“He got her, he took her!” Her voice was a saw blade, chewing through the hush like a coyote through bone.
I kept my head down so no humans would notice my blazing gold lupine eyes as I all but staggard over to the security office on Harper’s side. My mind couldn’t let go of what I’d just seen. His demon claws on mymate. Touching her. I wanted to rage, to destroy everything in my path. It was the worst time to be surrounded by humans.
I zeroed in on the security booth. Wrecker was hunched over the monitors, his face ghost-pale, sweat dripping down his neck even though he never sweated in the worst firefights. His fingers hammered the keyboard with a precision I’d never seen, his eyes flicking back and forth between feeds as he muttered, “Gotta save this, gotta save this, he’ll try to nuke it from the inside, fuck—” He didn’t look up when I came up behind him, but Parker did. Her face was bloodless, lips drawn back in a snarl that would have been funny if I weren’t seconds from tearing someone’s throat out.
“Gunner,” she panted, “it’s all over the screens. Maltraz, he just…he just…” She gulped air, shaking.
Wrecker cut her off, still not looking. “She’s alive, Finn. I had eyes on her for three more seconds after the blink. But then the camera goes dead. Black. Nothing.”
I leaned in, every muscle shaking, and watched the replay. It was clear, the angle from the corner, but there it was—Brie’s body going limp as Lysander’s face opened up and the horns split out from his skull. The air shimmered, the glass warped, and then both of them blinked out, leaving a shimmer of smoke and a little rolling box on the desk.
Wrecker saved the two minutes to four different flash drives, shoving one into his pocket, another into the lining of his laptop bag, then a third to Parker with a curt, “Go.” She snatched it and ran, already dialing her phone as she sprinted to her car.
I dropped to my hands and knees, crippled by the loss of my mate and the press of my wolf. I fought it, teeth grinding, the taste of iron thick on my tongue.
Then a pair of hands seized my shoulders. Not rough, but heavy as a mountain. Bronc.
He leaned down, putting his mouth right at my ear. “Look at me.”
I snarled, twisting, but his grip didn’t budge. “Look at me, Finn.”
I looked. Bronc’s blue eyes were ice, and the wolf in him was so close to the surface I could smell the danger, the authority. He locked my gaze, his Alpha voice rolling out in a wave that crashed over the chaos and rooted me to the floor.
“You will not shift here,” he said, every word a weight. “Not with civilians. Not with the Council’s eyes on us. You hold it together, right now. Do you hear me?”
The command dropped like a sledgehammer. I felt my wolf stop, stunned. My body settled. My vision cleared just enough to see the smears of blood I’d left across the table.
Bronc didn’t let up. “We will find her. But I need you in control. If you go full animal, you lose her for good.”
I forced air into my lungs. His Alpha command stopped me dead in my tracks. Subdued me. I felt more human than animal instantly.
Wrecker finished a last keystroke, then whirled his chair to face me, his eyes gone flat and feral. “We need the Angel King. Now. Only he’s gonna have the juice to track Maltraz in whatever hellhole he just crawled into.”
Bronc nodded. “Get Aspen. Call her father. Tell him it’s a pack matter and a Council matter both.”
Wrecker leaned out the door and yelled for Papa who was directing the other wolves to handle interference with the humans. He told him to have Aspen see if she could get ahold of Archon and get him here as soon as possible. Bronc gave my shoulder another squeeze, then let go. “You ready, Gunner?”
I gritted my teeth.
“Ready,” I said, and meant it.
We weren’t going to wait.
We were going to rip the world apart until we got her back.
If you want to see a pack’s true colors, kick it square in the teeth.
The moment Maltraz took Brie, Iron Valor snapped into formation like a fire team on D-Day. The patrons had started to thin as the night had worn on. The only people left were serious buyers.
Maddie managed to calm Inez down and explain that Lysander would call her as soon as he had things sorted. She was content to go back to Amarillo with the large contingent of family who’d come to see her big debut. She was leaving for Santa Fe in the morning and told Maddie to tell Lysander she sends her love.
“Everyone, I am so sorry,” Ms. Pearl called, her Southern drawl smooth and comforting as a glass of sweet tea. “We’re experiencing a small emergency upstairs, so the evening is going to be cut short by a few minutes. If y’all would kindly follow us toward the studio side, you can grab additional treats on your way out.” She smiled at every face, and somehow it worked; people automatically wanted to follow her lead. And people were content as long as Aspen’s sweets were still available. Juliet, round as a planet happily directed people to the exits.
On the far side, Arsenal and Big Papa ran perimeter, blocking the fire exit and the back door—nothing obvious, just enough presence that nobody thought about sneaking off. Wrecker disappeared into the utility room. Parker who’d just come back in was on his heels, both of them talking so fast and so low only wolves could have heard. Every member of Iron Valor not nailed to a chair found their station. Orders were barked, decisions made, and every second bought us time.
Nannette who’d only a while ago beamed with well-deserved pride now slumped in a chair, one hand white-knuckled around a mug of coffee, the other clutching Harper’s; both their faces stricken with utter disbelief in what had transpired.
I stood in the middle of the chaos, useless as a scarecrow. I wanted to do something; anything but watch. But Bronc had posted up a few feet away, and the look in his eyes was clear: Hold. Don’t crack. This is how we win.
