“Always.”
I watched him follow the others out.
That left me and Axel.
I turned to face him. “You’re not going home, are you?”
“No.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Please tell me you’re not thinking of doing something stupid.”
Axel’s grin was feral. “I have no idea what you mean.” He took two steps toward the door, glancing over his shoulder when I didn’t move to follow. “Are you coming?”
I shouldn’t.
If the three witches were there, it wouldn’t just be Yates and his hunters that we’d have to watch out for.
I might still have my magical shields that would protect us to an extent, but depending on how powerful those witches were, they could break through them eventually if I couldn’t offer any counter attacks. “We could get in the way.”
Axel shrugged. “I’m not planning on going inside the compound. They’ll get there way before me anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes. Common sense told me this was a bad idea. We didn’t know how long it would take Max and the others to do what they needed. Or what kind of resistance they might come up against. And I didn’t believe for a second that Axel wanted to drive there and just wait outside. “Why are you so insistent on going? I know Yates is involved up to his eyeballs, but it was Tombs who kidnapped you and he’s dead.”
“It’s none of your fucking business,” Axel snapped.
I was so utterly shocked by his outburst that I just stood there staring at him, mouth hanging open but no words coming out. I had never, ever seen him lose his temper like that. Not even at Midnight when he had every right to get pissed off at drunk people spilling drinks all over the bar.
It was out of character in a big way. Something had happened that I wasn’t aware of, but I knew from the tense set of Axel’s shoulders that there was no way he was going to tell me. “You’re going whether I join you or not, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Ah, fuck.
Axel was my friend. There was no way I could let him go by himself.
Against my better judgement, I walked up to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Please tell me you’ve got one of Rys’s cars and not that fucking death trap.”
His wicked smile was answer enough.
Fuck my life.
* * *
Dathal
If I never had to travel by teleportation stones again, it would be too soon.
I’d fully expected them to be like using a gateway, that I’d feel the magic brush up against my own. I was in no way prepared for the disorientation that gripped me when we arrived outside Yates’s compound.
It was… unpleasant to say the least.
I hated feeling out of control, and for the first few minutes while we regrouped, that was exactly what it was like.
As soon as the police witches had cast shields and silencing spells around us, Max rested a hand on my shoulder. “It’ll pass in a few minutes,” he murmured.
Sure enough, as I leant over braced on my knees, I slowly began to feel like myself.
Gabriel came to stand next to me, a magically infused bullet-proof vest covering his torso. Max wore one too, as did some of the others.
