Out of just over one hundred and thirty people, four hands shot up. Three of them belonged to Alex and his parents.
“I can call my mentor, Tiberius Thorn,” Alex said, his eyes wide at the shortage of healers. “If I can reach him, I’m sure he’ll help.”
Headmistress Wake nodded. “I would guess that Tiberius is still home. I happen to know that he has a bunker of sorts filled with medical supplies. It’s an extension of his home, well hidden and fortified. He knows of the impending war, of that I’m sure. If I had to wager his location, I would say it is there, and he’s in hiding.”
“Sounds about right,” Alex muttered. “I volunteer to go find him,” he declared louder.
I gripped his hand. “We can’t separate.”
He squeezed my hand. “We have to.”
My tone lowered. “But Morgan and Merlin said we should never do so.” There had been exceptions, of course, but none of those times had been when war was on our doorstep.
“We’re well past that restriction,” Alex said, his eyes soft and understanding. “I think we might have been since the night you died. Something tells me that bringing you back, might have been my major purpose in all this. At least, from M&M’s standpoint. The demons wanted my blood,our blood, of course. But they already got that.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “After all that we’ve been through, we’d never betray each other.”
A lump rose in my throat. I’d not considered that one of Alex’s primary roles in this was to bring me back to life, but it struck me as reasonable. After the demons opened the Hellgate, Ishtar had become much less obsessed with him. But her focus on me hadneverwavered. “True, but—”
“We don’t have time, sweets. Thorn has a network of healers who would jump if he called. I have a feeling we’re going to liberate a lot of spies from the prison, and they won’t be well. We’re going to need the extra hands, which means I have to find him and convince him to join us.” His tone softened. “You, Eva, and Hunter should go to the prison, help there.”
I looked into his blue eyes and, although I didn’t want to, I nodded. “If that’s really what you think is best.”
He twisted to face Dasha again, who looked sad for me. “So, where is this prison? What sort of structure could keep assorted magicals inside and garner no notice?”
She forced out a laugh. “You’re never going to believe this. I barely did when the other shifters told me, but now that I’ve considered it, the location makes so much sense.”
My heart began pounding as the room stilled, and everyone waited.
“Who here is familiar with the old gods?”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Igripped Dasha’s fur as the massive white wolf bounded away from where we’d parked the cars, over the arid desert plains of New Mexico. Surrounding the alpha were her mates, Heath, Howley, and Gregor, all in white wolf form. On their backs rode Eva, Diana, and Hunter.
Each of my friends looked as weirded out and nervous as I felt.
Above us, fae wings beat the air: the Tornas, Prince Halad’s male, winged cousins, and five other fae. Diaphanous wings and the daggers hanging off their hips caught the light of the full moon as they flew.
At our sides, vampires sprinted, each carrying on their backs a witch or flightless fae. Other shifters were behind us, and those large enough to carry other magicals did so.
When we’d formed the squads, we’d made them vampire and shifter heavy, specifically because we’d suspected that we’d have to drive as close as possible to the base, which was impossible to warp to as there were no photos of the secretive area. Nor had Andre or I ever been there. From the nearest rest stop we’d have to approach the base on foot so as not to give away our arrival.As we got closer, it seemed as though our precautions had been wise.
The barbed wire fencing circled the perimeter about a mile away from the facility. Vampires and agile shifters like Dasha and her mates leapt over it, their tagalongs clutching them with all their might. The winged fae lifted the witches who had been riding on heavier, less agile shifters over the fence.When Eva and I were on the other side, we used our black magic to lift the massive bear shifters and the remaining wolves.
So far, we’d done well. And yet, I could already sense that stronger, magical, protections would crop up soon. Maybe it was the aether in the area, but for some reason, I felt hyper sensitive to it. My gut bubbled as I climbed back on Dasha’s back. As we ran ever closer, I stole glances at the magicals around us, so strong physically and magically.
What if it’s not enough?
I bit the inside of my cheek and closed my eyes, determined to wipe the negative thought from my mind as we approached Dulce Base in northern New Mexico desert.
You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.
The mantra ran through my mind until I’d almost convinced myself that infiltrating an über secretive and dangerous government base was actually possible. Because that was totally what we were about to do.
The shifters had discovered the militarized base about a week ago, and had been rotating watch on the area, each team trying to discover a way inside. As far as they could tell, there was only one; the site was largely underground and as secure as the Pentagon.
Hours of research on the internet told me even less than what Dasha had relayed. There was speculation that it went down ten levels. The various floors held genetically engineered animals, others housed secret labs, and then there were those that confined people.
Magicals.
