I couldn’t see her, but Ivy’s fingers curled in the fur of my lower back as she pressed in closer to me. Even without her power, without the magic that’d drawn me to her in the first place, she still had some sort of sway over me physically. I knew it was the mate bond, but there was no clear connection anymore.
Hawk raised his hand, and his own power over air currents picked up. It stopped the air-wielder before they could launch an attack. I watched from the corner of my eye as Hawk closed his hand into a fist, sending the other creature flying backwards on a wind I hadn’t felt.
A creature with a big gun shouted, but I felt the cracks in the earth beneath their feet and called upon those breaks to weaken. Something clicked, the sound so slight I barely heard it, but as soon as it did, the corridor gave a warning tremble before falling apart beneath them.
Behind me, my fated gasped in horror as the floor opened. The soldiers had no time to escape it—all but one, that was.
The female from the dining room rolled out of reach. The others went down into the hall below us. The fall wouldn’t kill them, but I didn’t want to give them time to find a way to crawl back up.
I also didn’t want the other female to attack. She, I knew, was someone powerful—important.
Perhaps even a threat.
“Don’t hurt her,” my fated said, her voice coming out stronger—louder.
Across the chasm building between us, the other female cocked her head. “You remember me.”
Despite me growling, my fated pushed her way between Hawk and me. “Yeah. You made me shoot you. Said you were on our side. Is that still true?”
For a moment, the shifter remained emotionless, her eyes dark as if she were considering whether to lie to my fated or not. Was this about the attack on my fated’s home? The one where she and her family had been kidnapped and taken out several of Dante’s soldiers without being mated?
I glanced down at my fated, taking in the dark knots of her hair, the collar glinting in the flickering light above us. Despite that, she rolled her shoulders back. Despite the horror she’d been forced to face these last several weeks, she had hope.
When I looked back at the shifter female, she bowed her head. “I’ve been waiting to get pulled out of here,” she replied, taking a hesitant step forward. “I can help get you out, if you’ll have me.”
I stiffened. There was a chance she was lying. She’d claimed to be on our side, but the false king could have gotten to her. Changed her memories. Changed her allegiance.
I turned to Hawk, who met my stare. His eyes were dark again, like they had been when he stole the magic of the mind mage and the healer. “She’s telling the truth,” he stated, looking to the shifter. “She can help. But I can tell she doesn’t know a safe way out.”
The shifter—Storm—stepped back. “How do you know that?”
“Because he stole power from a mind mage,” my fated replied. “So, he’s likely hearing your thoughts right now.”
Rather than looking angered by the revelation, or even surprised, Storm blinked hard. “Well, that explains why you were targeted. I thought it was because of Lark Zephyr and his weird little crush.”
My fated crossed her arms. “That’s what I thought, too.”
Hawk, though, looked surprised—perhaps even betrayed. “He didn’t?—”
“Sorry.” He looked down at our fated mate, who pressed her lips together. “But it’s true.”
“Of course, Dante had to have his own reason. It makes sense if you were a wraith.” Storm looked down into the hole, where the rubble shifted. The fall hadn’t kept the other soldiers down for long. “I’m coming to you.”
“But there is no way out,” Cato replied, speaking up for the first time. He motioned to the other hole in the ground, blocking us from the stairwell that was now too damaged to go down. “There are only doors here.”
That didn’t stop Storm from shifting and leaping over the damage. Her form, an orange and black striped feline, hit the ground in front of us without a sound, and she shifted back almost immediately.
“There are ways out through these halls. How do you think Dante gets around most days? He only likes to show his face when he wants everyone to see him.” Storm looked at the device my fated still held. “Where did you get that?”
“From the mind mage wiping Hawk’s memories,” she replied, holding it up. “Why?”
Storm looked to Cato, who had a frown darkening his features. “Was it Ivor or the other one?”
“Ivor,” Cato said, brows furrowing. “Why?”
“He’s Dante’s cousin. The son of Sir Otto’s sister,” Storm said, taking the device from Ivy. “He has a whole lot of accessto these areas. Not total access like the High Council, but he gets to do whatever he wants.”
“Then let’s walk and talk,” Hawk growled. “We’re too out in the open.”
