Page 127 of First Offense

The game was finished.

And the king had claimed the board.

34

Auric

“Jerin isn’t among the dead.”One of the many items that bothered me about this situation. “I also can’t find a single portal.” I held up the watch. “Either this calls for specific requirements to gain access or it’s a dud.” I tossed the item to Novak for his review.

He turned it around in his hand, his gaze assessing. Then, with a shake of his head, he dropped it and smashed it with his boot.

I arched a brow. “Do you think it was a plant? Like a listening device or some sort of tracker?”

He lifted a shoulder, which I took to mean,Not taking any chances.

Layla winced in my peripheral vision, her mangled feathers slowly healing with Raven’s help. She’d used a blade to escape the netting, and one of the Noir guarding her had rewarded her by breaking her wing.

The image had me clenching my jaw all over again, my desire to murder her offender riding me hard. But Novak had already taken care of him.

Fuck, Novak had taken care of almost everyone.

It’d been a lethal dance unlike any I’d ever seen from him before. And I’d seen him fight. He’d always been a force of nature. But this was something else. He’d moved so fast that I almost hadn’t been able to track his movements. Like some sort of warrior god.

Then the heavens had eclipsed the sun, only for a few minutes, to express their approval.

Or maybe this realm just did that.

But I felt the energy in the air, the kiss of power radiating off his soul.

Something had happened. Something otherworldly.

He hadn’t commented on it. Maybe it’d felt normal to him.

“Fuzz,” Layla said, cringing as Raven fixed the worst of the break.

“Fuzz?” I repeated. “Really?”

She flashed me a fiery look. “Yes,” she hissed. “Fuzz.”

My lips twitched, and I ran the back of my knuckles over her cheek. “After you’re done, I’ll bathe you,” I promised.

Her gaze went to my blood-soaked wings and then to Novak’s feathers. “Maybe you should start with yourselves.”

“You just want to see me suck him off again,” Novak replied, causing Raven to gasp. Although, I suspected it wasn’t the crude statement that elicited her surprise so much as him speaking so casually.

“Are you offering?” I asked him. Because I could absolutely go for that right about now. I had a whole lot of pent-up rage that could use the release. And he likely did, too.

His gaze sparkled, and Layla’s cheek warmed beneath my touch. I bent to brush my lips against her temple.

“Look what you’ve started, Princess.” For once, I used the title as an endearment, not a chastisement. It felt good rolling off my lips. Her expression told me she liked it, too.

“The mountain range goes on for miles and miles,” Zian announced as he returned with Sorin. Novak had sent them off on a scouting mission from the sky. I suspected it had something to do with his disappointment in them leaving Layla undefended. But I couldn’t blame them for that choice. Raven was their mate. Layla was ours to protect.

“No ocean,” Zian continued. “No sign of civilization apart from a few random human huts. I’m pretty sure we’re in Asia, but I don’t know what mountain range or country.”

“We’re definitely in the human realm?” Layla asked, her voice a low whisper.

“Definitely,” Sorin confirmed. “With absolutely no way out of it unless you figured out the portals.”