“Let me try,” Constantine said, appearing at my side. I took in his pale, drained features and knew he was running on fucking nothing. But he was our only chance to save Hunter, so I’d take whatever he had left, even if he died in the process.
Talon remained in his dragon form, shifting his bulk to block us, though he wouldn’t be able to hold them back for long. “Heal him,” I demanded, my voice shot to shit.
There were only three shifters in existence that if I lost, I would lose myself.
Hunter was one of them.
Constantine flinched at my tone, recognizing how far beyond sanity and rational thought I was. Heat spilled from his fingers, and I found myself pushing into the bond to see if Emme was reacting to Hunter’s grave injury. Only, her wolf was still not moving, so unnaturally motionless that upon my focus, I knew she was in the middle of some shit too.
Instinct and logic told me that our arrival here had triggered another attack in Golden Claw. Jewels wasn’t here, which meant she had to have been there all along. In our fucking city.
No amount of dragon strength could break through the energy that held our quintet, not even to reach Kellan or Finley. Emme was ourheart, and whatever controlled her had our whole quintet locked down.
My shredded clothes remained where I’d shifted, and I decided to find my phone, in the hopes of accessing security or contacting someone. “Don’t stop healing him until his alpha strength kicks in,” I warned Constantine, the witch-wolf so pale he almost glowed.
“I won’t,” he promised breathlessly, and I nodded my respect.
Keep blocking them, I ordered Talon, racing through the crowd, crashing my lethal fist into any who got into my way.Something is up with Emme and I need my phone to check in with Kellan and Fin.
Talon’s dragon roared out his fury.I can’t feel her in our bond, he bellowed through our twin connection, the only one still functioning.We need to return to Golden Claw. She’s in trouble.
Finding my phone, I was relieved to see that the screen was only a little cracked. I took a second to scroll through my security apps, checking Golden Claw’s perimeter, our house, and the stadium.Golden Claw perimeters have not been breached. No magic. No witches. No unauthorized shifters.
As I suspected, Jewels had been inside already.
Dialing Kellan’s number first, and then Finley’s, I got no response from either and almost threw the phone in frustration. Talon, who was lost in rage over our mate, blasted so much fire through the room that it felt like a furnace down here. The air was also growing harder to breathe, but he didn’t care as he laid waste to the shifters and witches who dared side with the bitch threatening our mate.
On my way back to Hunter, I managed to kill another dozen shifters. By the time I reached his side, his healing had kicked in and his chest was all but knitted back together. “I’m going to help Talon,” I told him, as his gold and gray eyes bored into me. “We need to get out of here—Emme is in trouble. I can’t see it on the cameras, but I feel it in our bond.”
Hunter attempted to sit up, but Constantine stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Don’t you fucking dare,” he snapped, sounding far from his normal mild-mannered alpha. “You’re no use to Emme dead. Heal first, and then we save my daughter.”
The snarl from our entitled alpha was filled with the sort of rage that made lesser alphas cower, and I felt the same fury deep in my gut. Moving away from them, I called on my dragon and stretched my wings to get above the masses.
Screams rang out as the witches and shifters ducked down, blindly shooting magic my way, but no one here was strong enough to take on a dragon. Especially not a pissed off one.
Turning my focus on Blaine, I carved a path toward him, ignoring the bite of magic and claws against my side. When I closed in on the pathetic excuse for an entitled alpha, there was for once not a shred of arrogance on his features.
“Wait,” he called, throwing his hands up above his head.
I hovered a few feet away, while those around him bailed, leaving him standing alone and shaking. Spells pummeled into me, and they were starting to wear down my natural resistance, but for Emme I’d hold on through a lot worse than this.
“Jewels has been under your noses all along,” he burst out, probably expecting me to flip out and lose control. But I’d already figured that out. “She’s in Golden Claw, and has been waiting for an opportunity to take Emme out. That omega is your weak link after all.”
My beast reared up, but instead of lashing out as I would normally, I let that icy fury settle in my chest. I gave him one more minute to spill information, on the off chance it would be useful, and then decided I could wait no more.
Blaine howled as I blasted him into ash and dust, relieved that dragon fire left nothing behind. There’d be no blood or bone for a spell. No flesh of the pack that once tormented my mate. After what they’d put Emme through, all their deaths were far too easy, but at least they were gone.
Now we just had to save our mate.
My wings extended once more, and I lifted my dragon higher to turn and find Talon guarding my back.The magic was starting to strain your beast, he explained.
He’d stepped in to shield me without any hesitation.
Thank you, brother. Is Hunter okay?
Talon moved out of my line of sight, his powerful wings gusting wind around the cavernous room. Off to the side, I could now see Hunter and Constantine fighting side by side, standing on a field of dead enemies.
“We’ve taken this stronghold,” Hunter bellowed, and there was no sign of weakness of injury in his voice or energy. “Now, we must return to Golden Claw.”
