Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
RAJ
I swear we’ve been searching for hours, even though it’s actually only been about twenty minutes.
Still, the longer it takes to find Bryn, the more my temper frays.
My mate is in the hands of a being who hates him—because no matter what Lance and his high-priced solicitor say, he’s up to his wingtips in this—and I’m genuinely scared of what could have happened since Bryn was taken.
So far we’ve come across many more fae; some who’ve appeared in corridors to try to stop us, some who seemed taken by surprise, and all of whom attacked us. No one was inclined to come quietly or tell us where our kidnapped dragons are.
We’ve also discovered more evidence of weapons manufacturing—everything from machetes to bomb-making equipment and enough bullets to start a small war.
It’s clear that they’ve been making everything by hand; there are no assembly lines or industrial machinery, just simple hand tools and ordinary workbenches.
It’s painful to think that the source of the entire arms-trafficking operation has been under my feet this entire time and I had no idea.
The strangest thing we’ve discovered are the dormitories, bathrooms, and kitchens.
It seems like many of these fae have been living down here, which answers a bunch of questions but raises more as well.
Just how dedicated to this are they? Have they been selling these weapons to earth species, or to other fae with a bigger plan in mind?
Those are questions for later.
“I’m out of tranqs,” Jet says as we ready ourselves to breach yet another closed door.
I’m on my last magazine, and when I check it there are only two left. “I’m as good as the same.”
Cal unsheathes the iron dagger on his belt, twirling it in one hand as he raises his eyebrow infinitesimally at Ethan.
Ethan growls. “Fuck, fine. Save any remaining tranqs in case we need them, and I want all of you aiming for non-critical areas. I don’t want the legal nightmare of fae deaths at our hands.”
After what happened to Bryn I have no doubt it would be exactly as bad as Ethan’s envisaging, which is why I give him a sharp nod of agreement despite my tiger urging annihilation to anyone who’s hurt our dragon.
In the end, all four of us switch to the Glocks we already have loaded with iron bullets, as well as getting our daggers out.
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to reach our perimeter team over the radio now that we’re underground, and we have to trust that if anyone’s making it out of here without our knowledge, Skye, Kit, and Ayo are handling it.
Certainly if anyone tries to take our kidnapped dragons—and any other surviving kidnapped shifters—out of here, I have complete faith in my packmates to stop them.
My instincts are screaming at me that Bryn’s still down here, though.
Ethan gives the order to breach the next door, and the four of us enter a lab containing all sorts of glass jars and vials filled with different coloured liquids, the scent of bitter almonds lingering in the air. It’s similar to others we’ve found down here so we keep moving.
When we open the door at the far end, we immediately come face to face with Aire, Ember, and the three fae who tried to kidnap me.
All are unglamoured and Aire in particular looks very different than I’m used to.
Behind them on the right hand side of the room is a door, and from the way Aire and Ember immediately create some kind of crazy fire tornado, I’d bet my next month’s salary that’s the way to our dragons.
Despite all the air, wind, and earth magic we’ve faced down here giving us full confidence in the protective abilities of Ayo’s shield charms, it’s hard to break instincts born from years of training.
When Aire and Ember send the fire tornado straight towards us we dive apart and it whips straight past us, causing minor explosions and setting things alight behind us.
“BSG Task Force! Stand down!” Ethan shouts around the doorway.
My three would-be kidnappers send vines darting across the floor far faster than any we’ve encountered so far. I use my iron dagger to hack at a vine reaching for my ankle. The vine can’t get to me, but maybe this’ll hurt the fae wielding it.
Sure enough, the fae who punched me in the face near the airport screams. Revenge would be sweet if I wasn’t so desperate to get past these five.
We’re all firing when we can, but as the flaming tornado zooms out of the lab into the corridor beyond, Ember makes multiple fireballs which Aire uses her wind ability to send around corners to get to us.
Unlike the relatively harmless fireballs Ayo makes during training, these are white hot and definitely designed to kill.
“Hand over the captives,” I yell, then quickly duck out of the way of a fireball coming straight for my face even though I’m shielded. Something explodes behind me, sending glass shards flying in every direction.
It doesn’t take long for us to hinder the three earth fae with shots to their shoulders and thighs, forcing them to take cover as their vines stop moving.
The bigger problem is that the flames behind us are burning through the workbenches, turning the lab into an inferno, and the heat is becoming unbearable.
It means that our escape route once we reach Bryn and the others has been cut off, but hopefully there’s another way out.
Right now my sole priority is getting past Ember and Aire. I aim at Aire, but her magic is too powerful and she uses gusts to send our bullets off course, protecting herself and Ember.
Ethan gives Cal a quick hand command. The vampire blurs around several flying fireballs and incapacitates Aire, her inhuman scream so ear-piercing that we all wince.
“No!” Ember yells, and turns herself into a flaming torch.
It’s enough to drive Cal back when she advances.
I understand his caution; we don’t know if there’s a limit to how much our shields can take before they fail, and there’s no point taking any excessive risks to his undead life.
We need to keep moving, though. We have to get through that door, and something tells me a flashbang isn’t going to cut it this time.
I catch Jet’s eye, then dart a glance at the pouch containing the fae grenade he picked up. His mouth forms a sly grin.
“Want to see what a fae grenade can do?” I murmur to Ethan barely loud enough for Cal to hear, but the vampire blurs back to us immediately.
Ethan’s eyes flash with his wolf. “I have questions.”
“No time,” I say, indicating Ember’s too-close-for-comfort position. She’s still advancing, although us firing at her has slowed her down so perhaps iron bullets can penetrate fae fire.
Jet won’t throw the grenade if Ethan says no, but it’s probably our best option at this point. We’re low on ammo, very little’s going to penetrate enough to fully incapacitate Ember, and she doesn’t look like she’ll run out of power any time soon.
Ethan comes to the same conclusion. “Do it.”
Rather than pull the pin, Jet darts across the open doorway and hands it to me. “You should do the honours.”
I don’t hesitate. I depress the safety lever, pull the pin out, and after taking a second to aim just behind Ember, lob the grenade into the room.
Nature explodes. Trees sprout from tables.
The vines on the floor become snakes who turn on their creators.
A sandstorm engulfs Aire where her wing is pinned to the wall by Cal’s dagger, a wound on her leg still bleeding.
And torrential rain falls from the ceiling, soaking everyone including Ember, who becomes invisible behind a thick wall of steam.
I target Ember by her furious screech, lifting my rifle and using one of my two remaining tranqs. The noise level reduces drastically when her screech cuts off, and there’s a thud from within the steam.
I lower my rifle. I have a particular fae in mind for that last tranq.
Ethan and Cal tranq the others, and we’re finally able to escape the heat of the inferno at our backs where the lab used to be.
As we make our way across what’s left of the room, Ethan smashes the butt of his gun against the fire alarm on the wall, breaking the glass.
A shrill alarm sounds but no sprinklers start up, which is unfortunate, but I’m less concerned with the unconscious fae we left in our wake than who we still need to find.
My tiger snarls in agreement, still desperate to shift and resolve things with teeth and claws, and not understanding why that’s impossible.
The four of us reload our Glocks, take position, and breach the door. It’s another corridor, this one empty and with blank walls. We race along it, turn a corner, and head through the next door.
We enter a large room with six barred cells, every single one occupied. The shifters I’ve been searching for ever since Inali Li?ka was reported missing are all alive, thank goodness, albeit in bad shape, and Milo and Zara seem relatively unharmed except for the temporary loss of their dragon side.
But where on earth is Bryn? My stomach drops as I realise that of all the fae we’ve seen down here, we haven’t encountered Lance. Has he got Bryn somewhere? Fuck.
Milo, Zara, and Jay stagger to their feet when we rush in. The other cell occupants don’t look capable of moving and barely stir when we shoot the locks. As Ethan, Jet, and Cal move to help the others, I yank open Milo and Zara’s cell door. “Where’s Bryn?”
Both of them are unsteady on their feet and Zara sways, almost stumbling into the wall as she leaves the cell. “Lance took him. We need to hurry.”
My heart stops at the confirmation. The most likely reason to separate Bryn would be for weapons testing, if our latest theory about that is indeed correct. And judging by everything we’ve found down here and the state of these shifters? I’m going with yes.
My tiger rises to the surface, sharpening my vision and hearing, urging me to move, to find our mate and destroy anyone who’s hurt him.
When Zara tries to follow me I waste precious seconds steering her towards Cal. “Let the professionals handle this. My colleague will get you to safety.”
“We’re not leaving without our brother.” Milo is paler than normal, eyes tight with pain.
Then he properly looks at me and his eyes widen a fraction, finally registering that I asked about Bryn by name, albeit in my normal accent instead of the Cockney one he’s heard me use before.
He takes in the uniform I’m wearing. “Huh.”
“You need to let us do our jobs.” I’m very conscious that every second getting them to stay here means more time Bryn could be suffering, but I know he’d want them safe and out of the firing line. “I promise I’ll save him.”
“And we’ll help,” Milo insists.
“What he said,” Zara says as she tries to move past me.
I block her path. “We’re highly trained task force officers with shields and weapons. You two are barely standing. Trust me to get him out. Please.”
Milo rubs his forehead and looks at the other shifters, who clearly need assistance to even leave their cells. He gives me a reluctant nod. “Hurry.”
“Wait—” Zara says.
Cal gently holds her back as I run to the other end of the room and through the door. It’s time to save my dragon.