What? Leaving? I wasn’t fucking leaving! Finding Ava was my priority, but even when we got her back, I wasn’t going to leave her.
Stone hoisted me to my feet.
“Let me go, right fucking now, Stone!” I swung my bound fists at his stupid head, but, of course, he ducked.
“Enough!”
Before I could regain my balance, more magic bound my arms to my sides and wrapped around my mouth like a gag. I was flung over Stone’s massive shoulder with no choice but to lay there while he strode out into the garden.
Chapter 2
Stone
I had so many feelings about Shannon my head spun. I’d gotten used to my need to both protect her and shake some damned sense into her. Her ability for self-destruction and her disregard for anyone who cared about her was jaw dropping. Or fist clenching. The urge to shift into my wolf and vent my anger by ripping apart another being was almost impossible to ignore. I needed to get to the forest, where the calming scent of pine would fill my nostrils, where I could feel the wind in my fur, and I could be free of these fuckingfeelings…
“Be still!” I commanded as Shannon fought to break her bonds.
Her growled response sounded suspiciously likefuck you.Unlike my usual reaction, I didn’t smirk at her sass. She’d fucked up big time. It was time to make her face her demons because, if she didn’t, she would drink herself into an early grave or get her throat ripped out for causing harm to one of her pack members.
Connor loved Shannon. She’d been a part of his life for a long time, way before they’d been incarcerated together, but he was the Alpha Prime, the King of Shifters, and if her actions put others at risk, or Mother Wolf forbid, got them killed, he would have no choice but to follow the shifter law and end her.
That wouldn’t happen. Not if I could stop it.
My draw to Shannon had grown over the years, and though I wouldn’t ever let myself succumb to the lure of another mate, the fact that she was a potential match for me made it difficult to watch her self-destruct without trying to stop it.
A rush of energy brushed over my skin, lifting strands of my hair like there was an electric charge in the air. Which, in a way, there was. The portal the Fae prince stepped through was exactly that. Energy, ions, and magic.
“Stone.” His blue brows rose, but there was no amusement in his expression as he eyed the delectable sight of Shannon’s backside facing him. “I see.”
“Yeah.”
“Where to?”
That’s why I liked B’nar. He was the heir to the Faery realm, but he was also like me; he only used words when necessary. That he was now my ruler, or at least the part of me that was Fae, didn’t intimidate me. We’d been through too much together. He would help me without needing payment in money or bargains. We had fought side by side, and I would die for him as willingly as I would for Connor. They were both worth my loyalty. And they knew they had it.
“For now, your palace. We need to be out of sight and away from here.”
B’nar nodded. “Keep your wolves tethered.”
And that was it. No hesitation or questions about why, only a reminder that the Faery portal would pull our shifter spirits from us, and we needed to hold onto them.
Shannon was weak. I could feel it, and it was impossible to hold back my snarl at the realisation that B’nar had sensed it enough that he knew I’d need to help her.
B’nar raised a hand to where Rawson must have been watching out his window. I hated leaving my brother when he needed help the most, but once Shannon was safe and could no longer hurt herself, I’d be back to help in the search for Ava.
The Mades had to be behind this attack just like all the others. The fuckers were instigating a war, trying to turn humans, shifters, Fae, and any other race they could find against the Original Vampires. But Count Balthazar Rossi was a powerful ally of the shifters, an Original Vampire who was as old as fuck, and the right hand of the Vampire King. That alliance was too important to lose. Mades were humans that had been turned by Originals and were now a vampiric race themselves. They were forbidden to turn others but were doing so in the hundreds. Not only were they turning humans, they were infecting them with the Blood Lust virus, a disease that turned their victims into mindless killing machines who massacred anyone nearby.
The actions of the Mades effectively ate away at the peace between all races. Balthazar did his best to hunt them down and infiltrate their covens, but it took a massive spy infrastructure and infinite patience. Something I didn’t have.
Shannon yelped as I walked through the portal and grasped onto my wolf spirit, which growled at being forced to leave my body. I ordered him to grab Shannon’s wolf and not let her go. He did, by the back of her neck, and held on tight; not enough to damage but enough to control. Her wolf was as wild as she was, snarling her displeasure.
I frowned. That beautiful spirit wasn’t anywhere near as strong or vibrant as she had been. Her fire was there, but it wassubdued. She soon became exhausted and just submitted to my wolf’s hold.
Unlike me, Shannon wasn’t half Fae. The pull of the portal’s magic didn’t affect me as strongly, but she should still be able to tether her wolf. The fact that I had to do it for her unsettled me.
B’nar strode ahead, trusting me to know not to deviate from the path into the Inbetween. The void outside the portal wasn’t somewhere any Fae or portal user ever went. If they did, they were never heard from again.
Shannon quieted, though her body remained tense, and I was sure I heard her moan. Her head was probably killing her, being upside down, especially with a hangover from hell. I shook my head. Pandering to her would be a mistake, but…
