by Dana Archer
He smacks my hand off him and points to the door. “I will not lose Sam.”
Lyla grabs the keys from his hand. “Then we all go. I’ll drive. You guys can focus on going after Sam once we get there.”
I stare at my true mate for a second as the denial sits on my tongue, then I follow her out the door. We’re partners. In all things.
Traffic during the witching hour leaves the bridge Sasha sent us to nearly deserted except for the black sedan, the same style of car Rick and I have been issued. He should be speeding this way in ours right now. I called him along with Kade and Ezra to meet us here. I had no idea what we’d encounter. I still don’t. The empty road ahead of us leaves me with an uneasiness neither I nor my cats can put into words.
Lyla pushes the pedal to the floorboard the moment she makes the turn onto the road while I scan the bridge and the area around us. Nobody’s here except for Izzy and Sam standing on the pedestrian walkway, studying the island visible through the low fog over the river.
“Thank goodness,” Lyla mutters under her breath. “We made it in time.”
“Yeah.” Colin’s pinched brows echo my feelings about this encounter.
Lyla slams on the brakes, squealing the tires, and comes to a stop just a few feet in front of where Izzy and Sam are looking over their shoulders at us as if we’ve lost our minds.
I grab Lyla’s arm before she tries to get out. “Stay in the car. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“But there’s nobody here.”
Colin scans the road behind us. “Exactly. Listen to Uri.”
My fingers trail over Lyla’s arm to her fingers. The urge to grab her hand and hold on for dear life is strong. With Colin already out of the car and hurrying to where Izzy and Sam are standing, I don’t have the chance to enjoy the brush of my skin against Lyla’s. The danger I feel in my bones has yet to strike, and I can’t allow either my pride mate or Lyla’s sister to face it. And Colin? As the next alpha of his family, he can’t walk into danger alone, just as I wouldn’t let my alpha do.
I kick the door behind me.
“Come back to me.”
Lyla’s rushed words reach me before the door shuts. I glance back at where she’s sitting behind the wheel. The same connection—this thing she allowed and I couldn’t resist—flares between us. There’s no need to share air any longer. I’ve walked through heaven, felt it wrap around me and accept me. I know where my home is—who my home is. There’s only one thing left to say.
“Of course. I love you.” I mouth the words just as I did when I spoke with Bryon. Whether I succeeded in pulling off the little “throwing my voice” trick or not is something I can ask her later, once we’re safe and have her sister home.
“You’re lying.” Power laces Colin’s growled statement, a reminder to my pride mate that although only one animal shares his body and soul, he’s not someone to mess with. Especially considering the woman Izzy is standing in front of could be his true mate.
I glance from Colin to Sam, allowing the part of me that can see auras to rise. It’s not a pleasant thing to do. The constant bombardment of people’s auras is distracting and overwhelming and something only Royals must deal with. In this moment, however, opening myself up allows me to perceive more than my vision would ever tell me. Too bad what I see isn’t something that’ll end in an automatic happy ever after for Sam and Colin. Their auras don’t reach for each other.
Yet.
There’s always the chance their auras will seek each other…if they ever reach for each other, physically. If not, Lyla will lose her sister sooner rather than later. But not today. I refuse to allow that to happen.
“Sasha told us your plans, Izzy. There’s no hiding them.” And since Sasha didn’t swear us to secrecy, I have no issue outing him. Lives are on the line.
“Oh yeah?” Izzy laughs. “What are my plans, huh? Other than my meeting with an informant being blown because of you. Again.”
Colin answers for me. “You’re planning on trading Sam for a box of your mother’s things.”
“Really?” Izzy makes an exaggerated charade of looking around her while Sam studies her with a focused intensity, as if she’s trying to decide who’s lying. “I’d love to get my mom’s stuff back, but who exactly am I supposed to be trading Sam to in order to get my hands on them?” Izzy laughs again. “Because even your blind twin would tell you there’s nobody here except us, and I guarantee you my informant doesn’t have it.”
“Colin.” I keep my gaze locked on Izzy. “Take Sam back to the car.”
Izzy’s small, pleased smile stirs my anger, the primal side I have to keep in check. I breathe slowly, carefully, and work on tamping down my rage while Colin snatches Sam and pulls her away from my pride mate. My attention never leaves Izzy. She does the same, not lifting a finger to stop Colin or Sam. Then they’re out of my line of sight.
My lion rises and merges its soul with mine, upping my instincts. It senses the change in the air as the car doors open and close. Still the feeling of danger lingers.
With Sam and Colin safely inside the car, I focus completely on my pride mate, but other than the glimpse of her smug grin, nothing reveals her mood or her reasoning for this little show. “What are you doing, Isadora Alexander?”
“Izzy.” Her smile widens. “Agent Izzy Gomez, to be precise. That’s what’s on my ID card anyway. That’s the name Shifter Affairs deposits a paycheck to, and that’s how I’m known in the human world. I’m a Gomez. Not an Alexander. And as a Gomez, I’m not bound by the same restrictions your pride has subjected its members to following.”
“So honor isn’t something a Gomez values?”
Izzy props her elbows on the railing behind her. “Honor is fluid. I’m more a means-to-an-end type of girl.”
I walk closer to where Izzy is leaning against the metal safety barrier. Whether she was about to betray my true mate’s sister or not, Izzy is still Kade’s niece, and Alexanders don’t give up on each other. “You’ll realize the Alexanders are too. We do whatever it takes to win.”
“Really?” Izzy wraps her fingers around the railing and leans toward me, stretching her arms behind her, and lowers her voice. “So why is my mother still missing?”
I take another step closer. The urge to grab Izzy and get off this bridge is strong. The sense of danger hasn’t abated, and I can’t help but think I’m staring at the source. “I don’t know, but we haven’t given up on her.”
“Neither have I.” Izzy does a flip, landing on the railing, and crouches to grab the metal bar between her feet. “Will you help me, dear pride mate? Will you help me get my mommy back?”
“What have you taken, Izzy?”
She laughs. “I’m not high. Not under the influence of a wannabe shaman either. That’s what Cedric is, you know? He’s a pathetic excuse for a practitioner of the dark arts, and he’s not much of a drug dealer either. The only thing he’s remotely good at is training women for the sex slave market he has his hand in. And you know what kind of girl is in hot demand among those who frequent the slave auctions?”
“What kind?”
“Females who belong to another man.” A look of pure disgust and hatred twists my pride mate’s features. “Soul-bonded mates, beloved humans, breeding partners. And the stronger the claim, the better.”
I keep my gaze on Izzy instead of stealing a glance at my true mate. “Like Lyla.”
“And not Sam. She’s truly worthless to them. The broken doll nobody’s claimed. Lyla, though?” Izzy makes an amused sound, something between a laugh and a snort. “She’s become the elusive prize. First claimed by the supposed biggest and baddest shaman, then by one of the mighty Alexander Royals, the pride that’s known to die for those they’ve claimed. Lyla already has bidders waiting to fight over her.”
“Cedric won’t get to Lyla.”
“And you want me to help you make sure she remains safe.” Izzy rocks forward, her back hunching. “Maybe tell you where
to find Cedric or how to save Lyla. Right? Well, here’s a news flash for you: that’s why I was here tonight.”
“To deliver Sam so Cedric can use her to get to Lyla?”
“That’ll never work.” Izzy laughs. “Sam’s worthless. I told you that.”
“Then what will?”
Izzy pushes to her full height and raises her arms into the air, then arches back, only her heels connecting to the railing. The wind picks up and lifts her hair and ripples the T-shirt she’s wearing.
Then she falls backward.
Instincts war within me, but there’s only one an Alexander can embrace. I rush forward, lean over the edge, and catch my pride mate’s foot. With a hard tug, I yank her back onto the bridge in front of me.
With a smile, Izzy balls her fist. The thin glint of silver between her ring and middle finger catches the light and draws my attention to the danger she poses, but she leaps before I can act. Her body smacks into me with enough force the railing at my back gives way. Gravity pulls us both down, but Izzy shows no fear.
“If you want to win, never give up on love.”
Izzy’s words reach me at the same time as burning pain races from right over my heart, outward. My blood turns cold. My limbs turn into lead. And my heart stutters, each beat shooting pure agony through my body, taking my vision and my strength and leaving me helpless and…
Angry.
Thirty
Lyla
Rage. Fury. Anger. I can’t name the emotion choking me. I simply know it’s the only thing keeping me going. With open arms, I embrace the dark thoughts eating at me. If Izzy, my one-time best friend, was here, she’d be bleeding at my feet. Our species’ differences or the reality she’s immortal and I’m not wouldn’t stop me.
Izzy will pay for betraying us. I refuse to allow my last memory of Uri to be the one of Izzy taking him over the bridge’s railing with her.
Whipping around at the sound of the car door opening, I focus on Ella Montgomery, the top dog of the West Virginia Shifter Affairs division and a human in the same spot I am. We’re both true mates who’ve been left out for anyone to steal.
“What have you found out? It’s been almost an hour since I watched that bitch drag Uri onto that boat.” Stealing my reason for remaining honorable with it. Now all that’s left behind is this need to save Uri any way I can. “I’m done being patient. I want Uri back. Now. He’s mine.”
“I don’t know where the boat went. Seems like nobody else does either. There’s been no sight of it upstream or downstream.” Ella answers with the same inflection I’d expect if I’d asked her what the weather was going to be like tomorrow.
On a curse, I stride forward and shove at my boss’s shoulder, knocking Ella against the closed car door at her back. “Then ask your agent. Izzy fell with him, then pulled his unmoving body out of the water. I watched the whole thing. Screamed at her to bring him back. If Colin hadn’t held me, I would’ve jumped after them.”
“And maybe died in the process. Colin did the right thing.”
“And what have you done?”
Ella turns her head and studies the river. “Made some calls.”
“About Izzy? About Uri? Tell me!”
“I know you’re upset. So am I. In fact, I expressed my frustration to the arm of Shifter Affairs that sent Izzy down here. Giving an agent with a personal interest in a case free rein to complete her mission is just asking for trouble.”
I slam my other fist into Ella’s shoulder. “You knew she was going to betray us, didn’t you?”
“No, not exactly, but the possibility did cross my mind. There was nothing I could do about it, though. Izzy’s case trumped any I could give her. Not only has Shifter Affairs directed her, but so has the Shifter Council. Nina Alexander must be retrieved. At any cost.”
“Even Uri’s life?” I want to cry. I want to scream. All I can manage is a small defeated whimper. It doesn’t matter if Kade and Ezra can still sense he’s alive. Neither can locate him just as neither can locate Nina or any of the other missing Alexander members. They’re shifters, not freaking magicians who can peer into crystal balls. At the moment, however, I wish they could. Actually, I wish they could summon a demon or something who’d help us find Uri.
“Uri will be fine. He’s powerful, and he has the best motivation in the world to succeed where Izzy has failed.”
“Me.” My grip on Ella slackens.
Ella steps several feet away as if putting distance between her and the crazy woman. “I just got briefed on the case before coming out here. While I don’t approve of the tactics used, all I am allowed to say is that Izzy was within her jurisdiction to use whatever means necessary to regain the trust of the organization running the major trafficking ring in North America.”
“At Uri’s expense! He is not expendable.” He’s the epitome of what a lover—of what a mate—should be. One who treasures me and will fight for me just as I'll fight for him.
Ella turns her back on me and walks to where the cleanup crew is working to repair the broken safety barrier. “Then do what you must to get him back. I’m putting you on administrative leave.”
Which means I’m free to use whatever means necessary to reclaim my home.
I jog to my car without giving Ella a second glance. It’s time to turn to the other side of the law. Lucky for me, I have friends among this city’s lost souls, and despite everything, I refuse to believe friendship is worthless among those living on these streets. I’ve given so much of myself to them.
It’s time to collect on that debt.
A bitter sound escapes me. Guess Sasha was right after all.
With my hand shadowing my eyes, I scan the same alley where I ran from the man who hurt my sister all those years ago and wants to hurt me now. No huddled forms occupy the entryways. No fog hangs low. And no shadows obscure the areas where Bryon often sleeps. The light of a new day illuminates everything, except I don’t see the man I came to find.
On a curse, I pivot. A wide chest fills my vision. A scream rips from my throat. Bryon clamps his hand over my mouth and bends close, the braids of his long, dark hair brushing my cheek.
“Do you have a death wish?” Bryon tightens his grip on my shoulder when I try to jerk back, then lowers his voice to a threatening breath of sound. “Or are you looking for a new owner?”
The question mirrors the one Cedric posed to me right before he bled me and sent me running, a plan I’m positive had nothing to do with giving me a chance to flee.
Cedric wanted to watch me. He wanted to learn what drove me. And he wanted to break me.
He unleashed me instead.
Fear is driving me, all right. Fear I’ll lose the man I love. Fear I'll lose more people I care about. And when a prey animal is afraid, it has two choices: run or fight back with everything it has knowing only death awaits. That’ll be my fate if I lose Uri. I’ll greet death…alone.
I smile, letting the crazed edge to my thoughts bleed through. “Time to pay up, Bryon.”
“A life for a life.” Ezra, my protector for this trip, steps behind Bryon while Odin moves to my side, his fur brushing my leg.
Bryon looks between us. “What happened?” Bryon’s tone is more serious than I’ve ever heard from him. In this moment, he could’ve been an agent accessing a dangerous situation.
“Izzy betrayed us. She was going to trade Sam for a box of her mother’s belongings, but instead disappeared with Uri.” And the sight of them falling will haunt me forever.
“Disappeared with Uri?” Bryon raises a brow. “Your male isn’t weak. He wouldn’t—”
“She fell with him from the bridge down by the island.” I step closer to Bryon. “He didn’t fight her. Didn’t try to stop their fall. He just…fell.”
“Our people and the local police combed the area, but there’s no sign of them or the boat Lyla saw Izzy pulling Uri’s limp body onto. They sped away, heading back toward the city, but there’s been no other sightings of it or them
.” Ezra relays the details he must’ve picked up from those talking at the scene.
“And he didn’t fight her.” Not a question. Bryon's repeating the fact I gave him.
“Rick seems to think she drugged him. There was a partially ripped baggie with a syringe cover inside it taped on the part of the railing they picked out of the water.”
“Then he’s likely drugged.” Bryon shrugs. “Or dead.”
“No!” Standing on my tiptoes, I press my hands to Bryon’s chest. “He’s not dead. Ezra told me that. Kade did too. Uri’s still alive. They just don’t know where. He’s no longer close enough for them to sense one another.”
“Then you’d best find him quickly before he meets that fate. I can think of no other outcome that would accomplish Cedric’s plan of breaking you. Kill your true mate, kill your will to live.” Again, Bryon shrugs. “Simple, really.”
“Cedric won’t kill my twin. Not without Lyla watching. He wants to break her, not just hurt her. What better way to break her than for her to watch Uri take his own life, just as her mother did, just as her friends did?”
Bryon lowers his voice. “If Cedric wants to take away Uri’s free will, he’ll need to summon a demon to strip it from him. Cedric’s not strong enough of a shaman to do it on his own. A human or single shifter, sure. Cedric could pull that off with his blood and a little magic, but not with a Royal like Uri. He’d have to overcome Uri’s tie to the heavens. No blood-tainted drug he’d pump Uri with would do it. Maybe confuse him. Mess with his head. But not take his free will.”
“We can’t find him before nightfall.” I grab Bryon’s arm. “Not on our own. Ella doesn’t have any leads. Nobody does. We need you to locate him for—”
“No. I’m under no obligation to—”
“Enough, Bryon.” Ezra’s voice holds a warning I feel slithering through me and chilling me from the inside out. “A life for a life.”
Bryon pivots. “He should’ve let me die.”
“He didn’t.”