Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Luke didn’t wait. He pulled Connal left as the glowing lines swept across the floor behind them.
“Keep moving.”
Connal stayed beside him as Luke cut across the warehouse. The grid re-formed beneath their new path, fresh lines appearing ahead while the ones behind faded. Luke couldn’t tell whether it was following Connal, responding to their movements, or both.
He feinted right, turning his shoulders and planting one foot before changing direction. The lines followed the false movement, flashing across the path he should have taken.
Good. Luke didn’t understand the trap, but he could misdirect it.
The air tightened to his left.
Connal caught Luke around the waist and hauled him aside an instant before the pressure slammed down. The concrete cracked where Luke had been standing.
“Okay,” Luke gasped. “You keep doing that.”
Connal released him as soon as his feet were steady. “Doing what?”
“Knowing where it’s coming from.”
“The magic gathers before it strikes.”
Of course it did. Luke couldn’t see magic gathering, but Connal could, and that was the first advantage they’d had since entering the warehouse.
Luke scanned the floor as they moved. The lines were closing around them more quickly now, cutting off sections of the warehouse and forcing them toward the center.
“It’s herding us.”
Another band of light appeared across their path. Luke changed direction, but the grid adjusted with him. The opening narrowed before they could reach it.
The lines beneath Luke flashed. Connal shoved him clear and stepped into the marked space before Luke could stop him. The air above Connal warped. His body jolted, his shoulders driven downward as one knee struck the concrete. The impact shuddered through the floor beneath Luke’s feet.
“Connal.”
“I am fine.”
“You keep saying that like it makes it true.”
Connal pushed himself upright, but the movement lacked his usual control. This was the second time he had placed himself between Luke and the trap. Neither had been accidental. Seeing Connal hurt felt far too personal. Luke ignored the reaction. Getting him out mattered more than understanding it.
Luke grabbed Connal’s arm. “Can you still tell where the next strike is coming from?”
“Yes.”
“Then warn me. Don’t step in front of it.”
Connal’s expression made it clear he had no intention of obeying.
Of course he didn’t. Luke had known Connal for less than a day, but he already understood that Connal would keep stepping into danger if Luke gave him the opportunity.
Frustration flared, tangled with a fear far too sharp for someone he had met only hours ago.
Arguing would waste time. Luke would have to plan around him.
They moved again. Luke watched the floor while Connal tracked whatever gathered in the air around them. The arrangement should have worked, but the grid continued tightening. Every route Luke considered disappeared before they could reach it.
They weren’t going to outrun the trap.
Luke searched for another way out. The entrance had sealed behind them, and every path through the glowing grid was closing. His looked toward the concrete walls. If the trap controlled the exits, they would have to make one of their own.
A heavy impact shook the far wall.
Luke turned toward the sound as cracks spread through the concrete. The glowing lines flickered nearest the damage, breaking apart before reforming.
Another impact struck the same spot. Through the widening fracture, Luke caught sight of three familiar figures outside. Connal’s brothers had followed them.
The crack in the wall was disrupting the trap.
“There.” Luke pointed toward the damaged section. “That’s our exit.”
The light beneath them brightened.
Connal caught Luke’s arm. “Move.”
This time Luke followed his lead. They ran toward the wall as another impact landed from outside. Concrete broke away, and the lines nearest the fracture vanished again.
The gap still wasn’t wide enough.
Luke looked at Connal. “Think you can help them?”
Outside, Connal’s brothers struck the damaged wall again. Connal hit it from inside at the same instant, driving his shoulder into the web of cracks. The weakened section collapsed outward in a burst of dust and broken concrete.
Luke followed Connal through the opening. The moment they cleared the wall, the glowing lines raced back across the warehouse floor.
Open air and city noise rushed around him. Luke kept moving until the warehouse was several yards behind them, his backpack knocking against his spine with every step. Connal’s brothers closed around them, turning outward to watch for pursuit.
None came.
The building stood silent behind them, its broken wall offering only a glimpse of the glowing lines inside.
Luke checked the familiar weight at his waistband.
The drive remained secure in its hidden pocket.
Someone had known where Hale would redirect him.
They had prepared the warehouse before Luke arrived, but he still didn’t know whether the trap had been intended for him, the drive, or anyone magical who accompanied him.
A problem for later—assuming Connal remained on his feet. He was still standing, but only because stubbornness appeared to be holding him upright.
Luke pulled Connal’s arm over his shoulder and took some of his weight. Connal accepted the support without arguing. That alone confirmed how badly he’d been hurt.
Once they were farther from the warehouse, Luke stopped and closed his fingers around Connal’s wrist. His pulse skipped beneath Luke’s fingertips, raced for several beats, then caught again.
Luke knew enough field medicine to recognize that something was wrong, but none of his training covered fae warriors struck by magic.
“What did it do to you?”
Connal glanced toward his brothers, who had formed a protective perimeter around them. “The magic persists, but I am not impaired.”
The pulse skipping beneath Luke’s fingers made the denial impossible to believe. “Can you stop it?”
“I am containing it.”
“For how long?”
Connal didn’t answer.
Luke held his gaze. “You nearly went down twice, and whatever you’re containing isn’t getting better. We need to get you out of here.”
“Not without you.”
“I’m coming.” Luke looked back at the warehouse. “I was supposed to deliver something. The first location was compromised, and someone prepared that building before we arrived. I don’t know yet whether the same people were responsible for both.”
“Then we eliminate the threat.”
Luke released a short breath. “Sure. We’ll hunt down people using magic I didn’t know existed yesterday. Easy.”
“It is a threat,” Connal repeated.
“No argument there, but we’re not doing anything but getting out of here while you can barely stand.
” Luke considered his rapidly shrinking options.
He couldn’t return to the hotel, and contacting Hale before he understood what had happened could expose him further.
“We need somewhere safe while I figure out who knew about that location.”
“We return to my home.”
Yesterday, Luke would never have considered a magical castle in an impossible realm the safest available option.
Today, it offered armed allies and an escape route ordinary surveillance couldn’t follow.
He couldn’t call it safe, but it offered more protection than any hotel or safe house he could reach.
He hated that the decision made sense.
“Fine,” Luke said. “Temporarily.”
Connal’s gaze narrowed. “Temporarily.”
Connal clearly disliked the condition, but he didn’t argue.
Luke would take the win. He adjusted his backpack and moved beside him. “Open the portal.”
Connal raised one hand. Magic shimmered through the air, opening a path back to the Unseelie.
Luke kept hold of him as they stepped through together. The transition hit harder this time. The world blurred around Luke, and his steps faltered as the bright corridors of the Unseelie settled into place.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Still hate that.”
Connal’s brothers followed them through before the portal closed.
Luke forced himself to assess the corridor.
For once, his mind didn’t reach for a head injury or drugs to explain what he’d seen.
The warehouse had stripped away the last of that denial.
Magic was real. Luke didn’t understand its rules, but ignorance only made it more dangerous.
He could have an existential crisis later.
Right now, Connal needed him.
The corridor remained crowded with fae preparing for the celebration Luke had interrupted earlier. Conversations faltered as those nearest them noticed Connal’s condition. Luke straightened instinctively beneath their stares.
Don’t look like prey.
Connal moved into his space, placing himself between Luke and the watching crowd despite the effort it cost him. “They observe,” Connal said.
“Yeah. I noticed.”
Connal sagged toward him. Luke caught his arm before he could stumble.
“We need to get you somewhere you can sit down.”
“I do not require—”
“You’re about three seconds away from falling over.”
Connal’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t pull away.
Around them, the preparations continued. Fae hurried past carrying flowers, fabric, and trays of food as though Luke and Connal hadn’t just escaped a magical trap.
“They’re still planning that mating feast.”
“Yes.”
“No one is celebrating anything until you can stand on your own.” Luke tightened his hold when Connal swayed again.
The feast preparations made one thing clear—everyone expected Luke to stay. Even temporarily, he couldn’t make that choice as though no one outside this realm would be affected.
“And if you expect me to remain here while we sort this out, Gomez comes too.”
Connal went still.
“My best friend,” Luke explained. “He was hurt before you found me, and right now he probably thinks I disappeared or died.”