“Let me do the talking.” Nox stepped around the front of his desk.

  “As if I’ve ever had a problem keeping my mouth shut.” Gage’s mouth barely moved as he leaned a shoulder against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

  “They’re going to be upset that you didn’t call them last night.” Link took a seat in one of the empty chairs in Nox’s office. “I’ve been around Lola and her friend Maddie.” He nodded to the other female that Gage had been wondering about. “They’re very protective of one another. And you waited to tell them you’ve seen Katy. I foresee a couple of pissed off females.”

  Gage chuckled. “Oh? You think that’s what they’re going to be upset about? Not the fact that Azure is trying to sell her like she’s a prized cow?”

  “Did you just compare my best friend to a cow?” a cool voice asked.

  Gage turned to look at Nox, who stood in the middle of the room with a remote control pointed at the large screen on the wall. He’d activated the call. Whoops.

  “You were already beginning to explain things.” Nox shrugged. “I saw no reason to stop you, so I just unmuted the call.”

  “Right,” Gage said flatly.

  “Is Katy okay?” Lola asked. Callon had her tucked protectively against his side, as if Gage or Nox could somehow attack her through a video call.

  “She’s your friend,” Gage challenged. “How do you think she’s doing?”

  Maddie turned and looked at Lola, waiting for her response. “It’s a toss-up. Katy could be kicking ass and taking names. Or she could have herself strung up like turkey because she attempted to kick ass and take names and her opponent was out of her league. Which, let’s be real”—Lola looked at the people around her and then at Gage and Nox—“you guys aren’t exactly fighting fair with your supernatural abilities.”

  “You have the same abilities.” Gage waved a hand at her. “As does Katy.”

  “I have a mate,” Lola bit back. “She does not. So, no, she doesn’t have the same abilities. Maybe she will one day.”

  Gage bristled at Lola’s words. This female knew nothing about him or his capabilities.

  “I’m well aware of what Katy does and doesn’t have access to, which is why I’m going to do everything in my power to get her out of there.”

  “Oh, really?” Lola challenged Gage, her eyes flashing. “Doesn’t seem like you’re doing much besides standing there looking all stoic and unhelpful.”

  A rumbling growl built in Gage’s chest, but he tamped it down. Barely. What the hell was her problem with him? They didn’t even know one another, and yet she’d already judged him and found him lacking.

  “Appearances can be deceiving,” he ground out. “Rest assured, I’m working every angle to secure your friend’s release without endangering her further.”

  Lola looked skeptical, but before she could retort, the one called Maddie placed a calming hand on her arm.

  “He’s telling the truth,” Maddie said softly.

  “What?” Roan stepped halfway in front of her as Gage’s gaze sharpened on the willowy blonde. There was an air of preternatural wisdom around her that seemed at odds with her youthful appearance.

  “You’re more than you seem,” Gage remarked.

  “She’s a human female worried about her friend.” Roan’s voice was dry, bored even, but his interest in the female was the opposite.

  Maddie gave Roan a withering glare before offering Gage a cryptic smile. “One of these days, he’s going to end up on the wrong end of a pointy object. And I’m going to be holding the other end.”

  Interesting. Gage didn’t think Shaman mated, at least not the way their kind did. But Roan was definitely acting like a mated male with his posturing. And the tension between the two could be cut with a knife. Gage filed that away for later.

  “If we could get back on track.” Nox gave Gage a quelling look. “Please tell the prime and prima what you told me.”

  Gage pushed away from the wall and dropped his arms. He put his hands into his pockets as he rolled his shoulders back. Then he explained all that he’d been observing while he’d been “working” with Azure. Gage told them about his demand to know about the new animi females: where they were going and who they ended up mated to. Then he dropped the final bomb. “I was headed to New Orleans yesterday, after Nox told me about the new little wolf, when Azure called me, asking me about a new job.” He paused as he remembered walking into the KOV mansion and smelling her scent for the first time. It was his new drug, and he was desperate for it. Gage was like a starving man already, and all he’d done was talk to her and share some sparring texts. Yet he yearned for her. He was hungry for the sight of her. Gage wanted to hear her voice and know that she was within touching distance if his hands got the urge to hold her. Which he imagined they would, often. He let out the breath and continued. “I walked a scent that we didn’t recognize.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. How do you recognize a scent you don’t recognize?”

  “Because I am not human,” Gage told Lola. “I am a beastwalker, and my beast recognizes the scent of his mate, even though we’d never smelled her before.”

  “Oh, snap.” Maddie’s hand came up to rub her forehead.

  “Wait. What?” Lola’s eyes widened as she stared at Gage and blinked several times. “Are you saying that you are Katy’s mate?”

  “She’s mine.” Every muscle in Gage’s body tensed, his beast ready for a fight. If Lola thought her friendship with Katy somehow would trump his claim on her, she was going to be sadly mistaken. He would fight anyone, even a lioness princess, for his mate. He saw Callon shift restlessly behind Lola, most likely not enjoying the challenge Gage was laying at Lola’s feet.

  Lola’s lips suddenly tilted upward. “She’s yours. But are you hers?”

  Gage frowned, his brow drawing low over his eyes.

  She continued. “Does she know that she’s your mate?”

  “I’ve spent all of about two minutes with her. And engaged her in a dozen texts.”

  “That’s a no.” Maddie folded her arms across her chest. Although she was shorter than him, she managed to somehow appear as if she was looking down on Gage. How was that even possible?

  Lola raised her eyebrows at the dire wolf. “Okay, when you left her with Azure, you knew she was your mate, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you didn’t tell her and you left her there⁠—”

  “It was the safest—” Gage started, but Lola held up her hand.

  “You didn’t tell her, and you left her there. You left her in the dark about important information, and you left her behind. Two things a woman never wants to be.”

  “In the dark”—Maddie held up a finger, then a second finger—“and left behind.”

  Lola leaned her head to the side, resting it on Callon’s shoulder as she took Gage in. “If you plan to ask her to be your mate, I hope you’re prepared to fix the mess you’ve made.”

  “I did what I had to do in order to keep her safe,” Gage argued. “You’ve been a part of our world all of three minutes, and you’re telling me how to handle my relationship with my mate?”

  “Careful, Dire.” Callon’s deep voice vibrated with the anger that filled his golden eyes. “That’s my mate you’re speaking to.”

  “And she’s questioning my character.” Gage slammed a fist into his chest as his voice rumbled out. He took a step toward the screen, ignoring Nox’s raised hand. “And my faithfulness to my female. She doesn’t know me, or anything about me, and yet, she challenges my honor? What male would ever put their mate in danger?” His gaze bounced back and forth from Callon’s to Lola’s. “Do you think this is where I want to be? Standing in an office, talking about a bunch of females I care nothing for when I know mine is in the clutches of that snake? Have you any idea how hard my beast is fighting me to get on a plane to New Orleans and get Katy out of there, screw the consequences to anyone else? Because truthfully, Lola, there is one person on this earth I care for, and I met her yesterday. She is the only person, with the exception of Visata, who has my complete loyalty. I will kill for her and die for her. And frankly, I’d just as soon burn New Orleans to the ground and all the vipers that live there with it. But I don’t live for my own wants and desires.”

  “I don’t get to have what I want, when I want it, even if it’s the most important thing in the world to me. Because there are other people’s lives at stake. So, no. I didn’t tell her. Because if she knows, then Azure might find out. And if Azure finds out, she’s as good as dead, because she will become a conduit for his voodoo witch to make animi using human women.”

  “Okay, why didn’t you lead with that?” Maddie blurted out and pointed at him. “Instead, you started off by comparing her to a cow. The pissing match between you and Lo could have been avoided if you’d led with ‘If Azure knows we’re mates, he’ll make her his magic puppet to make other animi puppets.’” Maddie turned to Nox and started to speak, but the Alpha growled. She squeaked and snapped her mouth closed. Apparently, Nox was not in the mood to be chastised by a human.

  “So, Gage, she’s totally in the dark?” Lola asked.

  “It was better for her not to know. He can’t get information from a dry well.”

  “That doesn’t mean a dry well can’t be tortured and hurt,” Lola snapped. “If Azure suspects for any reason that she might be your mate⁠—”

  “He has no reason to suspect that. Because I didn’t give him a reason to suspect that.”

  “And he will think that a Dire won’t have a mate.” Nox’s voice was as solemn as his eyes when they met Gage’s.

  “What does that mean? Do dire wolves not mate? Of course you mate, or else there wouldn’t be any of you. Why would Azure think Katy couldn’t be your mate?”

  Gage looked away from the Alpha and to Lola. “Because I am disgraced and undeserving of a mate.”

  Lola’s eyes went wide. “Oh, is that all?”

  Nox glanced between them. “There’s a long story behind that, which we don’t have time to get into. The point is, Azure is operating under a false assumption.”

  “I believe you. If you say you're her mate, and Callon, and all of these people believe you, then I do, too. But if Azure suspects it, all he has to do is look at her tattoo and ask to see yours. They will match.”

  Gage shook his head. “He can’t see my tattoo, Lola. No one can.”

  Lola looked at someone in the room Gage couldn’t see. “What? How come I wasn’t offered the invisible ink?”

  “There’s no such thing.” Jaxine’s voice came from off camera. “Gage’s tattoo is even more special than the ones we give.”

  Lola looked back at him, but it was Nox who spoke. “The only people who see the tattoo of a dire wolf are those about to die by the hand of a dire wolf.”

  Maddie held up a hand. “I don’t need to see it. I’m good.”

  Katy set her hands on her hips and stared down at Otto. “Can he really do that?” She’d made the poor little guy repeat what he’d heard the voodoo witch and Azure say, multiple times, and then she’d had to repeat it herself in order to work through it. She might have gone over it a couple extra times out loud, simply because it annoyed Otto so much when she did it. But he didn’t need to know that. “I mean, turn a human into an animus?”

  “I not know.” Otto frowned. “But females comes and goes. This explains.”

  “And everyone thought they were either dancers in his clubs or animi finding mates in KOV or other kingdoms.” Katy tapped her foot. The wheels in her head were spinning faster and faster. “But what animus females has he already used to fuel the spells? I mean, has he actually been successful?”

  “Katy?” A knock accompanied the sound of her name at her bedroom door.

  Otto jumped down from a chair and ran for the door, getting there before Katy could. He pressed his hand to the door and, as if outlined by a white light, it suddenly lit up and then faded.

  Katy’s footsteps stumbled. “What was that?”

  “Magic tricks,” Otto mumbled. Then he turned to the door. “Katy sleeping.”

  “No, I’m not,” Katy hissed. “I’m wide-freaking awake. Who is it?”

  “It’s Myron and Slick.” Now, closer to the door, she recognized Myron’s voice. “We need to talk to you. It’s urgent.”

  Katy lifted a brow and puckered her lips as she stared at the door, then Otto. “What do you think?” she whispered. “Do we trust them?”

  “Never,” Otto declared.

  “I figured you’d say that.” Katy scooped him up and then jerked the door handle. But the knob didn’t turn. “Otto?” She frowned at the wiggling lizard. “What did you do to this door?”

  “Theys can’t be trusted.”

  Katy took one of Otto’s hands and pressed it to the door, hoping to somehow activate whatever magic the lizard seemed to have over it. But there was no light or anything. She just looked like an idiot holding a pissed-off, tiny lizard dude with his hand pressed against the door. Otto whipped his neck around and snapped his teeth together. Katy screeched and released him.

  “Did you just try to bite me?” She pointed at him, narrowing her eyes.

  “You needs bite.” Otto practically growled at her, taking a step in her direction.

  Katy jumped toward him, attempting to squash his tail with her foot, but he was fast.

  “No stomp Otto’s tail,” he yelled.

  “No bite Katy’s hand, you little rodent.” She chased after him. Katy had no clue what she’d do if she caught him because she was a bit scared that the little demon might actually bite her.

  “Otto!” Slick’s voice came through the door. “Do not bite Katy!”

  She heard the knob rattle, then there was another flash of light.

  “Damn yous!” Otto bellowed and then, to her shock, launched himself into the air. But as he soared, it wasn’t his form she saw. It was a very small, chubby thing that flew through the air, headed straight at the two figures that now stood in the open doorway. Slicks’s eyes widened as he saw Otto hurling his body at them. The two males rushed inside, Myron reached up and plucked Otto from the air as if he were nothing more than flying debris, and Slick closed the door behind them. He pressed his hand to the door, like Otto had done, and the seal around it lit up again.

  “Are you all like Slytherin House?” Katy put her hands on her hips, her breathing coming out in great gasps after her little jaunt around the room. Okay, she seriously needed to get some exercise if chasing a tiny lizard around a room was going to put her in such a state. “What’s with all the magic?” She held up a hand. “And don’t try to tell me that wasn’t magic.”

  “Oh, that was magic.” Slick nodded and motioned to the door. “Courtesy of our king’s ties to the voodoo priestess in the bayou.”

  Katy looked at the small, wriggling form in Myron’s hand. She tilted her head to the side as she took in what she figured must be Otto’s beast form. Dude was not a beast. Holy snaps, he was a freaking adorable little lizard, like Disney style. “Otto.” Katy’s voice came out much too high, but she couldn’t help. It was like attempting to talk to a baby as if it wasn’t a baby. Impossible. “You’re so freaking⁠—”

  “Don’t,” Slick and Myron interrupted her at the same time.

  “Cute,” Slick finished for both of them. “He hates it when he gets called cute.”

  The little lizard currently sat on his butt on Myron’s shoulder, with his tail out behind him. His clothes were gone, and he was pale green. His eyes, which had been yellow, were actually a soft green like his body. Otto’s head was an adorable egg shape. Again, he was just so freaking⁠—

  “Katy,” Myron warned.

  “I wasn’t going to say it.” She frowned at him as she looked up at Otto, who frowned down at her from his perch. “He doesn’t look like our lizards, at least not real ones. He looks more like the fiction ones. But Bane and Callon, they looked like the types of panthers and lions we have on earth. Except maybe they’re bigger.”

  “There aren’t many of Otto’s kind left.” Myron glanced over at the angry little guy. “He was a rare breed to begin with. Why do you think Azure wanted him as his right-hand man?”

  “Because he’s funny?”

  Otto harrumphed at Katy.

  “What?” She glared back. “You are funny. It’s not my fault your king doesn’t appreciate it. Maybe you should threaten to bite him more often.”

  Katy blinked, and Otto was standing on Myron’s shoulders, fully dressed.

  “Dammit, Otto,” Myron growled, then lifted the lizard off of him and put him back on the ground. He pointed a finger at him. “No biting.”

  “I not hurt her,” Otto grumbled. “She Dire.”

  “Yes, her name is Katy Dire.”

  “No, Slick.” Otto shook his head. “She Dire. She safe. She mate. Dire immune.”

  Slick’s brow lowered. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Myron held up a hand to keep Otto from answering. “It doesn’t really matter. Time is of the essence. Katy.” He looked at her. “I know this is going to be confusing. Believe me, we’re a bit confused ourselves.”

  “You grew a conscience in the past couple of days?” Katy didn’t doubt for a second that it could happen. People do stupid shit all the time and then pull their heads out of their asses. She could forgive. Didn’t mean she’d ever forget.

  “We didn’t know all the things our king was up to,” Myron said and quickly added. “That doesn’t excuse abduction, but I want you to know that we would never be okay with what he’s doing.”

  “So you do knows?” Otto turned to look up at the two males.

  “Yes.” Slick nodded. “Myron and I both made a bid for Katy as a mate.”

  “A bid?” Katy barked.

  “You can tell us later how horrible it is to bid on a woman to make her your mate,” Slick said dryly. “For now, just listen.”

  Katy crossed her arms in front of her and pursed her lips. “Fine. Go.”

  “When we were told that Katy was off the market, we got suspicious. No female has ever been off the market. We’ve overheard several of Azure’s meetings with the priestess. We need to get Katy out of here, like yesterday.”