“This is what I call a chicken nugget bomb,” Brandon was saying as he surveyed their work.“Why is that?” Jo leaned against the tailgate of the truck where he was putting the finishing touches on the conglomeration.“Well, we just took a whole bunch of shit pieces of other bombs and strung them all together. Just like a chicken nugget. Hopefully, when you detonate it and toss it in, it’ll have the expected result. Or… it might just fall apart and do next to nothing.”Folding her arms, Jo murmured. “That’s great. Exactly what I need.”He smirked at her. “You’ll be fine. Cass won’t let anything happen to you. She’s about the best person in the world you could have with you for something like this, except for maybe my dad.”“Your dad?” Jo echoed. “Now why in the world would

Begin Volume 2/Shadow Stalker Lenin Street in Magadan reminded Jo of pictures she’d seen of Europe after World War II. Buildings were toppled, some of their brick and stone edifices pouring across sidewalks into the street, metal frames jabbing up into the air as if to serve as a reminder of what could happen to those who don’t heed the new world order put into place by the Vampires after the Revelation. The place was deserted, as abandoned as most towns in the western United States had become, and as Jo McReynolds drove along in the beat up Jeep with the bullet holes riddling the back, she was reminded a little of Denver, Colorado, the place she’d taken to calling home a few years ago when her split with LIGHTS, and her immature berating of her father, had caused her to leave this team, and all teams, behind.Now, she was back with LIGHTS, though not physically with them at the moment. The only other soul

Jo paused, waiting to see if Eliza would say more, but she didn’t, so she took a deep breath and continued. “When the Vampire used that name, Asteria, I got chills. I realized then that it did make sense that it could be her, that it almost had to be. She’s one of the only Vampires that’s ever been able to create the sort of shields from Cassidy that she’s experiencing now. The other was Daunator, and he exploded, so I don’t think he could be back.”“God, I should hope not.” Eliza wiggled her shoulders, like she’d gotten the heebie jeebies.“You were there, weren’t you?” Jo asked, straying from the topic slightly, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.Eliza nodded. “I was there when your mom and Christian used some special grenades he’d come up with to blow Daunator into a billion pieces.”Swallow

The bed next to her was empty when Jo woke up the next morning. She shouldn’t have been surprised; as much as she’d wanted to jump Zane the second they’d walked into the room, to take the passion he’d displayed when he’d kissed her in the Jeep to the next level and let all of her emotions out in one fast, furious fuck, she’d realized that it would be a mistake. He didn’t deserve to be objectified in that way, even if she was beginning to realize her feelings for him were still alive, just buried deep, and he wouldn’t have minded the abuse--on the surface. Eventually, when he saw that it hadn’t meant the same thing to her, he’d begin to regret it, and she didn’t want there to be anything else between them, not if she ever planned on attempting to salvage this relationship. For the first time in months, she was beginning to realize she wanted to.She looked around the room and saw that she w

The drive back out to the compound was relatively silent. Jo hated that her relationship with Zane was currently strained. Since she’d arrived in this hell-hole of a mission, he’d been the only one she could consistently rely upon to keep her moving forward. She needed someone like that, someone who believed in her even when she couldn’t see past the fact that she had never been anything but a mess up. The situation needed to be fixed, but if she was any good at correcting her mistakes, she wouldn’t feel like a screw up all the time to begin with.This time, when they arrived outside of the gate, Lucas’s band of Souled Vampires were already waiting for them. Not only were there far fewer Vampires escorting them in, the ones that were there had their weapons slung against their backs, not at the ready as they had been the night before. It was clear something had changed. Whether or not that should make Jo feel better or not r