Page 71 of Bad Blood Alpha

Chapter 29

Flynn heard Kira gasp. He pressed close to her, his hand clamping over her mouth. “We knew he was making hellhounds,” he murmured.

Kira tore his hand away, clearly furious with him. She hissed, “We didn’t know he was making a goddamned army. God, Flynn! He used my sister for this. My blood! He’s turning the House of Al-Maddeiri into an army of monsters. If he brought them to Earth—to any world…”

It would take the military to fight them off. Missiles and mortar fire.

Or dragons…

Unless all the dragons were dead. Oh, fuck. The poison.

That’s why he was making the poison.

“We have to destroy them,” Kira said.

He could feel the need in her—to stop her blood being used for something so foul and evil. He could also feel the desire in him to make all her wishes come true. Even if they were wishes of blood and fire and death.

But his job was to protect her, and rescue her family. He had to keep his emotions under control.

“We didn’t bring enough explosives,” Flynn said. He wished to god they had. “Right now, we have to stick to the mission. Get your sister and brother out. Without them, he can’t make more. Then we can let the Shifter Council and the draken clean up this fucking hellhole.”

And if they didn’t, he’d come back and blow the place up himself.

“The Council doesn’t have jurisdiction here,” Caitlyn said, crouching next to them.

Flynn said, “This is a bubble between worlds. No one fucking has any jurisdiction, and no laws cover it. Which has worked to Ragnor’s advantage all these years, and is about to come back and bite him in the ass. The Council needs to know about the threat to our world. And then the draken can burn this place to ash, no questions asked.”

Flynn gazed down at the rows and rows of hellhounds, feeling the rage building inside him. Those creatures had been made from shifters: wolves and bears and big cats.

Shifters like his crew. Like him. Twisted and perverted, their souls stolen before they were born. Generations turned into evil, soulless killing machines.

This fucker made Alexander Grant look like an amateur. And Flynn was going to kill him personally.

He gave Sloan and Caitlyn most of the C-4, and instructions on what to do with it. “Set the charges, signal when ready. If you run into problems, give the emergency signal,” he told them. “If anything goes wrong on our end, head back home. You know who to contact. Ashley, Harrison, and the Silverlake pack. They’ll come in and shut this place down.”

Sloan said fiercely, “We’re not leaving without you.”

Flynn didn’t argue. When the fuck did anybody in his damned crew do what he said? “Then we better make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Sloan and Caitlyn took off, and Flynn and Kira headed around the balcony to the dusty niche that had once been the Minstrels’ Gallery. Where musicians played for parties and grand balls.

They were silent in the shadows, Flynn keeping his ears pricked for any sound besides the low beeping of electronics and soft hisses and gurgles from the feeds attached to Mayah, as that evil bastard Ragnor took her blood to feed his sick dreams of glory.

But there was nothing. The wizard must be asleep somewhere else. He had to sleep, didn’t he? Flynn just hoped there were no magical wards in the lab, to alert Ragnor if someone came inside.

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Kira scanned the room for wards with her dragon vision, and shook her head.

“Nothing warded but the cage, as far as I can see.”

Flynn either. Whether it was the bracelets or his bond with Kira, he could see the shield around the cage as well. And the faint sheen of magic surrounding the clear tubes leading from Mayah to the collection tank.

Were the tubes shielded by magic? Or was he seeing the magic in her blood?

They stepped onto the stone floor and froze, poised for an alarm to go off. When none did, they ran silently across to where Mayah was sitting.

Flynn checked her neck for a pulse. It was faint, but there. Kira started unhooking the tubes and wires, working carefully so as not to hurt her even more.

Behind him, Flynn heard the dragon stirring. He turned and saw one of its huge eyes open, glaring at him with rage and hatred.