Free The Takeover by Teyla Branton

landing midway to the main floor. “I’d hoped maybe two or three hundred,” I said. “Especially since so many went to prison after Morocco.”
    “They’ve been force-breeding a long time.”
    “There’s got to be a way. Even if we can overtake them, four hundred is a lot of people to . . .”
    To kill. Mostly scared, disenchanted people like Eden and Fenton, or those who would soon become scared and disenchanted. Or the ones who were blindly loyal, who felt they were destined to be gods by the simple accident of their genes. I didn’t want to hurt any of them, but if it came down to them versus all mortals, there could be no other choice.
    “Killing them is—”
    An excited bark interrupted whatever Ava was going to say. At the base of the carpeted stairs, Max, a crossbreed of lab and collie, bounced toward us, his nails skittering on the rock floor of the entryway. I didn’t much like the mutt, but he adored me, and his presence meant my niece and nephew weren’t far behind. I felt my mood lighten.
    “Go say hi to the kids,” Ava said. “They’ll miss you.”
    Meaning she suspected I’d soon be going on a difficult mission. “I can’t. I promised to help Stella.”
    “She and Patrick have it covered for now, so take a few minutes.” At the bottom of the stairs as we parted ways, she added, “Oh, and Erin, don’t be late to the meeting.”
    As if I’d even dare.
    I was petting Max when the kids came running into sight, Kathy, my twelve-year-old niece, in the lead. She had grown taller these past months, suddenly becoming a young woman, with softening angles and bouncing emotions. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her blue eyes framed with mascaraed lashes. She came to an abrupt stop at seeing me, and her brother, Spencer, barely avoided crashing into her.
    “Aunt Erin, you’re back already!” Spencer shouted, throwing himself at me and making Max bark wildly. At ten, Spencer was still very much a little boy, all bony enthusiasm except for his freckled face that had somehow managed to hold onto a bit of baby fat.
    “Shut up!” I ordered the dog, who rewarded my sternness with a wet lick of his rough tongue. I wiped my hand on my pants.
    Spencer let go of me and launched himself at Max, burying his face in his golden fur. “You know she hates that, dummy. Better quit or you’ll be out in the doghouse.” He laughed because we didn’t have a doghouse, and Max spent his nights in Spencer’s bedroom. The setup was fortunate, because I wasn’t about to share my space with the dog, though Ritter had a soft spot for the creature.
    Kathy looked at me, her eagerness contained but still bright in her eyes. “Dad says you guys got three Emporium agents! And that you got stabbed. What happened?”
    “One of the agents didn’t realize I was there to help him, that’s all.” My hand went instinctively to my side, though only a twinge reminded me of what had happened.
    “I can’t wait until I can be a Renegade,” Kathy said with a sigh. “And go on ops and meet exciting people.”
    “Me too!” Spencer looked up from the dog and grabbed my hand. “We’re going to eat. Come tell us all about it, okay?”
    I let him pull me along, glad for a moment that neither child was paying attention to my face, which felt rigid. I didn’t want either of them to become Renegade agents. At eight generations removed from an Unbounded ancestor, Changing was next to an impossibility for them. Except as an extremely rare fluke, Changes didn’t occur after six generations.
    So Kathy and Spencer could easily be killed. A wound like I’d received today, or a nick of a poisoned blade, could mean death—would eventually mean death. Luck never held out forever. No, what I wanted was a world where they wouldn’t have to fight the Emporium. Where they could attend a normal school instead of being locked behind tall walls in a mansion, and where no machine guns and rocket launchers were mounted on the