Fuck, fuck, fuck.Of course there was a magical trap. They had supes of all kinds here; they’d obviously put their talents to work.
“Uh, must have left it in yesterday’s uniform. Sorry, sir.” Julius grinned, affecting a drunken mannerism. “Won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t.” Bastian strode across the space, scowling as I tried and failed to back away. My legs were locked in place now; I couldn’t move them at all. “Because you aren’t Jameson or Creed.” He inspected the name patches on the chest of our stolenuniforms. “They’re drunken losers who don’thaveclearance to this area.”
The sound of running feet hit me a second later, and I knew we were up shit creek.
A second later, I felt the pinch of a needle stabbing into the side of my neck, and the world tilted on its axis. As everything started to go dark and I lost control of my muscles, I caught a silver flash under the sleeve of Bastian’s uniform, a single bright sigil dancing before my eyes as everything else faded.
I’d confirmed the general was wearing a control device, but it was too little, too late.
Chapter 65
Elodie
By the time I handed Bence back off to Leigh for the evening so I could get my weapons on for the nightly attack, I was worried sick about the lack of a response from Valens.
“You okay?” Leigh asked. I bit my bottom lip, and she turned, passing Bence a juice and turning on a kids’ show on the big TV in the middle of the bunker. “Give me a minute with Auntie Elodie, please?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, already wandering toward the couch, sucked into the show about puppies who drove colorful trucks as he sipped his juice box. As soon as he sat, a juvenile cat jumped onto the couch and curled up in his lap, purring contentedly as the little boy stroked his ears.
“Isn’t juice bad for his teeth?” I’d been reading up on parenting every spare second—of which I had few—and last night I’d found an article about the many dangers waiting to rot kids’ teeth. It was terrifying, and I felt wholly unqualified.
“He’s a wolf. Apple juice isn’t going to take him out. Don’t change the subject. What’s bothering you?”
“I haven’t heard from Valens since this morning. I’ve texted him three times, and I know he gets locked in on a project sometimes, but it’s not like him not to answer.”
Leigh shifted nervously from foot to foot. “He didn’t tell you? I thought you knew, or I would have told you earlier.”
“Knew what?” My heart was pounding all of a sudden, the center of my chest where our bond lay resonating with panic. Was that me or Valens? I couldn’t tell yet.
“He got the collar-removal device to work. Freed a cheetah shifter, and got some intel on an encampment right outside our border. Kane sent Gael with him, Samuel, and Julius to go check it out. He probably left his phone behind so it couldn’t make noise while they were stalking through the woods or some shit.”
I bit my lower lip, focusing on my breathing. He was fine. Gael was with him, and, yeah, as much as I wishhe’dtold me all that, it probably had happened fast. A breakthrough was great news, nothing to worry about.
So why did I feel like I was going numb from the inside out?
“How do you tell if what you’re feeling is yours or his once you’ve got a bond?” I blurted, rubbing the achingly cold spot in my chest.
Leigh frowned with concern. “If you only feel it right there where your fingers are, it’s probably the bond. Why?”
“I just feel cold and numb.”
Leigh whipped out her phone and dialed a number. Three tense rings later, she hung up. “Gael’s not answering, but I don’t feel anything wrong in the bond. I’m sure they’re okay.”
I nodded, biting my lower lip as my gaze strayed to Bence, giggling on the couch with Nugget.
Valenshadto be okay. For both of us.
I moved on autopilot as I armed myself for the battle, trailing out of the castle behind Galyna and Dakota, unable to follow their chatter as we passed a line of goblin catapults at the backof the field. The natural amphitheater where we were gathering was just a grassy cup when there were no seats or a dais set up in it. It almost reminded me of a natural caldera, like the top of a volcano. But everyone called it the amphitheater.
The cold had faded, leaving only a sick, numb feeling in its wake. I couldn’t pick upanythingfrom Valens, and I was starting to worry he’d shut the bond again.
We lined up in the empty amphitheater space, and Galyna shot me a worried look. “You okay? You’ve got to have your head on straight before they get here, or you might make a mistake. Maybe you should go to the back so you can see as soon as he shows up. Put a few more friends between you and danger.”
I snorted as the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the mountains, sparing a glance for the much-larger crowd of defenders we had today. I could see the goblins’ ramshackle catapults standing tall at the back of the crowd and spotted the lumbering Kodiak trio ambling through the crowd. The greater fae had arrived, as well, bolts of white power dancing here and there as they showed off for their wolf neighbors. No matter how many allies joined us, though, my place hadn’t changed.
“Since when is it our job to getbehindthe crowd?”
