Chapter 2
AMRI
“ I don’t want this.” Malik’s voice holds equal measures of sorrow and rage as it whispers through the open door of the music hall.
I press my hand to my chest, leaning against the wall right outside the room.
I understand, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less as the fate thread that ties me to the beautiful, hurting alpha gives a tug.
While finding my fated mate has never been high on my priority list, I can’t deny the rush of excitement that shivered through me when Malik drew my attention to the thread shimmering between us.
And yes, some of that excitement also came from having his hand around my throat and his sinful body so close to mine.
But he doesn’t want me, at least this way, and I am nothing if not a consent queen.
My beast bows her head inside me, agreeing with my decision.
My smile holds the pain of this rejection, and with a slow exhale, I let go of Malik’s fate thread.
It dims as the two strands unwind and slip apart, then the sparkling light of our threads winks out.
I rub a hand down the front of my shirt, missing that small connection already.
Stars, this really hurts.
I struggle to take in a full breath, air unable to get past the tightness in my chest. My nails dig into my palms as I clench my fists and square my shoulders, forcing myself to feel the determination I need right now.
I’m a strong female. I can work past this.
Just because my mate wanted to strangle me rather than accept the bond doesn’t mean I’m going to turn my back on him.
He could have killed me—well, he could have tried—but he didn’t, and that counts for something.
I trust the Fates, but I get why Malik wouldn’t.
I can have faith enough for the both of us.
So, I’m not going to have that love-at-first-sight moment.
So what? So, Malik didn’t fall to his knees with tears of joy in his eyes as he professed his excitement over the bond while promising his undying adoration.
I honestly think I’d hate that. No, this is going to be hard.
But that’s okay, I’m good at doing hard things.
And now I’m thinking of doing Malik.
My beast barks a laugh in my head, and the earlier sadness in my smile lifts. Stars, he is so fucking sexy. I can’t get the way his body moved while dancing out of my mind. I think that image is permanently engraved into my brain, and I’m fine with that.
My beast sits with her head cocked to the side, her little ears twitching as she says, “So we’re going to fight for him, right?”
I nod. “Of course, but in a way that respects his boundaries.”
A soft glow spears through the cracked door before fading, drawing my focus back to the hallway I’m still standing in. My beast rumbles a warning inside my chest, and a second later, Leonora’s melodic voice floats from inside the room.
“Here you are, Malik, my pet.”
“Kill her. Right now.” I glare at my wolverine, but there’s a smile behind it. My beast is bloodthirsty, ready to put her words into action and literally fight for Malik, but I talk her down.
“Not now. Even we can’t take down a goddess on our own.”
“Our mate will help.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s what got him in this situation to begin with. Drop it.”
“But at some point we’re going to kill her, right?”
“Sure.”
My wolverine whines, “Promise?”
I laugh internally at my beast’s begging tone, but then I soundlessly push off the wall and force myself to walk away.
I still have a job to do. The small stone in my pocket grows warm as the magic in the spell works overtime to keep me completely hidden from the goddess’ senses.
It’s spelled to stay in the pocket of these particular pants unless I specifically take it out.
Can’t be losing this thing. None of the Zodiac deities know of the existence of this spelled stone, and if any of them found out that the Council has the means to spy on them in their own domains … that could spark a war.
I keep my pace leisurely, passing a few Leo shifters, most in their beast forms. My presence remains silent and unseen as I make my way through Leonora’s giant palace.
What I told Malik was true; I did come here to fulfill a promise I made to Hela, the coven leader of the Silver Thread witches.
As I turn to follow a female shifter rushing down the hall, her attention fully on a piece of paper in her hands, I recall when I first met Hela after bringing a lost and mentally broken Rian to her tea shop.
I can almost still feel the surprisingly strong grip of her hand around my forearm as she tugged me to the side and slipped a silky hair tie into my hand.
She whispered, “I might be going away for a while, and I’d like you to look after Sadie. Her males’ auras are still heavy with impending danger, and my granddaughter is not one to sit idly by. She’ll be in the middle of whatever trouble they dredge up.”
I tried to protest, telling her she didn’t know me well enough to trust me with something so important, but she’d just patted my arm in a condescendingly motherly way and said, “I read auras dear.” I don’t know what she saw in mine, but Hela used that statement to close the argument, and I found myself agreeing to her request with a promise to watch over and protect Sadie.
And to be honest, I was grateful for the personal item Hela gave me.
Tracking someone without an object that ties back to them is not impossible, but it’s much harder.
I know because I’ve been tracking Bodi and Rian for a year.
Could I have stolen something of theirs to make it easier on myself?
Sure. But every time I had the opportunity, it just felt …
wrong. But then Hela gave me Sadie’s hair tie and permission to spy on her granddaughter, and thus by extension, Bodi.
I already had the concealment stone in my possession and was working out how to get into the palace—in an attempt to gather as much incriminating evidence on Leonora I could find to bring to my contact within the Council—so when the tracking spell I had on Sadie blipped off Earth and popped up in the gods’ realm, I simply accelerated my plans.
I thought I was going to have to pull some crazy magic to save Sadie and the others during the feast, but it all worked out … mostly .
I blink out of my thoughts, finding the female shifter standing outside a small closet filled with boxes.
She bends over, shoving a box off the top of a stack.
With a huff, she flips the lid back, tosses the piece of paper in the already too-full box, and sets the lid back on before spinning to leave.
I lean out of her way, ducking into the cramped room.
I check to make sure no one is watching before slowly closing the door until only a crack of space remains open.
My sight adjusts quickly with my beast’s help, and I lift the lid off the box.
Numbers parade down the paper sitting on top, and I immediately recognize them for what they are.
Coordinates. There are at least twenty locations on this sheet alone, and as I riffle through the box, I find more of the same.
What is Leonora tracking? Or trying to find? Or whom? Bodi and Rian perhaps?
I weave and hold the sign, the gold glow of my eyes illuminating the paper in my hand.
With a soft crinkle of sound, a duplicate appears in the air, and I snatch it.
I toss the original back in the box, setting everything back to just as it was before folding the copy and sliding it into my back pocket.
After quickly looking through several more boxes and not finding anything interesting, I peek out through the cracked-open door, then slip back into the hallway.
I wander for hours, passing more shifters in their beast forms, and a few in a half-shifted state.
As I find pockets of Leos, I listen in on snippets of conversation, taking note of anything interesting—which unfortunately isn’t much—before moving on.
I dig through drawers, searching through what seem to be guest bedrooms. I hunt for secret panels in the walls and hidden rooms, finding none.
Outside, I listen in as a group of hunters portal in, a few of them lifting their masks to sit on the top of their heads.
Some split off, calling out that they’re headed to the kitchen to grab some food.
Others shuffle towards the barracks, mumbling how they’re too tired to eat.
Frustratingly, none of them says a word about what they were out doing or even where they were.
I follow the small group to the kitchen, startled to find the room cold and empty of any other shifters.
I figured the morning meal preparation would be under way by now, but I guess when it comes to food, the Leos are expected to fend for themselves.
The hunters pull a few things from the industrial refrigerator and pantry and eat a quickly thrown-together meal in silence.
I was hoping to overhear a story or two about what they were just out doing, but no.
I do get it, though. Post-mission fatigue can be a real drag.
Leaving the tired hunters behind, I continue snooping as the sky along the horizon lightens with the faintest blush of pink.
Eventually, I find myself back in the banquet hall. As I step through the open doors into the now-empty room, I’m appalled at the blood-splattered opulence before me. I don’t know what happened after Bodi, Rian, and their mates escaped because I followed Malik, but it certainly doesn’t look great.
Leonora needs to be stopped.