Aiden shrugged. "Unless you want to stay here and study it, as long as you don't think it poses a threat, take it down and find out."
Kendrick glared at their commander. "Meryn's brutal practicality is rubbing off on you."
Aiden just grinned. "She is the best part of me."
"Thane, if you would?" Kendrick pointed to the barrier, then stepped back to close his eyes.
Thane reached up, touched the wall, then stepped away. Everyone turned their attention to Kendrick who opened his eyes. "I sense nothing."
Ari let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Moments later, his phone rang, he saw it was his brother. "Hey, Rex."
"Are you safe!" Rex demanded immediately.
"Yes, why?"
"Gods! Fae are wailing in the streets, there must have been more killings."
"Rex, calm down!"
Aiden and the rest of the men went on alert. "What's going on? Is the palace secure?"
"Rex, is the palace safe?"
"Yes, hold on." Ari heard muffled voices before Rex returned to the phone. "Portia is getting preliminary reports in now from Molvan who has taken charge of this crisis. She is saying the newly slain are from families from Monroe. The fae in the city are all saying the same thing. Their family trees changed all at once, registering the deaths of whole families. Multiple branches petrified, some of the Spirit Guardians have gone into shock."
"Shit!" Kendrick exclaimed. "The barrier masked their deaths, not from humans, but from the fae."
"Why?" Thane asked.
"River! Move faster. I want us out of here now!" Aiden began barking orders.
"Rex, we're moving now. I think the deaths that are registering are of the dead we discovered. I'll explain later, but Aiden wants us to get ghost."
"Then you get ghost, little brother, all gods be with you," Rex said, before disconnecting.
Ari pocketed his phone and joined his unit brothers in bagging up the dead. They moved quickly, sensing Aiden's urgency. In truth, Ari agreed. If the enemy took great pains for them to discover the dead here and possibly be distracted by them, then the last place they needed to be was in this warehouse.
"Freeze!" a female voice yelled out.
"What now?" Thane grumbled.
Ari turned and time seemed to slow. There, in the middle of the warehouse, in a deputy uniform, with her gun trained at his commander, was his beautiful mate.
Chapter Three
"Brie, put the gun down," Sheriff Rathais ordered gently.
Brie took in the scene before her. Men were moving body after body into large, black body bags. "Sir?" She took a deep breath and steadied the hand holding her weapon.
"That's an order, deputy," her boss repeated firmly.
"But…" She watched as River continued to process the scene. The ungodly large pile of bodies became her main focus. "Why didn't you call this in?"
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"You and River tore out of the office, of course I was going to follow." She loved the Sheriff like a second father. He had trained her and helped her become the law enforcement officer she was today. She knew in her heart that he would never have anything to do with so many deaths. "Sir?" she asked again, feeling lost.
Rathais walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to go back