“She’s trying to stop us from arming shifters with anything that can interfere with magic or hurt witches,” Finley said, his scowl deepening. “Why does she even care if she thinks she’s just going to hide out until she completely controls us?”
Another shrug from Hunter. “Maybe she’s hedging all bets in case we manage to stop her. Whatever the reason, she’s either watching our movements or there’s another spy here in Golden Claw.”
“Or in Reeves Industries,” Talon suggested.
Hunter exchanged a glance with Slade. “Yeah, we’ve already considered that,” he said. “Slade is doing a deep dive into our employees again, but it’s hard when most of his time and bandwidth is being used to trace the excessive power usage around the shifter cities.”
“I’ve already found three possible locations from my search,” he said. “Talon and I plan on checking them out tomorrow, even though the program will take at least another day or so to finish. Longer if I have to expand the search parameters.”
My first instinct was to reach out and grasp on to both dragons, preventing them from leaving my side. Not that I could physically restrain them, but I was confident they wouldn’t fight my hold. The thought of them going out there, to possibly encounter Jewels on their own, was terrifying.
“We should go with you,” I said, when no one else voiced concerns. “If she’s keeping tabs on us anyway, there’s no point hiding our actions from her.”
“In our dragon form, we can cloak our movements,” Talon reminded me. “We should go first, like I did with Fletcher’s compound, and then we can reassess our movements as a pack.”
Hunter looked unhappy as he continued to hammer whiskey like he was training for a drinking competition.
Slade waved off my concern. “She’s no match for us. I hope she finds us so I can be the one to personally tear her to shreds.” I had zeroissue with that plan, providing none of my alphas were collateral damage in her death.
Needing some normalcy, we settled in after that to watch a movie. I curled up on Hunter’s chest, as our entitled alpha needed the most comfort tonight. When my stomach rumbled, Talon headed into the kitchen, returning in twenty minutes with toasted sandwiches.
“Florence prepped ahead again,” he said. “These were in the fridge, ready and waiting to be popped under the grill.”
He offered me the tray first as I said, “Yeah, we all missed dinner so she would have been stressed about us starving.”
Between taking bites of my Reuben sandwich, I leaned back to get comfortable, ignoring the twinge in my back. Hunter adjusted me against his side, taking my weight.
“Eat, little omega,” he murmured, his voice steady.
In our quintet, his wolf paced, in what appeared to be a manic back and forth motion.
Shoving half the bread and meat into my mouth, I chewed quickly, wanting all of them to eat too. Once I was done, they finished their food in record time, and I proceeded to fall asleep halfway through the movie.
I drowsily woke as someone carried me up the stairs and placed me on my stomach in the middle of Slade and Talon’s bed, their scents strong around me. My other alphas pressed kisses on my cheeks and shoulders as they left.
“Sweet dream, Shortcake,” Kellan whispered, followed by Finley, who spread another layer of cream over my tattoo, called me darlin’, and left me swooning. Half asleep or not, I enjoyed every second of their pampering.
Hunter’s wolf surged against mine, nuzzling down her side, while in the bedroom the alpha kissed my lips. “Sleep well, baby girl,” he murmured. “I love you. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Love you,” I mumbled, sleep already dragging me under again now that Finley’s magic cream was numbing my pain.
When the dragons slid in on either side of me, their naked, muscled lengths took away the last of my discomfort. It was blissfully silent and pain free in this bed, and the comfort of having my mates so close took me into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.
CHAPTER 36
EMME
Icy magic surrounded me, so thick I could taste it on my tongue. It was not my magic, this was bitter, overused, and pulled from darker curses than were safe for any witch to use. It stirred my own essence in response, but my wolf stood in the way to keep us safe from the taint.
At least internally. Externally, I was held and forced to submit to the witch.
“You shouldn’t exist,” she snarled at me, and despite the harsh tone, and darkness obscuring her face, I knew who it was. “Your kind is an affront to witches. You will be a shifter I cannot control.”
In my dream, it was as if the curse had come to fruition. We’d failed and I’d ended up here, in Jewels’ clutches. Where were my alphas?
Pain filled every nerve ending of my body as she hit me with a spell. There was no way to halt the screams that ripped from me until my throat ached.
Desperate, I reached through the bond, pushing past the insidious magic that held me immobile, and found my mates. They were alive!
