Page 32

THEY PLANNED the attack for the dead of the night.

With Caius’ old pack assisting, they had almost thirty shifters, plus Ghost. As glad as Max was to have the help of an experienced mage, he made sure to keep a healthy distance between them.

The mage who’d helped abduct him had vanished with the promise to send intel on the Order, but no one seemed to expect anything to come of that.

If the Order had orchestrated the attacks on Lukas and Max’s abduction, he doubted any of them would survive declaring open war.

The neighborhood was quiet as they slipped through the shadows and surrounded his father’s property.

Thanks to Quinn’s hacking, all the security cameras would show an uneventful loop for the next several hours, and the alarms were disabled.

Once they made their move, Quinn would disable communications and scramble the phone signals for the entire block.

It wasn’t much, but it would hopefully give them a buffer of time before the neighbors farther away noticed and decided to call the police.

Max stared at the long drive behind the iron gates, absently flexing his fingers and focusing on the bite of his nails against his palms. Even if he wasn’t expected to go in with the wolves, he couldn’t help the anxious twisting of his guts.

He’d been a prisoner in his own home for years, and he knew if he stepped foot inside, there was a chance he’d never get out again.

Aradia chirped and rubbed against his cheek, and he turned his head with a faint smile, nuzzling into her soft fur.

He thought he’d hid his nerves well, but Caius settled a hand against the back of Max’s neck as he gave orders to the others. He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, some of his tension easing when Caius dug his thumb into tight muscles.

Orders given, the last of the wolves peeled away, melting into the shadows to take up their positions and leaving Max with his pack. Caius slid his hand up and tangled his fingers in Max’s hair. “Do you want him left alive?”

Max sneered, unable to look away from his previous home until Caius stepped in front of him, forcing his eyes up.

He’d never considered himself a killer, and he certainly never wanted to become like his father, but obviously something had broken inside him at some point because he didn’t feel much need to tell Caius yes.

He’d imagined killing his father so many times, or dying tragically and painfully in so many ways, that it felt unreal to know it might finally happen.

“Do what you want with him,” Max said quietly, and was rewarded with a brief, fierce smile before Caius kissed him.

“Stay with Quinn.” Caius stepped back and glanced down the street at Leon. A moment later, a mix of howls from human and wolf throats alike went up, confirming everyone was in place. Then Caius nodded to Max. “When you’re ready.”

The first stage of the attack depended on Max. He knew the house layout well enough to surround it in a wall of flames, ensuring there was only one way in or out.

Max shook his hands and blew out a sharp breath. When he lifted them, small flames flared up in the center of each palm as he strode forward. The security gate activated and slid open as they approached, courtesy of Quinn.

There were the usual two men on patrol outside of the house, but Ghost took control of them.

They stopped midstep, bodies going slack as if all their tension vanished.

Then they turned as one and silently moved into the house.

Max might have been impressed if it weren’t so disturbing.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of mage she was, but his skin crawled whenever he got within a few feet of her. Like her magic was unnatural.

Once they stepped onto the main property, Max tossed the flames at the house, but he must have held back too much because they sputtered and died out.

Ghost scoffed but rolled her eyes and mimed zipping her lips when Caius glared at her.

Max muttered under his breath, creating large fireballs instead of flames and throwing them on either side of the front door.

This time they caught and held, racing down the sides when he spread his arms as if smearing the fire.

The sudden rush of power was exhilarating, the urge to let the flames engulf the entire building momentarily overwhelming him.

It’d be so easy to let the fire have its way.

None of them even needed to step inside .

If he concentrated hard enough, he could sense the structure of the house through the flames. The walls and floors and the heat of bodies inside. No one would escape.

Caius gripped Max’s shoulder and squeezed, bringing him back to himself. “We have a plan.”

“This would be easier,” he muttered, but he coaxed the flames into sticking to the outside wall. Gunshots echoed from inside as he nudged the flames higher to cover the second-story windows, followed by yells, more shots, and snarling howls.

Ghost jerked as if hit, stalking towards the door and swearing loudly in German.

“Go,” Max said, bringing his hands together to join both walls of fire at the back of the house. His heart stuck in his throat when Caius drew his gun and rushed inside, Lukas at his back.

Quinn stepped closer and pressed their shoulders together, but before he could say anything, magic flared nearby. A shimmering, translucent door appeared in front of them. Quinn’s snarl echoed Max’s own as the guy who’d attacked them in the parking lot stepped through.

“Motherfucker,” Quinn hissed, pushing Max behind him. Even Aradia let out an angry bark and lifted into the air in front of Max.

He’d known this was too easy. There was no way his father would still be here if he wasn’t overconfident in his safety.

The man said nothing as he drew magic around himself. Lots of magic. It reminded Max of Rían, but with far less finesse. A massive ball of swirling flames and smoke formed between his hands before he launched it at Quinn.

Max shoved Quinn to the side, but it didn’t help. As if the spell had been locked onto Quinn, the fireball tracked him and exploded when it reached him, flames raining down and erupting into a containment circle around him.

Quinn yelled and dropped to the ground, where he rolled and writhed as he tried to put out the flames spreading over his clothes.

“Quinn!” Not again. His pack kept getting hurt because of him. Because he’d Sparked and now some assholes thought they had the right to dictate his life.

Fuck that.

Max reached for the flames covering Quinn.

They weren’t his, and they fought against his control, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Not anymore. Quinn belonged to him, and he wasn’t letting anyone fuck with his pack and family again.

He wrapped his will around the magic and snuffed it out, but before he could focus on the circle trapping Quinn, the flames around the house escaped his hold, roaring brighter and hotter.

“Fuck!” He didn’t get a chance to rein them back in before a concussive force slammed into him, throwing him off his feet.

He hit the ground with a pained grunt and rolled, coughing to get his lungs functioning again.

He really could have used Rían’s amulet right then, but no one had been able to find it even when they’d searched the mage who’d abducted him.

A window exploded from the rampaging, out-of-control fire. He felt the rush of fresh oxygen into the flames. The way they caught on the wood and curtains around the window. If he didn’t call them back, everyone inside would die.

Max crawled to his knees in time to see the mage stalking towards him, a syringe in his hand.

Terror got him the rest of the way to his feet, his heart finally getting through the shock and painfully attempting to beat its way out of his chest. Fire erupted around his hand, and he launched it at the man’s face, only for it to be snuffed out with a flick of a hand.

Aradia swooped in with an angry bark, scratching the man’s face before dodging his slap and flitting away.

Before Max could try another attack, the man rushed him.

They hit the ground, and Max lashed out with every ounce of panic-driven violence and flames he could summon.

His nails scraped flesh, and he valiantly tried to twist his body to get his knees anywhere sensitive, but a hand still closed around his throat, cutting off his air.

When the needle came for his neck, he did the only thing he could think to do.

He twisted into the grip and sank his teeth into the man’s hand hard enough to taste blood, but the man hardly flinched.

A moment later, a giant wolf leapt out of the circle of flames.

With a snarl, Quinn slammed into the mage’s back and ripped him off Max before pinning him to the ground.

The needle of the syringe glinted orange as they struggled.

Max twisted enough to kick it out of the mage’s hand before he could jab it into Quinn’s side.

When Quinn finally got his large, sharp teeth into the back of the man’s neck, he finally stopped struggling, lying still as he panted with exertion .

Max groaned and pushed onto his hands and knees as he sucked in gulps of air. “Fuck. Don’t kill him.” He wanted answers, but now wasn’t the time.

The garage exploded, flames billowing out several feet with the acrid stench and thick smoke of burning gasoline.

Fuck. Fuck . Someone outside of the jamming signal definitely would have heard that.

He could hardly focus on anything beyond the stinging ache in his lungs and intense heat in the air, but Caius and Lukas trusted him to keep the fire under control.