Free Royal Elite: Leander by Danielle Bourdon

first restaurant, tourist spot or lodging that came along. The second Chey called to tell her Leander was on his way, she would circle back to Nathaniel's and meet Leander there.
    She didn't care who liked it.

Chapter Seven
    Leander smudged another bead of sweat away from his temple. As the day grew long, and the sun rose higher, the temperature inched into the low three digits. Kneeling near the same window, he brought the binoculars to his eyes again and took stock of the streets.
    Bikes, cars, and pedestrians buzzed along the thoroughfare and sidewalks, resembling a busy bee hive. Many pedestrians, natives of the country, wore headgear or scarves of one type or another to combat the heat. He could imagine how hot it must be in direct line of the sun, considering the sweltering conditions in the shade. Leander wished they could open the windows to provide at least a little breeze, but anyone paying close attention from Kristo's building would notice that kind of change. Considering this structure had been abandoned long ago, the difference might give the game away.
    On hold until further notice, all any of the Elite could do was keep a close watch on things.
    Scanning the faces in front of the building, Leander ticked his binoculars further down the sidewalk, always on the alert for someone acting suspicious.
    What he didn't expect to see, however, was a familiar dark head a block away from Kristo's holding place. His haunches tightened as he raised up two inches to give him a better shot.
    The woman—and there was no doubt it was a woman, with the curves contained in her jeans and pressing against a plain tee—turned around, one hand up to shield her eyes. Even past the partial block of the profile, Leander would have known her anywhere.
    Chey.
    It couldn't be. Four men surrounded her, a casual but alert quartet of guards that Leander recognized from Kallaster castle.
    “ Damnit!” He spit the curse with a vehemence that nearly threw his balance off.
    “What's wrong?” Ahsan, who had been also keeping watch out a window while Mattias and Sander patrolled the lower floors, waiting for word, cut a glance toward Leander.
    “It's Chey. For the love of God, she's down there.” Leander eased to the side of the window, then smoothly rose to a stand. Hearing Ahsan bark a quiet curse, Leander wasted no time creeping through the door and into the hallway, where he felt safer standing upright.
    “Sander!” Leander maintained control of the hoarse shout, so the noise didn't penetrate any shattered windows and leak outside, where anyone might hear. He darted along the hallway, then descended the stairs.
    No reply. Sander and Mattias were probably all the way on the lowest level.
    Boots thudding on the steps, he held on to the binoculars with one hand and kept the other free to snatch a weapon from a holster if need be.
    “Sander!” Leander bit back another curse. What the devil was Chey doing here, of all places? In one fell swoop, the woman turned the entire operation on its ear. In his mind, he started racing through scenarios. If Chey got too close to Kristo's place of capture, if Chey became the captured, if Sander lost his head and got into the line of fire. Separately, he also started coming up with alternate plans for each scenario as he thought of it, so his reaction time would be less.
    Hitting the bottom level at a run, Leander speared glances left and right along the hallways. Down here, with the outside world right beyond the walls, he lowered his voice to a hiss. “Sander!”
    Rounding out of a room halfway down the hall, body tense and alert, Sander headed his way. In a similar low voice as Leander, he asked, “What?”
    Mattias appeared at the far end of the hall, phone to his ear.
    “Chey's here,” Leander said once he was in easy speaking distance.
    “ What? What do you mean, Chey's here?” In that instant, Sander's body tensed, hands flexing in and out of fists.
    “I saw her through the binos. She's