Chapter 8 · Neither were you. Not when he died

"Neither were you. Not when he died."

"I was there before."

Her voice cracked on the last word.

Leo looked between them. "Who’s Jace?"

"Nobody you need to know," Mira said.

"That’s what people say when it matters."

Mira released the hunter. He dropped hard, coughing.

She turned on Reid. "You want the truth? Fine. I helped track Jace. I thought he was carrying the shard. I thought he’d hurt anyone who got close."

"And then?"

"Then I found out the order wasn’t to arrest him."

Reid’s fingers curled. "Whose order?"

Mira looked at the three hunters on the floor. "Not here."

"You don’t get to choose when I ask."

"I do when your little friend is holding a corporate rifle and half the building is about to come down on us."

Leo raised the weapon slightly. "I’m not little."

"You’re bleeding from your forehead."

He touched the cut and looked at the blood on his fingers. "That doesn’t make me little."

Mira almost smiled again. It vanished when a red light blinked on the wall.

A warning siren began outside the room.

The hunters’ comm units came alive at once.

"Ward breach confirmed."

"All teams converge."

"Lethal response authorized."