Chapter 45
FINLEY
She broke the bond.
The anguish of losing our quintet connection was so immediate and debilitating, that Kellan and I slammed into the ground.
We were outside Warrick’s place, where we’d been trying to smash through the windows. Enforcers raced around us, having been sent here by Slade, but they couldn’t see what attacked us. It was all internal.
As the voices of my brothers faded, my bear was alone once more.
The weakness in my veins felt like death, and it was more than losing my pack, it was the depletion of essence that I’d shoved at Emmeline right before she severed the bond.
None of us had hesitated to share our power with her as she took on the witch, and with the connection gone, I hoped she’d held on to that part of us all.
Emme used to fear that we’d steal her power, and it felt right that we’d gone the opposite way and given her everything of ourselves.
Alone. We were so fucking alone. Everyone leaves. Everyone dies.
Emme. Emme was gone.
Half my soul was missing as I metaphorically bled out on the ground.
Not dead! Our mate. Not dead. Through the bellows my bear spoke, which he did so rarely that it snapped me from a fraction of my despair.
My biceps shook as I pushed myself up to stand, finding Kellan clawing at the ground as he too started to emerge from a state of debilitating shock. We were surrounded by enforcers, all of them protecting us as our bond got shredded.
“Alphas,” Horton snapped, “what happened? Were you attacked by magic?”
I waved him off. “Try and destroy the spell on the house,” I snarled, half-feral. “We are fine.”
With one last worried stare, they obeyed my order and left Kellan and I alone.
My brother scrubbed a hand over his face to wipe his tears. “How did she do that?” he whimpered.
I had my own tears, which I completely ignored. “She must have found the research from Fletcher’s notes. But how she did it is less important than the fact that she’s on her own in there.” Ragged snarls spilled from me, my voice shot to shit. “She’s on her own in there with that fucking witch.”
Kellan sobbed and rubbed his hand over his cheeks once more, fighting for composure. “Jewels was trying to take us all out by killing Emme, wasn’t she? Emme just saved our fucking lives in place of her own.”
I nodded, gritting my teeth against the pain crushing my chest. “Yep, and Jewels is going to be out for blood.”
With a few ragged inhalations, Kellan finally pulled himself together.
He stood taller, staring up into the window of the Annandale pack house.
“We sent our energy into her, and considering how drained my beast is now, hopefully Emme is packing power. It has to be enough to keep her alive until our brothers get here, right? Right?”
We were existing on hopes and fucking dreams, and all I could do was nod.
Even surrounded by allies and enforcers, none of them could break through this shielding.
We needed Slade and Talon.
As Kellan pounded against the wall, moving up and down the perimeter in the hopes of finding a point of weakness, I called Hunter. But his phone didn’t even ring. Slade’s either.
In my desperation, I tried Casey. “Alpha Finley,” she said, answering on the second ring.
“Have you heard from Hunter?” I asked his assistant.
She hesitated for a beat. “Not for a couple of hours. Have you tried his phone?”
A growl escaped me that was so loud I swore I heard her jump on the other end of the line. “Yes, I did. It isn’t even ringing. Can you track him?”
“Of course,” her reply was instant. “Is there anything else I can help you with in the meantime?”
A derisive rumble of laughter left me. “Not unless you have a means of cutting through a magical shield.”
Casey completely ignored my sarcasm, her reply as professional as always, “Yes. Alpha Hunter was working on a prototype that might do that. It’s here in Reeves—”
I hung up the phone and moved my ass over to where Kellan had started to scale the wall to reach the second floor. His beast was as weak as mine though, and he could barely keep his strength up long enough to pull one hand over the other.
“Kel,” I called, and he glanced down, arms visibly shaking. “Casey said Hunter has some sort of prototype in the office that might be able to cut through magical shielding.”
He let out a yelp as he released the side of the building, and I managed to break his fall before he broke his neck. We both stumbled our weak asses up.
“We need to get to the office,” he said. “The enforcers are here if Emme makes it out, but it’s more likely she won’t unless someone destroys the shielding.”
My gaze lingered on the side of the house, not wanting to be so far from her, but Kellan was right.
“She will hold on long enough,” Kellan declared, and I wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince. No doubt both of us.
I called out the plan to Horton, who waved us off as I followed Kellan to his car.
The Bugatti roared to life, and for once he didn’t give the engine a chance to warm up, tearing out of the street.
“Emme will hold on,” I repeated, needing to say it out loud too.
“If the witch wanted us dead, she can no longer use our bond with Emme to do it. Surely, she’ll now want to use her as bait, right?
” For my own fucking sanity, I had to believe that was her next plan, and not that Jewels would realize that by killing Emme she’d effectively destroy us all anyway, bond or not.
Kellan eyes were wide and dark as he raced through the streets. “That new plan would make sense. We just need this prototype weapon to work.”
“And hope it’s easy to use since the tech-bro side of our quintet are currently unavailable.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kellan said, determination lining his golden features.
He broke every traffic law in the city on his way to Reeves Industries, and when we slammed to a halt out front, we took off inside, leaving the vehicle doors wide open. The front desk staff called out welcomes as we raced past, which we ignored on the way to the private elevator.
This was used exclusively by the top-level staff, and we burst into the foyer to find Casey waiting for us. Her face was drawn, and I skidded to a halt at the sight of tears on her cheeks.
“Alpha Kellan and Alpha Finley,” she said in a rush. “I tracked Hunter. Did you hear what happened?”
Kellan shook his head, eyeing her closely. “No, we haven’t heard from them.”
She twined her hands together over and over. “I—I’m—I don’t know how—I—”
Despite our lack of time, I found myself adopting Dr. Karen’s manner of calming, as I held both hands up in front of me.
“Breathe in and out with me,” I said, exaggerating my breaths so they were slow and steady.
When the panic faded from her gaze, I nodded.
“Okay, now start again and tell us what you found.”
“His plane went down,” she choked out, swallowing roughly. “I confirmed that they lost tracking and signal—” She glanced at her watch. “Maybe twenty minutes ago.”
Twenty minutes.
Kellan glanced at me. “When Emme broke the bond.”
We’d all been annihilated from the force of our loss, but Hunter didn’t fly his own plane…
“Slade and Talon,” I murmured, coming to the only logical conclusion. “Their dragons lost control.”
Casey stared between us, and I wasn’t sure how much she followed, but she didn’t interrupt us.
“We need more information,” I said, unable to focus on my brothers while Emme was in danger. “Can you find out everything that happened?”
Casey’s drawn features were once again a mask of professionalism.
“Emergency services are on their way from multiple cities, and I believe humans are on scene too. There was nothing I could do to stop that. I’ll update you within the hour as I learn more.
Will you be making your way there with Omega Emme? I can arrange another plane.”
I shook my head so hard my neck cracked. “Emme’s in trouble too. We’re here for that prototype weapon you said Hunter was working on.”
Casey straightened, her focus intense. “It’s in Lab One. I’ll take you.”
No questions. No wasting our time.
There was a reason she’d survived working with Hunter for so many years.
Her heels clacked on the floor as she hurried off, and none of us spoke. The news of the Reeves plane going down was clearly not widely known, as the office staff went about their normal day. I tried my best not to think about whether our pack mates were alive or not.
The fracturing of our quintet had severed all connections, even those between us, and I couldn’t feel any of them.
My bear was all I had inside myself, along with a heavily frayed sanity.
He pushed me to release him, but I couldn’t shift.
There was no Emme to bring me back, and I wasn’t sure even my therapy and healing would be enough to save me from the bear’s protection today.
We descended into the lower levels via an industrial elevator, stepping out into a cool, silent room, heavy with the scent of disinfectants. Everything down here was state-of-the-art, with a filter and ventilation system designed to keep out every known contaminant.
It wasn’t always necessary for Hunter’s and Slade’s inventions, but they would never risk a cross-contamination.
We moved past zones that were clearly being used for the testing of armored vests and other magically resistant weapons. Casey led us through a series of locked doors, using fingerprints and retina scanners at each checkpoint.
“I suspect this is a dragon labyrinth,” Kellan joked, though his voice was flat. “Designed to prevent even the staff from finding what they need.”
Casey shot a look over her shoulder, sniffling lightly. “Alpha Slade never cuts corners on safety. All of your tech is protected.”
Of course it was. The dragon protected what was his, and his beast must have been losing it at Emme in danger once more.
The prototype was housed in a small lab, the door labeled with a sign that read Magic Disruptor.
“Their aim was to invent a laser which could disrupt the natural order of magic,” Casey explained, waving her hand toward a piece of equipment sitting on a pedestal.
It looked like a cross between a nail gun and a mini jackhammer.
“Magic is composed of matter, like everything in nature, and it can be disrupted with the right tools. This uses magical frequencies, along with a physical swing, to shatter the natural order of a spell.”
When I stepped closer, she stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. My bear immediately erupted into growls, which had Casey removing her offensive touch.
“No one touches me but my fucking mate,” I bit out, my voice so low I was surprised she understood the words.
She understood my intention at least, backing up quickly. No matter how great Hunter’s assistant was, I’d kill her if she touched me again.
“Apologies, Alpha Finley. I was just going to say that it hasn’t been properly tested.” She continued to back away, until she was almost out of the room. “It’s nowhere near ready to be used.”
I lifted it to let the solid weight rest in my hands. “Doesn’t matter. It’s our only chance, and we will risk it. Do you know how it works?”
She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t here for any of the preliminary testing.”
Which meant she was of no more use to us.
Kellan followed me from the room, and when we passed some of the other labs again, he grabbed a few of the armored vests and Taser S weapons. “We might need the extra help,” he unnecessarily explained.
“Whatever it takes to save our mate,” I said, my hands twitching on the disruptor as my bear grumbled.
Hold on, darlin’. We’re coming for you.