“This will take a combined effort,” Jewels warned everyone. “We can’t participate without a binding magical agreement, which will require blood from all entitled alphas to ensure no one betrays the other party.”
A few of the alphas jumped to their feet, the scent of their beasts wafting through the sulfur in the air. Slade edged himself closer to me, angling his body in front of mine. Kellan did thesame on my other side, as Finley got to his feet to move behind us. Protecting our backs.
My pack surrounded me on the chance this chaos spilled our way, but I wasn’t worried.
Until the redheaded witch looked right at Jewels, and when their eyes met she laughed and nodded. “You’ll never win,” she cried, turning back to the room. “Fletcher and our covens will rule you all.”
Her hands plunged into her pockets to pull out two vials, and she launched them into the air so quickly that there was no chance for anyone to stop her. Jewels dove away from her, throwing up a field of energy, but it was too late.
The vials crashed into the ceiling and an explosion rocked the building. Bright lights blinded us as screams rang out when the foundation cracked. Before I could suck in a breath, the council chambers fractured completely and the ceiling came tumbling down on top of our heads.
CHAPTER 35
KELLAN
Slade moved a split second before the rest of us and covered Emme. I added my body as a shield over her other side, and Finley was quick enough to burst into his bear form.
His bellow rang out as he used his bulk and strength to keep the worst of the debris from hitting us.
The witch hadn’t brought down the whole room, but she’d weakened the structure enough that if we didn’t get out of here soon, we might not be so lucky. “I need to shift,” Slade rumbled, surging to his feet, bits of drywall, tile, and wood flying off him.
“It’s too unstable,” I yelled, worried that his huge beast would bring the rest of the building down.
As I scanned the council, Emme started frantically shoving against my chest. “Where’s Hunter?” she cried, trying to crawl out from under our alpha pile.
Jerking my shoulders, which ached from scattered rubble hitting me, I sent up a plume of dust. It was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of us, as chaos reigned through the room. Finley roared again, and I twisted to see his bear paws clutching Emme as he plucked her up from the chair. The blue of her wide eyes were stark against the white dust powdering her skin and hair.
“We’ve done this recently,” she choked out to Finley, coughing through her words. “You can’t just ferret me out of here while our pack is in danger.”
The bear scoffed. Actually scoffed.
If we weren’t in a semi-dire situation, I’d have been fucking thrilled to see my brother’s snark and fire return. He was trying to change, and most of that was for the better, but it was a hard journey through the darkness and into the light.
“Shortcake, you’re our number one priority,” I reminded her, scanning the ceiling as another crack rang out. “Hunter will fucking murder us if we don’t get you to safety first.”
We all ducked at another fracturing crack, and this time a huge beam crashed against the table, setting off more growls and shouts. Which was around the time Slade lost his cool. “Iwill fucking murder you both if you don’t get her out of here. Leave Hunter to me.”
Finley started to leave, and it was only Emme’s cry that stopped him in his tracks. Slade and I were there in the next heartbeat, examining her for injury, but except for tear tracks through the dust on her cheeks, she appeared to be fine.
“I can’t lose either of you,” she rasped, her voice filled with her wolf. “Find Hunter but stay safe while doing it, Slade. You’re my mates. I need you.”
My soul temporarily left my body when Slade leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek, tasting one of her tears. His nostrils flared as he breathed her in, dust and all. “A fucking building won’t steal us from you,” he assured her, and then he disappeared into the madness.
Finley took off again, and I was right with them as Emme wiggled against his hold. “I can walk,” she said shortly.
Normally, a panicked Finley-bear wouldn’t have released her for all the begging in the world, but in light of his recent determination to make amends, he immediately complied.
Emme popped up on her toes to pat his furry cheek. “There’s a good boy.”
Finley snorted and bumped me, resulting in my own burst of highly inappropriate laughter. “He doesn’t understand the perfection of a raspedgood boy,” I told her. “But you can send all of his praise my way.”
She didn’t get a chance to respond as we reached the exit and I all but dragged her out with the multitude of other fleeing shifters. As we moved farther into the open, getting clear of the building completely, Emme paused as she noticed the enforcer squads pouring into the parking lot.
Or at least that was what I initially assumed she was gawking at, until she whispered, “Uh, guys. Are you seeing that?”
As I spun to stare over the top of the gathered crowds, I blinked at the shadowy beast on the horizon. “What the actual fuck?” I was genuinely bamboozled by the sight of a dragon hovering between two buildings, its black body blending into the shadows.
“Talon,” Emme choked out, and I could feel her panic rising in our bond.
