“That’s definitely not normal,” Titus said, looking back at the screaming crowd. “And really fucking public. Going to be a pain in the arse to erase any evidence of this.”
“The Lessers aren’t humans,” Kace rumbled, body tense as the tattoos along his arms pulsed. “They’re shifters.”
Axel’s heart raced, his attention drawn to the entrance to Blood. He hadn’t seen Sam, waking up alone in a cold bed. He hadn’t sought him out, and he was pretty sure Sam hadn’t looked for him either. Axel didn’t want to swap one addiction for another, even if Sam made everything better.
“Ti, who was working tonight?” His beast snarled at him to move, to findhim.A growing pressure in his chest.“Ti!”
His cousin’s mouth set in a firm line. “Sam clocked in.”
“Go,” Kace growled, barely able to keep himself under control. “We’ve got this.”
Titus clenched his jaw, worry creasing his face before he split from his skin. His glyphs all glowed, so bright there was a flash before his beast stood in his place, three times the size of the man. Titus’s beast was silver, the coarse fur just as metallic as his irises. His markings pulsed with light, a perfect echo of the tattooed glyphs from the man repeated in thin black lines. Their beasts were a mixture of wolf and lion, bodies built for speed with a canine shaped head and thick forearms. Their paws held serrated claws, teeth designed to tear and shred through the thickest hide. They were created to take down Shadow-Veyns, but the three that stood at the entrance were something else entirely.
Axel waited a second for Titus to howl, teeth bared as Kace remained as the man. The creatures responded, and as they both turned to the bigger threat, Axel ran straight into the blaze.
“Sam?!” he called through the smoke, lifting his arm across his face. Flames prickled against his skin, not advancing but not smothering either. The furniture had all been toppled, what wasn’t charred broken as Axel picked out a few bodies lying amongst the debris. The fire flicked out, like an arm reaching as it caressed the top of the bar before pulling back with a snap. Liquid ignited, the flames seeming to ripple like water.
He had never witnessed fire like it, almost as if it was sentient.
Pops of glass, alcohol fuelling the flames as Axel crouched below the smoke, finding a blackened figure behind the bar. Blood thundering in his ears he moved closer, sinking to his knees with a hopelessness that stole his breath. Except it wasn’t Sam, the blackened husk nothing but a vague shape, and yet he knew it wasn’t him.
Find him,his beast whispered.Mine.
Panic seized Axel’s lungs.
A grumble, the familiar sound of claws on wood. Axel felt the air shift a milli-second before he was hit, relaxing his body to roll with the impact. He dropped to the floor, flattening against the debris before slipping back beneath the creature. Its bones clicked as it scrambled to his feet, head deformed with a split down the centre as if the skin and muscle was ready to peel off the skull. Up closer he noticed that fur covered it in black patches, the texture and dark rosettes reminding him of a panther. Its head too was definitely feline, the body wider than expected for any of the larger cats known to be in the city.
“What the fuck are you?” Axel growled, keeping his body low as heat licked at his back. He slowly reached for the table that had toppled over, the leg already broken off with the edge scorched.
The creature snarled, unsteady on its feet while the entire room seemed to shift, the ceiling showering dust across them both. Smoke burned Axel’s nose, grip tightening on the leg before he heard a moan beneath the crackles and pops.
The creature heard it too, head turning to the noise just as Axel lifted the table leg and stabbed it clean through its skull. There was no resistance, blood and matter squelching out as the end stuck into the floor, leaving it impaled.
Heavy footsteps, a hand landing on his shoulder and Axel almost broke it as he stood.
“Hey, what are you doing in here?”
Axel released the firefighter as quickly as he had struck, his skin beginning to redden from the heat, his back burning as fabric disintegrated.
“Get out!” the firefighter shouted through his mask. “The ceiling could collapse any moment.”
“I heard something,” Axel said, voice hoarse from the smoke. “Over there.” He gestured to where a beam lay burning, his beast already sensing it wasn’t Sam who had made the small noise.
Air stung his face as he was ushered outside, Riley approaching with a stern expression as a paramedic rushed over.
Riley ignored the paramedic, reaching over to grip Axel by the back of the neck before pulling him into a hug. Axel hissed out in pain, already knowing his back was a mess.
There were no other creatures when he pulled back, nor were Titus or Kace in sight.
‘They’re dealing with it,’Riley said mentally, not wanting to be overhead.
‘Sam’s not there.’Even mind to mind his voice shattered.
Riley’s irises shifted to silver when he pulled back.‘We’ll find him.’
Axel nodded, allowing his beast to shape his words. “He’s mine.”
Chapter25
