Page 132 of Contested Crown

“Could the mages absorb some magic from their consorts?” I asked. “Nia acts like a portable battery when she has to, so it can be done.”

The low rumble from Nia’s direction sounded more like a growl than I liked, and I held up both hands.

She scoffed and turned her head away from me.

“Maybe,” Rhys said. “But right now, we’re just trying to staunch the bleeding.”

“You need my help?” I asked Cade. I kept the words generic, but we both knew what I meant.

“I’m fine,” Cade said softly. “Look after your people, Emperor.”

So hehadheard that.

“Is it going to be as messy as when they did it to you?” I asked.

Cade shot me an annoyed look, then raised a single eyebrow. “I was unconscious at the time, so I wouldn’t know.”

Aware of all the eyes on me, I cupped my hand on his cheek and pulled our faces close, resting our foreheads together. I felt a tug of magic, not from Cade, not like he was pulling it out of me, but like the magic we wove together was pulling tight, two magnets drawn together with a snap.

Then I stepped back, glad to see Heather and Evelyn on either side of Coral, hands under her arms, ready to hold her up. I stood next to Theo, letting him lean against me. We watched as Cade and Rhys stood on opposite sides of Lily’s cot.

Rhys went first, their magic trailing down from their hands, surrounding Lily in a bed of flowers, each petal dropping from their fingertips delicately. Then Cade pressed a single hand into the air.

His magic darted out from under his shirt cuffs, twisting around Lily until it covered her entire body, the flower petals digging into her skin as Cade’s magic wove tighter and tighter, wrapping her like a mummy.

Coral whined, jerking forward, but I shot Evelyn a look. She nodded, tightening her grip on Coral.

For a long beat, Lily was still, and then she began to struggle, her scream muffled by Cade’s magic. It lasted a long time, one minute turning into two, into three. Coral was struggling to get to her mage, but Evelyn and Heather held tight.

When Lily stopped moving, Coral’s legs gave out, and she turned to me, rage in her face. “Youliar. Youkiller. You?—”

“Coral?” A voice carried over the room, and Coral stilled, her head turning to look at where Lily was sitting up. “Where are we?”

ChapterForty-Three

Coral let out a low moan and was across the room, clinging tight to her mage, rocking back and forth, wiping her tears into Lily’s shoulder. Cade and Rhys stood back, discussing the logistics. Evelyn and Heather came closer, their bodies relaxed but their eyes on me.

“So we aren’t okay with Reaper, but slavery is just fine?” Evelyn muttered.

“It’s not slavery,” I said. “Some wolves, especially if they’ve never known a good pack, find something in being a consort. I want to be the Emperor Wolf, and that doesn’t happen if I only represent wolves I like.”

“You keep saying that,” Gabe said. “But your pack is, like, half an hour old. How are you going to get every other pack on board?”

“With time,” I said. “And patience. The old emperor didn’t do it in a day. She built a community that took years.”

“The old emperor?” Evelyn raised an eyebrow. “The Castillo Pack alpha was never officially crowned.”

“But you still knew who I was talking about,” I said, my lip quirking up. “So that means she was emperor.”

Cade and Rhys moved on to the next mage and worked quickly together to cut off the magic of the rest of the mages. I approached Cade when he reached one of the last mages, but he waved me off, and I went back to the pack. It didn’t take long. Once they got into the rhythm, it was done within forty-five minutes.

Gabe’s phone pinged, and he looked down. “The church is here.”

The front door of the church creaked open, and three sets of footsteps walked down the aisle, coming directly toward us. Evelyn, Heather, and Gabe immediately spread out, covering key points in the room.

“I thought the wolves outside were keeping watch?” I asked sharply.

Gabe looked down at his phone, frowning. “It’s priests. They didn’t knowhowto keep them out.”