Free Unforgiven (A Cyn and Raphael Novella Book 3) by D. B. Reynolds Page A

Raphael put an arm around her as they walked to the vehicle waiting for them on the tarmac in Del Rio. It was the usual SUV, but without the blackened windows and, unfortunately, without the bullet-proofed exterior.
    He leaned close and whispered, “I love you, my Cyn.”
    “Don’t say that,” she muttered. “They sound like the last words of the condemned man.”
    He gave her a puzzled grin. “You really are worried! There’s no need.”
    “We still don’t know what’s waiting for you over there. And you know as well as I do that it’s not going to be Pascal and Alexandra alone in a church.”
    “It’s not,” he agreed, standing back and letting her slide into the back seat ahead of him. “But it won’t be as bad as you think, either.”
    Juro was already behind the wheel, and he took off as soon as Raphael’s door closed. The bridge into Mexico was only a short drive away.
    “How do you know?” she demanded, as they left the airport. She knew she was being a pain in the ass, but was too worried to let it go.
    “Because, my Cyn, if there was a true threat waiting for me, I’d sense it by now.”
    “You mean, like Enrique himself?”
    He nodded, but his expression made it clear he thought that possibility unlikely. “Enrique would never involve himself at this level. He knows he can’t defeat me in a challenge, and there’s no reason for him to try. Even if he succeeded, he could never hold my territory as well as his own.”
    “But you suspect him of somehow being involved in this.”
    “At this point, it’s almost a certainty rather than a suspicion. The fact that Pascal insisted on meeting in Mexico is damning. But Enrique’s participation is most likely only that of a facilitator. He thinks to save himself by betraying the rest of us, by giving my enemies safe passage through his territory.”
    “Bastard. Do we get to kill him?”
    “He’ll die, but not by my hand. And not tonight.”
    The SUV was suddenly awash with bright light as they turned onto the International Bridge and approached the border crossing. It was Saturday night, and despite the late hour, there was a line of cars heading to Mexico, mostly young people wanting to party on the lawless side of the border. Cyn eyed the revelers in the cars they passed and hoped for their sakes that they all made it back. As unsafe as the border towns had been back in the day, they were a thousand times worse now. There was no bribe big enough to stop a hail of bullets.
    “God, I hate this,” she muttered. “And if you suggest that I wait over here, I’ll shoot you myself.”
    Raphael laughed, his head thrown back in pleasure. It made her smile, because it was so unusual. Raphael wasn’t exactly solemn. He’d loosened up a lot since he’d been hanging around her. But his laughter was typically more restrained.
    They passed the border checkpoint without incident, which was no more than she’d expected, and were soon making their way down the traffic-clogged streets of Acuña. The street was a typical tourist trap, lined with retail stores and restaurants, with a white steeple visible in the distance. Pascal was right. It wasn’t tall by modern standards, but most of the other buildings in Acuña were no higher than two stories and some even less than that, which made the steeple easy to spot.
    The church they wanted was on the edge of a mostly residential neighborhood. There were few lights showing in the houses, and even fewer on the street itself. Their two SUVs swung into the small parking lot behind the church. Juro shut off his engine, and silence descended as Raphael’s guards in the other SUV did the same.
    They sat for a moment without speaking. Cyn used the time to conduct a visual scan of the dark parking lot. She was sure the vamps were doing the same thing, but using their super-duper vampire powers to do it more efficiently.
    Juro looked up and met her eyes in the rearview mirror, giving her a small nod of reassurance