We started our descent, and I caught a glint of silver buildings shimmering on the horizon, telling me we were maybe ten miles from the city.
This is where Blaine sat on the council, Slade said, dropping faster.
Which makes it safe and familiar territory for him.
We landed in a parcel of uninhabited land, shaking off our hours of flight.
Exactly, Slade said.“This is also where a lot of his allies will be. It was always my strongest lead, but the others still needed to be eliminated.My brother was nothing if not thorough and methodical.
Shifting back took an extra second after being in our beast forms for so long. As soon as we were bipedal, we pulled clothes and boots from our storage bags and got dressed.
“Let’s check it out,” Slade said, taking off at a run. “The recent surge in power was triggered from a spot northeast of us.
“I didn’t see any civilization as we flew overhead,” I noted, easily keeping up with him.
Slade shrugged. “Me either, but I expect they’ll be hidden with more than magic. Possibly camouflaged as well.”
We ran through the territory, most of which had the look of an area that had been recently cleared. “From my research, nothing here was connected to Blaine or Jewels,” Slade told me, his head almost on a swivel as he tried to take in everything around, above, and below us. “But it’s easy enough to hide information under multiple shell companies. I didn’t have enough time for the days of hacking it would take to unravel a detailed web of deception.”
“I’d rather track hands-on anyway,” I said, still not buying into this whole online world bullshit.
Slade just shook his head at me, but he didn’t try and change my mind. We were similar in so many ways that it was almost scary, but our upbringings had obviously created more than a few differences also.
“Location is just up ahead,” Slade murmured, his voice much lower.
I expected to find a building or sign of habitation but there was still only wilderness. “You’re sure this is where you pinged the heavy power usage?” I asked when we stopped, basically right on the coordinates.
Slade’s gaze narrowed as he perused closer. “Absolutely. I checked it twice. Which is once more than usual, since I’m rarely wrong.”
Striding out in a wide perimeter, I used every extra sense I possessed to figure out what we were missing. “The previous two locations showed immediate reasons for their power registering so high,” I called back to my twin as I spun in a circle. “But this… makes no sense. It might be magically shielded or an underground bunker?”
Only, where was the entrance?
Slade did his own sweep, his expression both focused and annoyed. “There’s something hidden here,” he said slowly. “I can feel theothernesson or under this land, but I can’t figure out how to penetrate the veil that hides it. It must be magic, but usually dragons wouldn’t be fooled by a spell when we stand in front of it.”
Magic wasn’t my expertise, outside of my innate dragon abilities. I did know our kind weren’t susceptible to a lot of spells or normal witchy tricks. “Jewels knows us,” I reminded him, “and thanks to Fletcher, has a lot of insider information. She’s going to throw everything at this hiding place, especially if she has any of your essence remaining.”
Stolen dragon energy was how she’d ambushed Slade in the street, and since Slade’s essence was essentially mine, I would also be impacted.
“I’m sick of this bitch always being one step ahead,” he snarled, his frustrations bleeding through. “I’m usually the most powerful, but lately I keep chasing my damn dragon tail. I’ve even screwed up a few times, which never fucking happens. Hence the reason I checked the coordinates twice.”
“Jewels knows you too well,” I said, wishing I could wrap my hands around that witch’s throat and squeeze until her head poppedoff.So fucking satisfying. “You were always fighting a losing battle with her, especially after you dismissed her as a threat long ago. You know everything now, though, which means letting go of your self-anger and moving forward to take her down.”
I didn’t beat myself up for mistakes. I simply moved forward and never made that mistake again.
My pep talk didn’t ease his furious expression, but his essence was lighter. “Maybe we need Constantine for this?” he said, giving the area another glance. “If it’s magic, he’s our best chance of sensing it.”
“Yeah, I don’t think it would hurt to bring him in to help.” We were running out of time, and if this curse came to pass, my dragon would hit the self-destruct button and wipe all of us from this world. He’d never allow me or any of his pack to be caged by magic.
Not even Fletcher did that to me.
If I needed to shift, I never had to ask permission. Within the compound grounds, of course.
“Come on, let’s do a quick aerial search again, then I’ll contact Hunter and get them out here.” Slade stripped off his clothes in quick, succinct movements, and I ditched mine as quickly. When the items were packed in the bag, I called on the change.
Can you scent the magic in this form?Slade asked as we lifted off from the land.It’s stronger.
Circling above him, I took my time to really breathe in the area, noting a faint buzz of static electricity in the air, along with the sulfur of spells.There’s definitely more going on here than we can see.
