To protect our mate.
When we landed on the private airstrip outside the city, Constantine and I shifted into our beasts to track Slade and Talon. He was a medium-sized ginger wolf, and while smaller than me all around, he was so fluffy that it gave the illusion of bulk. It was clear where Emme’s gorgeous hair came from. The pair shared many similar traits, including the fact that both were wolves who could wield magic.
Their newly blossoming relationship was complicated, but there was hope for them. Constantine had made his decisions to keep Emme safe and protected the best way he knew how. Her suffering hadn’t been part of his plan, and I sensed genuine remorse from him over what she’d experienced in those years with her mother. Hence the reason he was still alive.
I’d have taken him out without a second thought if he meant even the slightest harm to Emme. Slade and Talon probably two steps ahead of me.
As we crossed rugged terrain, his wolf slowed, and it was clear he didn’t spend much time in this form. My beast disliked his weaknesses, but we also understood that he’d been working aroundthe clock on the tracking spell and other shit, so we’d give him some grace.
When we reached Slade and Talon, we shifted back, and I pulled our jeans and shirts from my bag. We’d rushed out the door with nothing more than the clothes on our backs.
“Find anything?” I asked Slade as we got dressed. “I don’t like being away from Emme for long, so we need to hurry the fuck up.”
I’d already checked in on her multiple times through the bond, and while it was a relief to feel her safe with Kellan and Finley, I needed to be back there too.
“Agreed,” Slade said. “We have found what we think might be the entrance to their hideout. We traced our way to the edge of the shielding, which is closer to Silver City.”
Constantine did a little walk around, twirling his hands in small circles at his sides. “There’s definitely a strong magical shield here,” he confirmed. “Its old magic weaved in a distinct diamond pattern. Quite reminiscent of Termaine spelling.” He regarded the dragons. “It’s impressive that you found it, since they also buried most of it underground. The earth itself is our greatest magical interference when it comes to tracing spells.”
“We’re dragons,” Talon said, and that was the whole statement. Nothing more needed.
Constantine’s lips twitched, but he knew better than to laugh.
He focused on the ground once more, and then lowered himself so he could press his hands to the dirt. The sun had not quite risen yet, but I could see his focus clearly. “Definitely underground,” he murmured as he stood. “Show me this origin point.”
Without a word, the twins took off, and Constantine and I had to jog to catch up with them. It took us an hour to reach the outer edges of Silver City, the urban landscape spanning out in the distance. We were in an area with warehouses, similar to where we’d killed most of the Rogers pack a few months ago, even though we were on the opposite side of Silver City today.
Slade indicated we needed to head for a large, rusty-red building a few blocks from us. Everything here was secured behind chain-link fences, but we’d have no issue breaking through.
“My phone doesn’t have the right apps for me to dig into who this lot belongs to,” Slade murmured as we crept along, “but it stinks like the Rogers pack. In more ways than one.”
I nodded, my beast rising to give me extra senses as we moved. “It has the same general look of their other one.”
“The magical shield definitely originated here,” Constantine whispered. His steps slowed as he tilted his head back. “Oh, there are guards at the entrance.”
“We didn’t get this close last time,” Talon said as he crouched and waved for us to follow.
We ended up near a large bushy garden, blending into the shadows of early morning. From here, we could observe the six shifters positioned near the chain-link gate.
“There are witches too,” Constantine murmured, angling his head to the right.
I followed his line of sight to find two females in a roughly constructed, wood-lined watchtower.
Okay, there were eight of them and only four of us, but when you had two dragons, it was like a hundred shifters. We could easily take them out. Still, we had promised Emme we wouldn’t do anything risky, and if there were witches here, it was clear we’d stumbled onto somethingof significa?—
My thoughts were cut off as Constantine leapt out from the garden and took off along the fence line. None of the guards had a chance to turn their damn heads before his magic blasted out with enough force that even from back here my beast reacted to the buzz. By the time we reached him, all the shifters were on the ground, and there was a thud as one of the witches fell out of the watchtower.
“Simple knockout spell,” he said with a shrug. “They’ll be out for at least the next twelve hours, since none of them were remotely prepared for a magical attack. No security or shielding around them at all.”
Talon grunted. “That’s an oversight which happens when you believe you have all the witches under your control.”
Constantine could be the chink in Jewels’ plan that she never saw coming.
Slade, who was already moving to hide the bodies, gave Constantine a nod when he started to help. And fuck, that was as much respect as I’d ever seen him show anyone outside of our pack.
Emme’s father was winning over more than just me with his actions and willingness to help.
When the bodies were all out of sight, Talon destroyed the locks onthe gate and we moved through, closing it after us. On the expectations there could be more security closer to the warehouse, we kept to shadows and trees, but didn’t encounter anyone else. It was likely that those shifters weren’t supposed to be grouped at the front but had been bored and wanted to chat. Jewels had grown sloppy in her confidence, and we would use every advantage to destroy her.
