Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 423: Ava: New Order

These two know each other?

"Indeed it has, Orion." The Grand Sage is dwarfed next to the Magister. He speaks with warmth, though. "Though I wish our reunion came under better circumstances. This isn't the first time I've caught you breaking into one of my ships, is it?"

"Ah. It was yours, then. We were concerned… Well, never mind that." The giant man looks sheepish as he ducks his head. "My apologies, Grand Sage. Though now that I am seeing you both, I must ask—is your friend safe now? The human girl?"

"Lisa?" My heart swells at his concern. Even after all this time, he remembers. "Yes, she's safe."

The Grand Sage nods in confirmation. "We've kept her well protected since her return."

"Good, good." Magister Orion's shoulders relax slightly. "We have feared the worst in these past months. Establishing contact with friends has become impossible with the New Order in place."

"The New Order?" My throat tightens as memories of the press conference flash through my mind. The President's vacant stare. His monotone voice. The way everything felt wrong.

That must be it.

Of course they have some terrible name like the New Order.

"Ah." Magister Orion's face darkens. "You've seen them, then?"

"The President's speech, right?" I shift my weight, and the sole of my boots squeak over packed snow. "It was strange. All the supernaturals there."

puppet." Magister Orion's voice drops to a growl. "The New Order seized control months ago. They've

at Magister Orion's party, inspecting them all one by one, even as he

Gone. The vampire courts? Destroyed. The registered communities live under martial law. Even the unregistered territories have fallen." He spreads his massive hands. "They've

did no

thorough. They infiltrated every level of power. By the time anyone realized what was happening, it was too late. That was the first wave of

we suspected,

we still don't understand who they are.

major pack. Every vampire coven. They monitor everything. They're determined to maintain their

feeling a little like jelly. Greg reaches

vibration it was doing earlier, but a morose kind of rocking and rolling

New Order's reach seems endless, and my mind refuses to process the implications. It has so many other questions right now. Easier

still haunts me: Magister Orion telling us to escape.

rise and fall. "That particular misunderstanding was cleared up rather quickly. It was little more than a ruse to begin with. It

That was way too much for something as simple as a misunderstanding. They sent in their equivalent of a freaking SWAT team.

in me, it seems like overkill to pretend he murdered someone just to get me away from his

zips up from behind him, her mechanical wings whirring as she speaks up for the first time. It's good to

out of a Fae

Orion's laugh booms across the snow. "Little witch, they never got me that far. Don't you worry. There is no bounty

about the others?" Immediately, I think of Layla. She's missing. Most of the faces here with the Magister are unfamiliar, or only vaguely familiar.

a resistance cell