Guilt and worry rippled through the matebond with Rune and sank into my bones. I wanted to take her into an empty room and sink my cock into her over and over again until she realized none of this was her fault.
Jesper exhaled slowly. “Another personal target, then. Let’s move.”
Carson’s apartmentbuilding in the capital smelled like old coffee, patchy basilisk magic, and fear.
His front door hung crooked on its hinges, venom marks sprayed into the floorboards as if he’d been fighting. A shattered lamp lay in the hallway, sparks still twitching from its broken enchantment.
Rune crouched near the wall, picking up a small syringe and swiping her finger over the liquid at the end of the needle. A shiver worked through her. “Tourmalyke Type II.”
My jaw tightened.
Kyle moved past me, plucking two darts from the doorframe. “Human-made darts. Military tier. Whoever did this was trained. They knew what they were walking into.”
Sylver knelt beside the vial Rune held, her magic shimmering a faint blue.
“Carson’s power is weak. There’s no tactical reason for humans to want him,” Sylver murmured, staring at his venom on the floor as Kane cast a spell to test his magical essence.
Except therewas.
He knew me, and Allison was trying to get back at my mate. That realization hit me like a punch to the gut.
“This isn’t about strength,” I muttered quietly. “It could be about building a library of supernatural DNA.”
Rune’s hand squeezed my shoulder again, and worry flooded the bond again. “That’s not the only reason, but I will make the Whettlocks pay, Zuko.”
“I know,” I told her. “We all will.”
Slater and Corin had set up a portable terminal, screens already flickering with corrupted footage.
“It’s looped again,” Corin said. “Same glitch pattern as the phoenix kidnapping.”
“Same cloaking,” Slater added. “Same hooded extraction team, but instead of one, there are two. These bastards are getting bold.”
Anger flared through me again. Carson wasn’t strong, so he was essentially useless to the humans’ DNA scavenging.
This was clearly personal.
“There’s a venom trail down the stairs, through the back alley, and into the tunnels,” Kyle said as he jogged back into the room.
“Enforcers, with me,” Jesper growled out. “Lysa, Sylver, and Kane, stay here and gather all the evidence you can. Everyone else, go back to HQ and wait for us in the meeting room. Slater and Corin, when you get back, do a deep dive through all surveillance in the capital.”
I let out a frustrated hiss, my fists clenching at my sides.
If I could’ve just gotten my hands on a fucking human…
Rune’s phonebuzzed the moment we entered the meeting room back at HQ.
Her expression hardened as she checked it.“Fucking bitch.”
“Who is it, little vixen?” Koa asked.
Rune turned the screen so that we could see the message.
Unknown
Your mates are the link. We’re experimenting with something new…
My vision tinted red for a moment.
