks when the square was in sight. Claudia wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Not having any more time to waste, we both headed our separate ways, Jake to wait for the lieutenant to show herself and me to roam the alleyways in search of any opposition. Having already been here when Jake was meeting with the Needles, the area was semi-familiar to me. In fact, this whole situation was a bit too familiar.

I crouched in the darkness when I found the perfect view of the square. Claudia wouldn't be able to see me, which was exactly my goal.

But she still wasn't here. I frowned at the space she was supposed to be. It was well past dusk, so where was she?

I struggled to hold back the familiar cold panic that was rising in my chest. I'd thought that because Jake had such massive leverage over Hundsen that he wouldn't try anything tonight. What if I was wrong? He'd been threatening Jake the entire time they'd been speaking on the phone; what if he made good on that promise right now?

Letting out a sigh, I tried to clear my brain. Everything would go according to plan. Jake's plans always worked. There was no way Hundsen could know where his wife was hidden; even if he did, Jaxon was there protecting her.

I was suddenly aware of movement behind me. Turning around, I found that a hooded person was coming at me. I only barely ducked out of the way of their swinging axes. One of the blades grazed my abdomen. As I rolled to the side, I yanked my knives out of their sheaths and landed low to the ground and ready to fight.

Because they were fighting with axes, they were going to be worse at fighting closely than I was with my daggers. Unfortunately, I'd have to get in close to kill them, and they wouldn't make my job easy with those axes.

We ran at each other simultaneously. I threw my head to the side, making the first axe miss my throat. The second one hit my dagger, creating sparks as they clashed together. With my left hand, I sliced across their neck. Unfortunately, the attacker moved backwards, making the cut much shallower than I'd been intending. It was essentially harmless.

One axe swung low and the other high, making it difficult for me to dodge. I blocked the lower blade with one of my own and swung my leg up to kick the arm holding the other. I succeeded, but not before the tip of the blade sunk into my thigh.

Braving through the pain, I threw one of my knives. It hit them in the stomach, making them stop and look down at it for a split second. That gave me the extra time to run forward and stab my second blade into their upper abdomen.

With surprising strength I hadn't known they'd have, my enemy kicked me backwards. I stumbled and my back hit the wall. Slowly but surely, my opponent walked closer to me, swinging their axes as well as they could with two knife injuries.