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My legs threatened to buckle and give out, but I willed every drop of strength into them. I snorted and yanked my tail out of Flynn’s mouth before turning back to my human form.

“We don’t have time for you two to keep flirting,” I at Jasper and Olivia. “Save it for the wedding.”

“Well, at least I didnae have to see my brother biting yer bare ass,” he quipped, winking at Olivia. “That’s not something I think any of us wanted.”

“Would you take this seriously?” I barked.

“Fuck off,” Olivia muttered.

I took two large steps.

My beta caught my arm. “Not yet.”

Torbin lumbered up from the direction of the entrance we’d taken, and he turned to Olivia. “Nothing up there,” he rumbled, “but ravens are cawing, and I don’t believe we’ll be alone here for long.” He shifted back to his polar self, nearly filling the mine shaft.

Ravens.I should have ripped out the throat of the raven alpha when I had had the chance.

“It’s now or never,” I said. “We won’t be able to win against them all.”

Emma’s mind grazed my mind, and the sound of her whimpers lodged in my soul. Never again would I let her hurt like this, and Acheron wouldn’t live longer than tonight.

Emma! I’m coming!

I darted down the tunnel, stopping only when it split in two.

Which way… Which way…

A loud caw echoed in the tunnels, so piercing it made me wince, but my knees weren’t allowed to buckle, and I stayed upright. Behind me, in their animal forms, Torbin and Flynn dropped to the ground, rolling in the dirt.

Olivia pressed her hands over her ears. “They’re here! They must have been close.”

Ducking to the ground, I scooped up a long stick, ready to bash in the head of any traitorous shifter who thought they could keep me from my mate. An unkindnessof at least twenty ravens flooded the tunnels, dive-bombing our heads like bats, and I swung the stick at the birds, knocking at least three to the ground in quick succession.

A burst of wind turned Jasper into a fox, and he joined the fray. Olivia remained her human self, hunting down another piece of scrap wood and wielding it like a bo staff.

Without jumping, massive Torbin bit down, clamping his jaws around two more and crunching them before tossing them aside. Marcus disappeared into the shadows, his yellow eyes glowing as he hurried down the corridor. Jasper and Flynn launched into the air, plucking the birds out of the air one by one.

“Get back here, you asshole,” I bellowed.

He didn’t turn back, continuing on toward the chanting noise. His panther scream echoed up and down the corridor.

“Where the hell is he going?” Olivia yelled.

“Looking.”Swing. Miss.“For.”Swing. Miss.“His. Sister.” Swing. Impact. “If I had a guess.”

Another rumble shook the tunnel, nearly knocking me to the ground, my weakened legs barely able to keep me balanced. My allies braced as another rush of ravens poured into the mine. This time, half of them flew past us, shooting down the same tunnel Marcus had taken.

The Emma compass in my brain dragged me toward the left corridor, her scent lingering in the air, and I sprinted, bursting into the final stretch of tunnel. They were inside a large bunker that Acheron must have beenbuilding for a long time. The abandoned mine shafts had probably never been abandoned at all.

When I burst into the concrete room, I stopped short, and Emma’s name died in my throat. My mate was strapped to a table, weeping.

“I’ll kill you!”

Dozens of ravens circled Acheron, disappearing one by one as the evil glint in his eye grew brighter and brighter. He raised his arms, consuming the shifters as quickly as he could.

Emma’s head swiveled toward me, and her gaze landed on me. “Logan! Oh, god, Logan!” She tugged on the chains that fastened her to the table.

Marcus was nowhere in sight.