Page 31 of Allie

His honesty cracked something open within me—a well of emotion that I had been holding back, afraid to acknowledge the depth of what I was starting to feel for him, for all of them.

"Thank you for telling me," I whispered, squeezing his arm gently.

"Anytime," he replied, his usual lightheartedness returning as he winked at me. "After all, what are mates for?"

I felt sleep tugging at me again. Cradling Aspirin to me, I stood and made my way to my bedroom. Grant followed. We didn’t speak as I sat Aspirin down on the bed and kicked off my shoes, then removed my pants. I took off my bra without taking off my shirt, and Grant watched me with amusement.

“Are you staying the night?” I asked with a raised brow.

He shrugged. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

I yawned. “I’m too drained for anything other than sleep, but we can share a bed.”

He kicked off his shoes and removed his clothes, leaving his black boxer briefs on. “I can sleep.”

I let out a soft laugh and climbed into bed. He did the same and instantly spooned me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to his chest. Within seconds, sleep claimed me.

* * *

The next morning,Grant and I were cuddled on the sofa when Roan, Draven, and Asa showed up with a bag from Bob’s Diner. Good, I was starving and hadn’t made anything yet. Grant offered, but said he would likely burn down the building, which made me laugh.

"Tell me you've got something," I said, sitting up straighter on the couch.

"More than something," Draven replied, his voice low and resonant as he pulled out his phone and swiped through screens of notes. He sat down beside me where I was half laying on Grant. "We found a pattern."

I leaned forward as the others gathered around. Roan pulled the food out of the bag and passed it around. Breakfast sandwiches for everyone.

"Every victim had this," Asa said, tossing a small crumpled piece of paper onto the coffee table. I reached for it, smoothing out the creases to reveal a strange symbol. "It's a sigil linked to dark magic. Old. Powerful."

"Which means?" I prompted, meeting each of their gazes in turn.

"Which means we're dealing with more than some run-of-the-mill cult," Roan cut in, his jaw set in determination. "They're organized, meticulous. And they've been at this for longer than we thought."

"Wait," I pressed, my mind racing as I pieced together the implications. "Are you saying Doyle was... targeted?"

"Exactly," Draven confirmed, a storm brewing behind his steel-gray eyes. "He stumbled onto something, something big enough that they needed him out of the way."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, the taste of fear mingling with the metallic tang of adrenaline. The room seemed to close in around us, shadows stretching across the walls as if to echo the darkness we were up against. But there was no turning back now—we were in this together, for better or worse.

"Then we need to act fast," I stated, the weight of my resolve grounding me. "Before they come for us."

"Already ahead of you," Asa said with a grin that didn't quite reach his weary eyes. "We've got leads. Locations. Names. It won't be long now."

"Good," I breathed out, feeling a flicker of hope amidst the uncertainty. "Because I'm done being the victim. It's time we take the fight to them."

14

ALLIE

The air crackled with magic as we slipped through the shadow-laden corridors of an abandoned warehouse, the same one where the cult had met a few nights before.

As we rounded a corner, the familiar stench of dust and decay assaulted my nostrils, but something else lingered beneath it—the acrid scent of dark enchantments.

"Here goes nothing," I murmured, reaching out with my senses to touch the veil of spells cloaking the cult members that I could sense were there. With a deep breath, I chanted under my breath, the words ancient and powerful.

A blinding flash erupted from my outstretched hands, racing towards the group huddled at the far end of the room. For a moment, there was silence, then a collective gasp echoed off the walls as masks—both literal and magical—dissolved.

"Look out!" Draven shouted, just as a bolt of dark energy hurtled towards us. Instinct took over; I deflected it with a shimmering shield that sprang up around us. Roan lunged forward, his movements a blur, disarming one cultist with a swift, practiced motion. Asa's incantations wove a web of confusion among them, while Grant's steady presence provided the anchor we desperately needed.