“But not that it doesn’t work like it should when he’s here.” Which would only end badly if he couldn’t give whoever it was what they wanted. “Come on.”
Sasha and Syl ran out of the house when I called for them. I found spare clothes for my dad and led him to one of the cars parked on the driveway.
“You’re on your own?” I said as we got in. “No fae guard?”
“No. I felt her pain from beyond the gateway because as well as completing the joining pact… I bit her. It’s not something we shared with the high court, so explaining how I know she’s in trouble would raise questions I don’t want to answer. I came to you instead. I’d appreciate it if the knowledge stays with your pack.”
“Of course.”
Sasha drove, keeping mostly to the speed limits, which made me grind my teeth, but I kept silent. It would do us no good if we got pulled over for speeding.
She pulled onto the side of the road when we reached the turnoff to Blake’s cottage, Max arriving a few minutes later. I felt Gabriel before I saw him and silently cursed Max for bringing him along. I kept those thoughts to myself too. They were both doing their jobs, and Gabriel wouldn’t appreciate me interfering.
He’d brought Dathal and Wyn, like I expected. With shifters, fae, and a witch, we seemed to have all aspects covered.
“What’s going on?” Max asked.
I filled him in on everything we knew, which admittedly was fuck all apart from Lady Sarhin and Talis were in some sort of trouble. No doubt it meant the others were too. “I tried calling both him and Axel on the way here, but neither answered.”
He scrubbed a hand along his jaw, thinking. “So we don’t know who’s with them, but we can assume that there’s more than one if they managed to subdue all four of them.”
“I agree.” Talis was my beta, fierce and loyal. He’d fight to his last breath to protect those with him. Especially Axel.
Fuck.
Dread settled in my belly. What would we find when we got there?
“If they have a shifter with them—”
“Unlikely, if it’s someone who knows about Axel’s magic.”
“I know, but I don’t want to rule anything out at this stage. A shifter would know that Talis’s roar would alert Falon’s pack. They’ll be expecting us.” He grimaced. “They’d also sense us before we could get anywhere near the house.”
“I can mask my scent,” Wyn said, stepping forward. “And silence my footsteps for long enough to get close and see what’s going on.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Since when?”
Wyn scrunched his nose. “I may have grabbed a couple of those bottles on our way out of the lab.” He shrugged, chin lifting a little. “In case we needed a little stealth.”
“Remind me to talk to you about the misuse of evidence when we get back.” Max grinned, all teeth. “But for now, do what you need to and get as close as you can without putting yourself at risk.”
“Okay.”
We watched him disappear into the trees, the noise he was making suddenly cutting off as the magic took effect.
All we could do now was wait.
I fucking hated waiting.
Both Dathal and my father had opted to pace while we waited for Wyn to come back, Dathal muttering to himself in fae as he wore a track in the forest floor.
Max and I remained where we were while Syl and Sasha kept watch along the road.
“You okay?” Gabriel asked quietly, coming to stand alongside me.
“No.” I cracked my neck, flexed my fingers, but the sense of wrongness wouldn’t go. The hairs on the back of my neck were still raised, and my pulse raced, like my body was on high alert. “Talis is in danger,” I murmured, knowing it was true the moment the words left my mouth. “I feel it.” Reaching for Gabriel, I tugged him close and buried my face in the crook of his neck, not caring that we had an audience. I needed him, needed to breathe him in and let his scent calm me enough so that I was ready when the time came.
It seemed like hours passed before Wyn appeared, melting out of the trees. The magic must still be in effect, because none of us had sensed him.
