Exposed.
“Axel,” Talis hissed. “What the hell are you doing?” He ran over to him, grabbed him around the waist, and hauled him back to the relative safety of the trees.
“Get off me.” Axel struggled against him, but Talis was immovable. All that shifter strength on display.
“Not until you calm down and tell me what’s wrong. This isn’t like you.”
Axel struggled a moment longer, then his whole body sagged. “I need to talk to them,” he whispered. “I need to know whereheis.”
“Who?” Talis frowned. “Yates?”
“No.” Axel shook his head. “Him.”
Talis glanced at me, eyebrows raised, but I had no fucking idea what was going on. He set Axel down, flinching when Axel moved away from him.
And then I felt it.
Magic.
A lot of magic.
I grabbed Talis’s arm. “Can you feel that?”
He snarled, teeth elongated, and I took that as a yes.
“I can,” Axel said. “Over there.” He nodded over to the left of the compound. “Come on.” He set off at a run, too quick for us to stop him.
“Fuck’s sake, Axel.”
He ran across the open area and down the side of the largest building in the compound. Talis caught up to him first as he came to an abrupt stop, and then I saw why.
Dathal stood there, Max alongside him in wolf form, with Wyn—one of the police witches slightly in front of them.
Shielding them.
“Nick.” Dathal didn’t look all that surprised to see me. Pleased, though. He held out a hand and tugged me close, then glanced at Axel. “You shouldn’t be here.” His expression softened.
Axel sighed. “I need to know.”
“He’s not here, Axel. Lady Sarhin has the guard monitoring the gateways. We’d know if he’d tried to come through.”
Axel visibly deflated. “I thought if I could just get close enough to one of the witches…” He trailed off, shooting a worried glance at me and Talis. “Fuck.” He scrubbed his hands over his face.
Talis twitched beside me, fists clenching and unclenching.
“You’re right,” Axel admitted. “I shouldn’t have come. Goddess, what was I thinking?”
I had so many questions, but there was a pressing one that no one else was asking.
I pointed in front of us, where the magic seemed to be coming from, but there was nothing there but grass. “What is that?”
Everyone looked at me.
Wyn spoke. “We think it’s hiding the refinery.”
“Have you found Yates?” I asked, looking around. “And the other witch?”
“Nope.” Wyn glanced forwards again. “But we think we have a pretty good idea where they might be. Hence why I’ve still got a shield up.”
