Page 42

KELLAN

S lade moved a split second before the rest of us and covered Emme. I added my body as a shield over her other side, and Finley was quick enough to burst into his bear form.

His bellow rang out as he used his bulk and strength to keep the worst of the debris from hitting us.

The witch hadn’t brought down the whole room, but she’d weakened the structure enough that if we didn’t get out of here soon, we might not be so lucky. “I need to shift,” Slade rumbled, surging to his feet, bits of drywall, tile, and wood flying off him.

“It’s too unstable,” I yelled, worried that his huge beast would bring the rest of the building down.

As I scanned the council, Emme started frantically shoving against my chest. “Where’s Hunter?” she cried, trying to crawl out from under our alpha pile.

Jerking my shoulders, which ached from scattered rubble hitting me, I sent up a plume of dust. It was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of us, as chaos reigned through the room.

Finley roared again, and I twisted to see his bear paws clutching Emme as he plucked her up from the chair.

The blue of her wide eyes were stark against the white dust powdering her skin and hair.

“We’ve done this recently,” she choked out to Finley, coughing through her words. “You can’t just ferret me out of here while our pack is in danger.”

The bear scoffed. Actually scoffed.

If we weren’t in a semi-dire situation, I’d have been fucking thrilled to see my brother’s snark and fire return. He was trying to change, and most of that was for the better, but it was a hard journey through the darkness and into the light.

“Shortcake, you’re our number one priority,” I reminded her, scanning the ceiling as another crack rang out. “Hunter will fucking murder us if we don’t get you to safety first.”

We all ducked at another fracturing crack, and this time a huge beam crashed against the table, setting off more growls and shouts. Which was around the time Slade lost his cool. “ I will fucking murder you both if you don’t get her out of here. Leave Hunter to me.”

Finley started to leave, and it was only Emme’s cry that stopped him in his tracks. Slade and I were there in the next heartbeat, examining her for injury, but except for tear tracks through the dust on her cheeks, she appeared to be fine.

“I can’t lose either of you,” she rasped, her voice filled with her wolf. “Find Hunter but stay safe while doing it, Slade. You’re my mates. I need you.”

My soul temporarily left my body when Slade leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek, tasting one of her tears. His nostrils flared as he breathed her in, dust and all. “A fucking building won’t steal us from you,” he assured her, and then he disappeared into the madness.

Finley took off again, and I was right with them as Emme wiggled against his hold. “I can walk,” she said shortly.

Normally, a panicked Finley-bear wouldn’t have released her for all the begging in the world, but in light of his recent determination to make amends, he immediately complied.

Emme popped up on her toes to pat his furry cheek. “There’s a good boy.”

Finley snorted and bumped me, resulting in my own burst of highly inappropriate laughter. “He doesn’t understand the perfection of a rasped good boy ,” I told her. “But you can send all of his praise my way.”

She didn’t get a chance to respond as we reached the exit and I all but dragged her out with the multitude of other fleeing shifters. As we moved farther into the open, getting clear of the building completely, Emme paused as she noticed the enforcer squads pouring into the parking lot.

Or at least that was what I initially assumed she was gawking at, until she whispered, “Uh, guys. Are you seeing that?”

As I spun to stare over the top of the gathered crowds, I blinked at the shadowy beast on the horizon. “What the actual fuck?” I was genuinely bamboozled by the sight of a dragon hovering between two buildings, its black body blending into the shadows.

“Talon,” Emme choked out, and I could feel her panic rising in our bond.

Finley wasted no time in snatching her up again, and now we were sprinting back toward the building, where there were two members of our pack with a chance of stopping Talon from kidnapping Emme once more.

Finley and I would fight, of course, but we weren’t any match for a dragon, which left Emme in far too much danger.

“How?” she croaked. “How—what? How’d he get out here? Did they let him out?”

Oh, that was a good point. “Do you think this was all a coordinated attack to distract us so they could rescue Talon?” I asked, really hoping that wasn’t the case. “Fletcher could have snuck into the city somehow too?”

“I really hope not,” she murmured.

Me too, pretty mate. Me fucking too.

When we reached the doorway of the council building, I turned back to find the dragon exactly where we’d left him, hovering in the background but not moving closer.

“Emme!” The roar echoed from inside, as Hunter and Slade emerged from the debris.

Our entitled alpha was held up by our brother, his body littered in cuts and bruises.

Emme temporarily forgot about Talon as she raced for Hunter, pausing when she would have normally thrown herself into his arms. Her hands fluttered in front of her as if she wasn’t sure where to touch. “You’re okay,” she sobbed, tears marking the dust on her cheeks again. “I thought we lost you.”

Hunter didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her, hauling her slight frame against his chest. Pain flashed on his face, but he hid it before she noticed.

“Not a fucking chance, baby girl. This was a blatant attack though, and we have the witch held for questioning. The council will find out everything before she’s disposed of. ”

“The other witches agreed to hand her over?” I asked, surprised. Those bitches usually stuck together against shifters.

“They had no choice,” Hunter snapped. “Either she dies or they all do for bringing a traitor into our house. Jewels backed us, and since two council members were crushed to death in the attack, we have grounds to take our justice.”

The attack. Right. “Uh, speaking of… Talon was just outside in the parking lot.” I already knew I’d drawn the short straw in revealing this bad news. Emme had her head buried in Hunter’s chest, and Finley was a bear. The lucky bastard.

As expected, I got the full slog of Slade and Hunter rage, and I managed not to piss myself. Like a fucking god. “He was hovering between the buildings, fluttering about in his dragon form, watching us.”

“We don’t fucking flutter,” Slade snapped as he raced from the building, the rest of our pack right behind. When we reached the parking lot, the crowds were infinitely larger, but there was no sign of a giant shadowy beast.

“I’m going to need to hunt him,” Slade decided, as his voice slipped dangerously low. “After I ensure you all get home safely first.”

“Not a fucking chance,” Hunter said. “I’m going with you.”

Finley roared his agreement, and Slade sucked in a few deep breaths. His aura was giving I want to knock you annoying fucks out and deal with this on my own , but he managed to keep it to a rough grunt.

“I’ll stay with Emme,” I offered. “While the rest of you hunt down his ass.”

“He can’t leave without me,” Emme reminded them, much more together now all of her pack were safe and accounted for. “Not unless he wants us both to suffer. We haven’t been bonded long enough for it to settle, and the strain would be debilitating. He’s close by.”

Hunter tightened his hold on her. “Can you feel him through the bond?”

Emme closed her eyes and breathed deeply, while pressing her hand to Talon’s bite. My annoyance flared at the sight of that mark, a permanent reminder of how the dragon had hurt her. My perfect mate .

I hadn’t been down to see this Talon yet, too afraid I might try to kill him through the bars. Which was the last thing Emme needed. Dragon or not, I fought dirty and without mercy.

“The bond is pulling me toward our house,” Emme said, her nose wrinkling. “We need to check home first.”

Our car was parked in the lower-level lot, but Slade’s bike was up here near the entrance. “I’ll go on ahead,” he said, eyes blazing. “I’m the best one to take him on anyway.”

Emme shook off Hunter and stepped toward the dragon. “You don’t have to fight everything alone. That’s why you have a pack.”

His expression softened just a touch. It was barely noticeable, but for Slade it was huge. “I’ll be fine, Snow. You worry about these three idiots.”

If this bastard wasn’t a seven-foot-tall killing machine, I’d have totally flipped him off for that comment. “Come on, pretty mate,” I said, wrapping her in my arms and thanking the goddess she was safe. “Let’s find our pack’s psycho dragon the second .”

Her snort of laughter was soft. “Too soon, Golden. Far too soon.”

I shrugged, sure there was never too soon when it came to bad humor.

Finley didn’t shift back, his bear loping off down the road. The gathered crowds of shifters called out to us, asking questions, but the enforcers kept them away from the building. “Finley will run home,” Hunter said shortly. “The rest of us need to figure out how to get into the parking lot.”

It wasn’t as hard as expected, as we found an intact set of stairs that led down to the undamaged lower lot. We all piled into the Mercedes and Hunter drove like a maniac to get us home in record time.

At the gate, our security team assured us there’d been no sign of a dragon in the skies, and to their credit, none of them showed any reaction to the question. Even though they knew nothing about Talon, and we didn’t make a habit of checking in on Slade.

As soon as we parked, we burst out of the car and headed for the containment room. Emme was running as she all but slammed into Slade, who stood in the pathway staring at… Talon.

Who was exactly where we’d left him …?