Page 41 of Contested Crown

I swore. “Cade, you need to listen to me. We’re going to get up. We’re going to walk into the kitchen.”

Cade stared at me, eyes wide. Finally, he nodded. The mage circled the bar, checking every single person I had touched. As the waitress came by, her tray heavy with drinks and food, I pushed out my foot just enough to trip her.

Guilt would have to come later. For now, the loud noise drew every eye in the place, and Cade and I both sprang to our feet, along with a couple of people at neighboring tables.

“Are you okay? Do you need help?” I asked loudly.

She shook her head, sitting back and trying to shake liquid off her arms and hands. “No, thank you.”

As three other servers converged on her, including one of the bartenders, Cade and I slunk back. He followed my lead, his movements painfully jerky. We made it to the door to the kitchen, and I risked glancing at the mage. He was staring at us.

We pushed through the kitchen doors, and I grabbed Cade’s hand. I didn’t even ask where the back door was, using intuition to guide us.

We burst through, and I took a half second to look up and down the back parking lot, trying to orient myself. Movement caught my eye, someone headed straight for us.

The wolf inside me roared, infuriated at this cat-and-mouse game. An alpha didn’t hide. An alpha didn’t run.

Then I looked at Cade and realized all over again that I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk him over my own pride.

When Cade looked at me, he only saw that I kept getting hurt on his behalf, that I was risking my life for a fight that wasn’t mine. But when I looked at him, I saw a second chance—a chance to have a pack, a chance to have…

Cade stepped forward, raising his hand. Magic formed in the air in front of him, but it was too weak, so anemic that I could see right through it.

I grabbed hold of him, tugging him behind me, and we ran past the cars, onto the street, straight into magical webbing.

At the last second, I threw Cade behind me. He landed hard on the ground, his eyes wide. I was familiar enough with this sort of spellwork to recognize that I wasn’t getting out of it without breaking every bone in my body and ripping off a fair share of my skin as the Powerball bonus.

The mage who had almost caught us outside the park stepped into my field of vision, but I was stuck like a fly, frozen in place, and I couldn’t turn my head to fully see her.

“Run!” I yelled at Cade.

I heard his footsteps, retreating down the street.

The mage was suddenly in front of me, her eyes too close to mine. In her hands, her magic became claws, extending her nails. She reached through her own spellwork and grabbed hold of my throat tight, digging in hard enough that blood trickled down my neck.

“I’ll kill him, Prince Bartlett,” she called out.

I heard Cade’s footsteps stop. “He has no part in this. Let him go.”

“Come with me, and I’ll free him.” Her nails dug in deeper.

“Cade! Don’t listen to her. Run now!” I choked off whatever came next as my vision went fuzzy, her hand cutting off my air supply.

“Stop.” Cade’s voice was cold, emotionless, but I could hear the fear underneath it, recognize that he was terrified. He was also too close. “I’ll come with you.”

“Very good, Your Highness. This way.” She released me, her spellwork disappearing. I collapsed down onto my knees, immediately pushing up, but it was too late. Her magic swirled, and the street dissolved around us.

ChapterFourteen

When we reappeared, we were in some sort of meeting room. An enormous table took up most of the space, surrounded by cushioned rolling chairs. The view out the floor-to-ceiling window was that of Los Santos Bay. Sailboats dotted the waters, moving swiftly with the breeze.

“Quite the view, isn’t it?” the mage asked. She smiled, completely friendly now that we had caved to her.

“It is,” Cade said thoughtfully. “I’m afraid I don’t know you.”

“No.” The woman extended out her hand. “Elizabeth Morrison.”

Cade reached out, shaking her hand. His face was completely blank, but I saw the hint of something in his brows where they pulled just slightly together. He was confused.