“Yes, five total. The last I saw them, they were being attacked by Galiana’s main bitch witch. The same asshole who tortured and killed one of them.”
“One of your mates is dead?” His tall frame collapses onto an elegant chair with an expression that speaks of his own grief about losing a mate.
We don’t have time for catching up, and my tone suggests that as I answer him, “He’s a phoenix and not dead, or I hope he’s not, but that isn’t the point right now. We need to rescue them if they have been captured.”
“I’ll go see if they retreated to our fallback location,” Maxum says and brushes his thumb across my cheek in a goodbye.
I grasp his hand and hold it firmly. “I’m coming with you.”
“I won’t have you captured again.” Maxum presses his body up against me as if it’s betraying his idea to separate.
“If you will allow my presence, I can help retrieve your mates,” Erwald offers.
Maxum’s eyes snap up to take him in, finding him wanting. “I didn’t think you’d want to get involved. Don’t you like to lurk in the shadows?”
“How dare you?” Erwald growls, standing up from his chair. “You know nothing of what I’ve been through or what’s happened.”
“I know enough,” Maxum throws back at him. “You didn’t take care of your daughter.”
“I did the only thing I could do to keep her safe.” Erwald takes a few steps forward and I’m pretty sure this is about to devolve into a demon brawl.
“Enough!” I shout, stepping in between them with my hands out. “I need to find my pack. Now! So stop whatever the fuck this is and make me a portal before I zap your asses.”
Erwald’s eyebrows shoot up to his silver hairline, and he says in a wry tone, “I see you definitely inherited my demon side.”
Maxum only smirks at that comment, looking oddly twitterpated with me over that. Then he clears his throat andopens a portal. “We’ll drop out a few hundred feet away from the house and assess if there are witches in the area.”
Erwald huffs but squares his shoulders and gives us a nod. “I’ll stay close to Jadeana so you can focus on our surroundings.”
With a grunt, Maxum grabs my hand and we jump through to the fae realm. We land close to the small home we stayed in last, and the portal snaps shut behind us.
Crouching down, we peer through the vibrant foliage but find no one wandering around.
“I sense brainwaves in the cabin.” Maxum points toward the house. “But it feels muddled. I can’t tell if it’s our pack.”
“Witch magic, if I had to guess,” Erwald adds.
We hear a shout of pain coming from the direction of the house.
In my chest, my bonds yank hard. I bite back a screech of my own agony.
I know it’s them inside.
My mates are in pain.
39
DESPERATE TIMES
CALDER
Iknew this plan would devolve into a shit show, but I had no clue how horrendously this would go.
Our beautiful, loving mate has been ripped away from us.
The sheer terror and rage that pulses within our pack makes it nearly impossible to think. Not that we have time to.
And now?
