Page 144 of Contested Crown

“We should lock all the doors,” I said. “As soon as we can see a landing, we use magic to glue it shut.”

“We can, but then we won’t have enough magic for any sort of protective spells,” Cade said. “And we still won’t have any way to tell where Declan is.”

“That searching spell you did at the Jennings’ house. Could you do it here but not look for danger, just look for Declan?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Maybe. Isaac, can you do a searching spell?” Cade asked.

Isaac hesitated as all eyes turned to him. His eyes were sunken, skin gray, and he wasn’t making eye contact with any of us. Everything that had made him a good second was carved away, as though his single decision had ruined him.

“Yes,” he said finally. “Give me a minute.”

When he closed his eyes, his magic pooled on his hands, breaking through the skin as orange lines began becoming three-dimensional, each one unique. “What does he look like?”

“Shorter than me, but not by much. He has short hair, graying at the temples. Last I saw, he had a close-cut mustache and beard. He usually wears a suit.” How did you describe Declan? The man was larger than life. His every decision affected the city in ways that no one else’s did.

“He’s likescary, bro,” Joel said.

“Super scary,” Samuel echoed.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, and a general danger spell would ping everyone in the building.” Isaac shook his head. “I’ll try.”

A door up above clanged open, and we were out of time. Men poured into the stairwell, and I led the charge myself as we fought our way up to the third landing.

I had done the math; of course I had. Declan had us three, maybe four to one. He had us beat. And he had guns. But what he didn’t have was the flow of a pack.

Grabbing the two men in front, I yanked them off their feet and tossed them behind me. I didn’t even have to check to know that Nia was tearing them apart, her teeth and claws coming out. Once she started shifting, the wolves I’d put under her shifted too.

I heard screams, then silence. Nia pushed past me, and at the sight of an enormous wolf, at least one of the men hesitated, and that was all she needed. With a growl, she tore into his neck, the gun he was holding going off into the man next to him.

The rich scent of blood reached my nose, and my shift burned through my skin, overwhelming me. I held it off just long enough to growl at Cade, “The doors.”

Then I was shifting, tearing through Rhys’s gorgeous black shirt and shaking my fur. My bones were still popping, and the noise around me exploded into chaotic sound. I didn’t understand words, just the feel of a pack behind me—apack, the confidence it brought, the utter perfection. Apack.

The word sang in me, and I howled, the noise caught up as every wolf threw back their head and joined. The chaos of human noise, words I didn’t understand, grew worse, disjointed.

I could smell the metal of guns, the powder, the chemical stench of them, and someonefired. The burn sliced my shoulder, but I was on top of them, their blood spraying onto my fur, and it didn’t matter because I could feel the pack flowing around me, up and up and up.

We had to get through this, protect the people behind us, the pack that couldn’t shift, mymate,who couldn’t shift. I growled again, launching myself into the next target, grabbing an arm while Gabe grabbed another, and then we were tossing him down, Gabe following as I kept going.

Up, there was somethingup, something that tickled my nose, something that made a part of me I’d pressed down for so long seethe in rage.

All that was left of the press of people was blood and whimpering, feet running down, running away, a last shot aimed at Nia, that was answered with her ruthless teeth, a spurt of hot blood, then silence.

My mate was saying something, but I lifted my head and sniffed. There. There. There wassomething.

No,someone. The one person who could challenge me, who could take this away from me. Ha. Let himtry.

My mate was holding a black thing in his hand, frowning at it, following close behind me as I leapt the stairs, two, three at a time, an entire floor in four jumps. My pack was at my back, and I knew them.

Part of me curled in, hurting. I could have had this for years.

But it didn’t matter. I was going to get that scent, the one that smelled like…

My mind stopped, because I knew, I knew with a horrible, wrenching certainty what it smelled like.

I was following the scent of myowner, the man who’d bought me, paid me, and collared me without ever putting leather on my skin. I was going to find him, the man who’d thought I was his to own.

Roaring, I charged up the stairs until I found the strongest smell, leaking out the door into the hallway, and my mate was right behind me. He was shouting, he was saying something, but it didn’t matter because the door opened, and I pressed in, the entire pack right behind me.