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“If that’s the case, tell us where the bastard is and I’ll have this all taken care of in a matter of hours.” Blaise cracked his knuckles.

There was bloodlust in his Fire General’s eye. Stone and Aqua had a similar glimmer in their own and Alessandro himself was itching to avenge the pride of his Thunder by ripping the man apart.

“They discovered me after that interview in Greece. I was supposed to paint the wolves to be rabid and out of control, to not let them know it had been Ms. Dahl behind getting them under control. But after the reaction to Draconis’ incident, I knew I couldn’t be a part of that. The Coven is supposed to bring the world together, not tear it apart like Barros wants.”

Alessandro’s eyes wandered to Rowan, who seemed to have softened even further towards the man. He tried to stamp down his infuriating irritation.

“I’ve spent the last day dodging witches. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s going on behind the scenes.“

Dae glanced at his brother. “But he might know something that could lead us to Barros.”

Hye snarled and said, “I will not turn my back on my oath. Unlike you, I have maintained my honor. I will serve the Coven until my dying breath.”

Alessandro considered his options. He could rip apart Hye’s mind and find the information he needed, but if there was already one set of hands on the witch’s brain, he would leave permanent scars. Death would be kinder and dragons didn’t kill without just cause.

With that being the case, he had only one other choice. He could send his dragons to find Antoni Barros now that he had a name. It might take longer than getting the answer out of Hye, but it would be less messy in the long run.

“Ro, is everyone okay, still frozen?”

Alessandro’s gaze slid to Rowan’s bandaged hands. She had used her magic wrong again and was paying the consequences. Yet, here she was pondering the length of the damage to assess if it was possible to cast the proper reversal of deep ice.

As its creator, he knew it was a challenging spell, even at full power.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Louisa crossed her arms. Her ruby eyes narrowed at Rowan. “Kin and I will take care of it. You need to recoup.”

“You guys used as much magic as I did.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t take Abanoub’s blows straight to the head like you did. In fact, why don’t I take you to the infirmary first and begin with thawing Miasma or Lexine out? You could have a concussion!”

“I’m fine.” Rowan hissed, fighting the brunette’s wandering hands away from her face.

“No.” Kin’s voice was soft.

Something unspoken passed between the kitsune and the elf, and Alessandro watched as the fight drained from Rowan’s body. It was yet another shifter characteristic, an alpha being talked down by a member of their pack. There was no hostility in Kin’s resistance, just a statement of fact Rowan couldn’t refuse. It was how Aqua should have approached Alessandro about his silver eyes, but out of all his generals she was the most anxious.

“Fine.” She hissed. “But I’m calling Master Jah.”

“He’s with Halley.” Louisa sing-songed. “Last time you interrupted their romantic time, I believe her words went something like, ‘if you value your spine you’ll make sure to only reach out in life or death situations, and I will be the judge of where it falls’.”

Rowan paled at whatever memory occurred and Alessandro wondered if they were talking about Japhet and who the fuck Halley was if they were. Hadn’t he basically confessed to being in love with Rowan?

“We can help.” Blaise grinned, “I’m actually the uncontested champion of un-deep icing shit.”

“Only because you won’t count the last time I won.” Stone rolled his shoulders. “If I win twice in a row, that means you’ll have to swallow your pride.”

Louisa perked up. “Do you have to be a dragon to compete?”

Blaise raised an eyebrow as his gaze roved all over the vampiress. “No, but babe, you’re competing against dragons here. Vamps don’t understand heat the way we do.”

The woman began long-legged strides towards the nearest frozen elf and undid the deep ice in a matter of seconds.

“We better referee.” Alessandro led Aqua away.

Chapter 20

“I’ll go make sure our idiot doesn’t go overboard.” Kin said softly. “Rowan, if the Coven is behind this, they’ll send a backup if they don’t get their witch back. You should get ready.”

Rowan nodded her understanding and with Dae beside her, they watched as the spellcasters moved from body to body after making sure whoever they thawed had no residual effects of being encased.