Chapter 2
drecken
. . .
“Calm down, Drecken,” Rowan’s voice rumbled, smoke pluming from his nostrils. “We are going to find her.”
Magic answered me before my words could. It thrummed under my skin and raised over my arms in electric arcs, vibrating the glass vials and labeled flasks on the workbenches. Heat crawled along the metal of the benches, and a faint green aura bled off my knuckles in hair-fine filaments.
The lab at Headquarters had been perfected by none other than myself. It was a laboratory where measurements mattered and perfection mattered more. Now my temper was unmeasured, ragged, and I shouldn’t have been in here in my state.
“Finals already happened,” I said through a throat that tasted like copper and thick magic. “How will Rune fare when she returns?”
Rowan’s sigh was patient. “Lake talked to Jarvins and passed her. She had the highest scores in the class, tied with her other mate. The vampire. Remember?”
I remembered.
I remembered how hard she’d pushed herself last year for each class. I remembered a dozen things that now felt useless.
My fingers flexed, and a string of blue-light arced from my palm, drawing an involuntary circle in the air that dissolved into symbols of protection. Symbols I wasn’t able to use on my mate because I couldn’t locate her.
“Right. And Dimitri’s parents were a distraction so that the humans could grab Rune. They should all be killed.” The words came out in sync with the magic sparks popping off me.
“But the Nocturnus couple were unaware of their part in that,” Rowan said. “Even though they probably should be offed, we can’t take the public outcry with them being so well known. Dimitri and his mother are famous pianists.”
“Dimitri hates his parents,” I bit out, magic sparking around my knuckles as the urge to send my fist through the nearest metal workbench hit me. “They should never have been released.”
“No, they shouldn’t have,” Rowan agreed. “But our hands are tied. We need to go after the ones who actually took her. They need to be punished.”
My pulse raced with a low, dangerous hum, and a thin arc of lightning shot from me and licked the edge of a sealed potion on the bench. The glass fractured, creating a web-like pattern reminiscent of veins.
The potion inside sloshed, and the bottle detonated.
Fire roared up in a column, heat blooming against the lab’s vaulted ceiling.
Instinct took over; I reached out with both hands and wrapped the burst in a translucent bubble of magic, a pocket of air that sizzled with heat but refused to touch anything outside.
The bubble held, and I used telekinesis to put it in a magic-proof jar.
I set it on the remains of a bench below that had been scorched into char. For a long breath, I stood above the damage.
“Fates help me.” With one quick snap, I fixed the bench as if the explosion had never happened. My power gave me the ability to fix what I’d broken, but not the power to find the other half of my soul.
“Sorry, I’ll take him out,” he apologized to my researchers.
They shot him thankful glances that I would discuss with them later.
Rowan clapped a broad hand on my shoulder in the same way my father used to calm me as a child. Something about the gesture both comforted and maddened me.
He hauled me out of the lab before I could argue.
The mountain air hit us like a cold slap as we stepped out of the back of Headquarters. The Blood Hollow Mountain Range rolled away in heavy, dark points behind us. Pines lined the trail deeper into it.
The path underfoot was filled with dirt and old rocks.
Every step deeper unrolled a scent palate of crushed pine, iron, and the faint salt of a coastal fog that bled from the tops of the peaks above.
My magic didn’t calm. It spread like wildfire across the mountainside. It was a visible shimmer of blasts and elements. Tendrils of light spun from my wrists and carved through the landscape around us.
Rowan watched me, unafraid. “You need to calm yourself.”
“Calm?” My jaw cracked.
Volatile magic exploded from me, striking everywhere. It hit the rock of a mountain behind him, and my magic blew the pieces that fell into small pebbles.
“How could I possibly calm down? My mate is gone and has been for two full days!” I screamed, my power making it echo louder.
“An entire two days of not feeling the matebond.” I slammed my fist against my chest with static magic rippling over each hit.
“How would you feel if it were Wren in the humans’ facility? ”
“You’re right,” he croaked, stumbling backward from the force of my magic. “But we will find her. I promise you that.”
“I know.” I drew a long breath and fought to take the air in. “There’s no other option. I just hope the Fates keep her safe before we do.”
“They will.” Sabine’s voice startled me as she walked up the mountain path toward us with a grim expression. “Someone planted evidence on Rune’s tablet.”
“Evidence?” My brows furrowed as my magic torpedoed around us. “What evidence?”
“Evidence of her working with the humansss,” she hissed.
A scoff tore out of me.
“My mate?” I chuckled, magic scattering over me and destroying the side of the mountain. “Your daughter?” Crunch. My magic cracked another piece off the mountain. “No way.”
“I know.” She let out another tight hiss. “But there is correspondence of her discussing ssstaging the abduction.”
“Bullshit!” I shouted, magic exploding in different colors all around me. “She would never do that! Her bond had just snapped with Dimitri. She would never have left us!”
“I know, Drecken!” Sabine raised her voice, her dull green eyes cutting through me with sharp intensity. “I know that. Koa told us about it being planted, and we know who planted it.”
“Who?” I asked, losing more and more control of my magic.
“The human camouflaging as a supernatural that we’ve been tracking since Koa went undercover.” She thinned her lips into a line. “We need to keep this under-wraps.”
“She was framed,” I muttered, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. “She did nothing wrong.”
“We know,” Rowan told me.
“Drecken, you’re her mate. I need your head in the game so we can find her faster,” Sabine pleaded.
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, channeling my magic. I flexed my fingers and felt the magic pull back inside my veins.
The explosions around us ceased, but I was still full of pent-up magical energy.
I would find her.
I would tear the Human Territory apart if I had to.
“I’ll try,” I promised.
I needed Rune.