“I have a plan.” I held up my hand. “Why don’t we just try to relax until Danny and the others get out there and we can all go into together. Calmer, more focused, and morepowerful…”
Please listen to reason.I wanted this asshat wiped off the face of the Earth just as much as anybody, but I didn’t want to lose my mate in theprocess.
Dominic started pacing, on the verge of shifting, pelts of fur rippling down hisarms.
“The shifters fighting in there could be dead by then. He would put out his cigarettes on me. Cut me with broken bottles. Anything to enrage me before a fight to get me to win.” Dom’s words tore my heart in two; hot tears leaked out of the corner of my eyes as my dragon tightened within me. My throat physically ached. I wanted to sob, wanted to scream, wanted tokill.
Mofo was gonnapay.
“Don’t move. I’ll berightback,” I barked, and took off running back to the bus, hoping they wouldlisten.
The moment I popped up the steps, Isaac was ready, staff in hand, poised for attack. “What is it? Your energy iserratic.”
I didn’t want to think of how he could feel my energy, so I pushed thataside.
Roxy peered at me from behind him, wild brown curls, twelve-inch hunting blade in herhand.
“A long time ago, our friend Dominic was tortured and used as a fighting animal in a shifter-fighting gambling ring. The sorcerer who did it is inside. Are you down to help us kill him?” I still wasn’t sure how much of a free-loving hippie Isaac was. I knew he wanted to kill Ardan, but was that all? Did he have a “hug trees and don’t kill” policy? Because if we were going to bust in there with a bunch of pureblooded powerful supernatural creatures, we would need all the help we couldget.
Isaac’s eyes crinkled and the grip on his staff tightened. “Gladly.”
Roxy stood, muscles clenched, ready to go, but I put my hand out. “We need a driver if shit goes south. Can you have the bus ready to go when we runout?”
Roxy’s face looked physically pained. “But I want to help.” She peered out the bus window and across the street. I knew she had a thing for Dom. They’d both hit it off from the beginning, but I needed Isaac more than her, because that place could be crawling withdruids.
“You are helping. Keep the bus running. Dom needs you,” I said, and grabbed Isaac’s hand, yanking him towards the front of the bus. I didn’t bother looking behind me, praying that Roxy wasn’tfollowing.
Isaac tucked his staff into his side so it couldn’t be seen too easily as we walked. The cloak of nightfall was our friend. As I led him into the alley, I stopped short in surprise. Dom was in lion form, guns and clothes crumpled on theground.
“Holy Mother Earth,” Isaac said, and I would have grinned at his shock if the situation weren’t sodire.
The sight of a four-hundred-pound lion—jagged scars all over his face and neck—it even made me stop short andstare.
“I couldn’t keep him human,” Logan stated, picking up Dom’s guns and stashing them around his person. He offered one to Isaac, who looked mortallyoffended.
Just then, a guttural animal’s whimper came from the basement window. It sounded like a dying wolf, and everything within meclenched.
Isaac peered at the metal doorway that led inside, standing barefoot as usual, not caring what dirt or glass he might pick up. “My magic isn’t as strong inside. I need access to theEarth.”
Whatever magic he could call up would have to be good enough, because I wasn’t sitting out here waiting for that animal todie.
I knelt down and picked up Dominic’s belt from his crumpled jeans. “I’ve got a plan,” I told thegroup.
Chapter 4
Isaac stood beside me,druid staff tucked into his left side as he banged on the door with his fist. We were in the alley, at the side entrance that was clearly where the fighting was going on, judging from the sounds and smells. I could hear a low animal growl, hard to say if it belonged to a cat or wolf, and that smell… that was the coppery smell of blood anddeath.
The door peeled open a few inches, and Dom leapt up with a roar. I yanked the belt back and he stepped down. Not because I’d been strong enough to pull him, but because he’d allowedit.
“What the hell!” The door man stumbled back and Isaac stepped up into the doorway, wedging his foot inbetween.
“I have a gift for your host,” Isaac said formally, even bowingslightly.
The man looked like a sorcerer. I don’t know how I knew but I did. He was tall and lanky, not physically scary by any means, but power radiated fromhim.
The man eyed Dom warily as the lion licked hislips.
“Too late, fight’s already started.” The guard seemed to have gotten his wits back together, because he stood erect and turned to me, nostrils flaring. My hair was tucked into my black beanie, and for all intents and purposes I probably looked like a flat-chested boy and smelled like a wolf shifter—thanks to ingesting Keegan’s bodilyfluids.
