Caitlin
The stench of blood turned her stomach, but Caitlin called upon her air to clear the scent from her nose as soon as they’d crossed the threshold. Cade and Liam kept her between them, with Peter bringing up the rear, and she was damn glad she’d spent so much time with the two of them in wolf form over the past few months. She understood them easily now, unless they got overly excited and started yipping and barking so quickly, they talked over one another.
Regulus had drawn them a map of the castle. The dungeons were in the northwest corner, down a long, curving set of stone stairs. He hadn’t been conscious when the practitioners had brought him to this place, but believed magic hid the door from the outside.
Caitlin reached into her cross-body bag and found the smoky quartz crystal by touch alone. Tracing several sigils in the air, she sent her element flowing out in all directions. Though the room, which looked to be some sort of common room with a large television on one wall and a pool table in the center, was pristine, her casting stirred whatever dust it could find and drew it towards the magic.
A bookcase? Could the Thirteen have used a more cliche spell?
She huffed, and Cade bounded for the wooden shelves that appeared to hold ancient tomes with Latin titles in gold foil along their spines. His wolf stopped only an inch away, sniffed, and swore under his breath. At least, that’s what Caitlin had always thought that sound meant.
Before she could take another step closer, Cade jumped and disappeared. Liam growled until Cade’s head popped back out in the middle of a row of books.
“Feckin’ hell. That’s...disturbing,” Caitlin whispered.
One by one, they all passed through the magic, and Caitlin shivered as its chill raised the hair on her arms. It feltwrongon so many levels, but if they had a chance to free Mara, there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do.
Torches provided the only light here, as if the practitioners wanted any prisoner to understand that the old ways were often the best. They descended for what felt like forever, and had to be at least two standard flights of stairs.
At the bottom, Cade rounded the corner first and growled, “Danger!”
A blast of light and power exploded off one of the rough-hewn stone walls, and Cade’s wolf whimpered and leapt back, a patch of fur at his shoulder smoking.
Caitlin used a bit of her air to cool the burn and sent out a locator charm. She held up three fingers, then dropped to one knee and took Liam’s muzzle between her hands. “I can’t sense Mara,” she whispered in his ear. “Only magic.”
Gesturing to the wolves, she indicated roughly where she thought each practitioner was, then conjured a thick bank of fog and sent it racing around the corner.
The wolves followed, snarls and growls echoing off the walls. Sweet, coppery blood was all she could smell, and finally, Caitlin yelled, “Now!”
Her next charm not only wiped away the fog, but stole all the air from the space. The wolves had been prepared, but the practitioners—the two of them left alive—clawed at their throats as they fought to draw breath.
Cade’s jaws closed over a short, squat man’s throat, and he ripped into the practitioner’s jugular. A spray of blood painted the wolf’s cheek, but he didn’t seem to care.
She couldn’t keep the charm active any longer or they’d all pass out, and air returned with awhooshjust as the last practitioner sent her mate flying away from her down the corridor. Liam’s body hit metal, and Caitlin screamed.
“That’s my mate, ya’ fuckin’ piece of shite!”
The compulsion charm came to her and flowed from her lips both easy and painful in equal measure. So many times, Fergus had used the same sort of charm on her, and she hated him for it, even after his death at her hand.
After she’d used one on Liam and the rest of the pack months ago, she’d vowed to never attempt one again. But if they couldn’t make one of the practitioners talk, they might never find Mara.
The woman, whose blond hair was shorn close to her scalp, looked to be around Caitlin’s age until she caught sight of those dark purple eyes. A century or more of wisdom swirled in their depths.
Thank God the practitioner couldn’t speak. If she’d been able, Caitlin was certain they’d all be dead by now. Or locked in one of the cells lining the passageway.
The earth shook violently enough Caitlin almost lost her hold on the charm. Eli. Whatever they were battling above ground could kill everyone below if they didn’t hurry.
“Liam! Are ya’ hurt?” Caitlin called out. Her mate growled, the sound weaker than she liked, but he limped out of the darkness and snarled as he passed the charmed woman.
All three wolves stood in front of the witch, and Caitlin twisted the compulsion charm to her will. “You will answer my questions andonlymy questions. If you try to say anythin’ else, yer words will choke ya’. Where is Mara?”
“Not...here.” Veins in the practitioner’s neck strained with each word.
“Ya’ consider that an answer? Hardly. Where is she? Answer or I’ll leave ya’ with no air to breathe at all.”
“Hidden.”
This woman was worse than Paddy, and the wolves were losing patience quickly. Cade snapped at her, tearing into her thigh. With a grunt, the witch collapsed to the ground and pressed her hands to the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
