Gage stared at the Shaman. His mind was a mess of wolf rage and man’s fear. He could hardly think clearly.

  “Tell him yes.”

  “And what should I say about you? I could tell him you decided to stay behind, or Nox ordered it.”

  “I doubt he’ll believe it.”

  “Why are you old men up here when all the females are back there?” a male voice said.

  Gage closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. The Beta. Nox must hate him. That’s all there was to it. The Alpha was trying to drive him mad.

  “Oh, by the way, I don’t know if you saw him get on the plane, but Nox sent Justice,” Link pointed out unnecessarily.

  “Dire.” Justice had the swagger and confidence of a male twice his age. It was why he was the second-in-command of the Kingdom of Fangs. Dominance dripped off him like a living thing.

  “That shit doesn’t work on me, Beta,” Gage reminded the wolf. “Knock it off.” Also, Justice’s youth made him do stupid stuff, like attempt to see if he was suddenly more dominant than Gage—a dire more than twice his age. Fool.

  “Can’t help it.” Justice took a seat across from him. “Usually it doesn’t get you ruffled. This time I actually got a reaction.”

  “He just found out his mate was bitten by Otto, a lennser in Azure’s kingdom. And when it doesn’t kill her, Azure will use her to fuel an evil voodoo spell to make animi out of human women he’s captured,” Link offered. “So, he’s a little off his stoic game.”

  Justice’s eyes widened. “Damn. Nox did not mention any of that. He just said to get on the plane and not piss you off.”

  “You failed the second part,” Gage said flatly. “Well done. Your parents must be proud.”

  Link coughed and ran a hand over his mouth, but Gage couldn’t even take pleasure in the insult. He needed Otto to text him back.

  “Did you respond to Azure?”

  Link nodded. “He thinks it’s just me and Justice.”

  Gage wondered if that would throw the Snake King off. Would it be enough to confuse him so Gage could slip in and get Katy? Would Azure even keep her at the mansion? There wasn’t anywhere else on the property to keep her. The mansion was in an old part of town, and the lots were small. He’d have taken her to one of his clubs if he did move her.

  Had Azure gotten a hold of Otto’s phone? Was the little lizard out of commission? What about Slick?

  Gage’s hands were moving immediately, sending off a text to Slick.

  Gage: Is Katy still there at the mansion, or did Azure take her? Where is Otto? I can’t get him to respond. Give me some information so I know what I’m coming into.

  He held his breath and let it out when dots appeared. “Thank Visata.”

  Slick: As far as I know, Azure has not left the mansion, so Katy must still be here. We will see if we can figure out where he’s put her. She’s not in her room.

  Gage wanted to ask what the hell Slick was doing in her room, but that could wait until after she was safe and by his side.

  Gage: Thank you. Please don’t let any harm come to Otto.

  That request would probably shock Slick, but Gage gave zero cares. Katy and Otto had clearly built a bond. And now Otto had been forced to bite his mistress. He would feel as if he’d betrayed her. Just one more thing for Azure to pay for.

  “Dude, I’ve told you before not to smile. You give off serial killer vibes. You’re going to have cops harassing you just because people call them to tell them some guy is giving them the creeps.”

  Gage’s mouth fell as he looked at the younger wolf. “Still haven’t found your mate?” It was a low blow. But it was all he had at the moment.

  “Because of the circumstances”—Justice narrowed his brown eyes—“I’m going to give you a pass on that one.”

  Gage shrugged and turned to look out the window. He didn’t need to talk. He didn’t need to do anything except think of all the ways he could kill Azure and get Katy out.

  “Link.” Gage’s eyes were still focused out the plane window. “How quickly can you get the house evacuated of people that matter?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Link muttered and shifted in his seat.

  “And probably all the surrounding houses as well,” Gage said coolly. “Explosions can cause other houses to catch fire.”

  Justice whistled. “Going straight Independence Day on KOV. I like it. But please tell me you’re going Gladiator on Azure first.”

  “I’ll deal with Azure.”

  “The Council—” Link started, but Gage shook his head.

  “King Azure harmed my female. Essentially, he poisoned her. And he’s using her body as a conduit for dark magic. Azure is my prey. My kill. I will lay him at the feet of my mate as a gift.”

  “Dead bodies are the new diamonds.” Justice’s face was so serious that Gage nearly laughed. Nearly.

  Link held his stare for several heartbeats before finally nodding. “This is going to be a disaster.”

  “He was left unchecked for too long.” Gage’s voice deepened with his beast. “How could you expect it to be anything else?”

  Lola shook her hands and then tilted her neck from side to side. She fought the emotions that would force her into the beast form. Katy was in danger. The look on Gage’s face had made that perfectly clear. He didn’t have to say it. Her best friend’s life was at stake, and there was nothing Lola could do. Thousands of miles away on Long Island, all she could do was hope and pray that Gage would do as he said and rescue Katy.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Maddie said, because they both needed to hear it. Callon and Roan had tried to tell them the same thing, but it just annoyed them when the guys said it. They’d finally quit trying to offer any comfort and now stood a dozen feet away. Callon’s eyes hadn’t left her. She felt his tension. He hated being separated from her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to fix this. But he couldn’t. And Lola didn’t want to be held. She wanted to claw someone’s eyes out.

  “Okay, that’s freaking awesome.” Maddie pointed at Lola’s hand and drew her from her thoughts.

  Lola glanced down and saw that her nails had changed to cats’ claws, and they were wicked sharp. “When I get emotional, I have a hard time controlling it.”

  “Is it cool? Being a lion?”

  Lola nodded. “It’s amazing. I mean, literally, indescribable. I’ve read a million books where stuff like this happens, and none of the descriptions come close to capturing this feeling. It’s just⁠—”

  “Supernatural,” Maddie offered.

  “Exactly.”

  “Katy’s going to want to challenge you at everything, you know?” Maddie laughed. “She’s going to want to know who can run faster, whose claws are sharper, whose bite is stronger.”

  Lola groaned and laughed. Katy would so do that. “I can’t wait for it. She can bring it.” She’d better.

  She felt a large hand on her neck. “Are you okay?” Callon’s deep voice wrapped around her.

  “Just laughing about all the ways Katy would be trying to prove which species is superior,” she explained.

  Callon chuckled. “She is a competitive one.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “That’s why I say she’ll be fine,” Maddie said. “Because she won’t die simply because someone else says she has to. It’s a matter of will. Katy’s will is stronger.”

  She just had to be strong enough for Gage to get to her. The bond would heal whatever damage Azure managed. At least, the physical damage. Mental damage might be a different story.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Lola asked for the tenth time. “Just standing here is getting old.”

  “Why don’t you take Maddie to the library?” Callon suggested.

  Lola’s face lit up. “Awesome idea. I’ll see if we can find any books on dire wolves. The library is huge.”

  Callon kindly didn’t point out that Kingdom of Fangs most likely had their own library with all sorts of books. He let her have her “helpful” moment. And she appreciated it.

  As she and Maddie headed out of the large office, Lola felt eyes on her. Callon and Roan both followed behind them. “You could have just said you would take us,” she called back to Callon.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Roan and I just happen to be going in the same direction.”

  “Right. Like you happen to be going the same directions the fifty times Lola went to the bathroom,” Maddie muttered.

  Lola laughed, “Shut up. It was only, like, twenty-five times.”

  “Does it ever feel smothering?” Maddie leaned in close as she spoke.

  Lola knew Callon would be able to hear unless she pressed her mouth right against Maddie’s ear. She also knew he wanted to know. “No. I figure if I do ever start to feel that way, I’ll just start talking about cramps.”

  “Doesn’t bother me, Sazzi. I’m not a weak, human male.” His voice carried forward to them.

  “Of course it doesn’t.” She sighed, rolling her eyes.

  “Just tell him you need space,” Roan suggested.

  “Will that actually work?”

  “No,” Roan and Callon said in unison.

  Lola snorted. “Then why suggest it?”

  “Just trying to be helpful.”

  That seemed to be all anyone wanted to be. Being helpless was seriously the worst feeling. “Okay.” Lola pushed the door to the library open. “Then you help Maddie find Gage as many books on healthy communication as you can. And Callon and I will try and find Katy as many books on dire wolves as we can.”

  Roan and Callon both smirked and shook their heads at her.

  “What?” Lola held up her hands. “You can’t tell me he’s not stunted in his ability to communicate. He mostly grunts.”

  “Good plan, Lo.” Maddie clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “If Gage wants to have a fighting chance in a relationship with a linguistic expert, he’s going to have to do more than grunt. Although he’s sure pretty to look at. Katy might give him a pass for that reason.”

  Roan grabbed Maddie’s hand, muttering under his breath about grunting idiots as Lola waved at her friend.

  She turned to Callon. “Ready?”

  Callon cupped her face and pressed his lips to hers. He didn’t deepen the kiss. Instead, he simply held her, breathing her in and seeming to soak up her warmth. So she did the same, pressing her body into his. Then he stepped back and ran a thumb across her cheeks. “Now I’m ready.”

  Lola prayed for Katy, and for Maddie and whatever was going on between her and Roan. She wanted both of her friends to experience the type of relationship she was building with Callon. The bond between them was intense, real, and precious. It was worth fighting for; it was worth protecting, and even the small taste of the bond she’d already experienced had made her long for a lifetime of it. Fight, Katy. Don’t you dare give up before you’ve even actually started.

  Azure looked out his office window to the small courtyard behind the mansion. It was a little sitting area with flowers, bushes, and a large magnolia tree. But he, and a select few others, saw beyond the glamour that had been put in place months ago. He saw the black, metal building, hidden from passersby. Though it wasn’t large, it was big enough to hold what he needed it to. At the moment, it currently housed the most valuable female to him, besides his mate. He seriously wondered if she would live through the next six or so hours as the voodoo priestess, Marissa’s spell sucked the magic from Katy’s body and wove it into the bodies of the human females. It was a process they’d tried twice before and nearly succeeded. But both animi they’d used had been too weak to complete the spell and had died before the magic had bound them all together, which had meant the human females had also died. “What a waste that had been,” he whispered. If Katy survived, she might even be used again to make more.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen before swiping his thumb across it. “I was beginning to think you were backing out of our deal. Kingdom of Tides and Kingdom of Silk have already contacted me and verified that they are in. Now, King Wolfgang, what say you? Are you with us or not?”

  “I don’t trust you,” said the leader of the Kingdom of Chaos. His gruff voice sounded like sandpaper being rubbed across the speaker. “But my kingdom suffers the most from lack of mates. Queen Tal is pissed with me over this. She’d just as soon stab you as look at you, so you probably shouldn’t be in her line of sight, ever.”

  “I always did like Talulla’s spirit.” Azure chuckled. “She doesn’t take shit from anyone. I respect that.”

  “You might not respect it so much when there’s a knife buried between your eyes,” the Chaos King pointed out.

  “Fair enough. That would put a damper on things. I’ll avoid Queen Talulla until she realizes that our alliance will benefit you more than it will hurt you.”

  “The Council is going to issue reprimands once they realize we’re not handing over our marked animi,” Wolfgang warned. “And they’re not just going to go away when we refuse to comply.”

  Azure rolled his eyes. Why was everyone so dramatic? “As we speak, I have the mate of a powerful Damarian sharing her life force and magic with ten human women. Those women will become animi in a matter of hours. I will continue to make more and more using strong, natural animi. Our kingdoms will have fully mated, shifting males. Soon, the others won’t be able to stand against us.”

  Wolfgang was quiet for a moment. “Who is she?”

  “There’s no reason to burden you with the details. You just make sure and hold up your end of the deal, and I will make sure you get all the females you need to make your kingdom thrive.”

  “Fine,” Wolfgang growled. “Don’t screw this up, Azure. Or I’ll let my queen have her way. She’s been asking for a snakeskin belt to go with her boots. She happens to find your scales quite beautiful, though it annoys her to no end that she feels that way.”

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just threaten to kill me and turn me into a belt,” Azure said dryly. “I’ll be in touch.” He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He’d have to watch his back when he was around Wolfgang and his mate Talulla, AKA Queen Tal. She was crazy enough to attempt to kill Azure. Then Zeena would feel the need to defend him, and all hell would break loose. He tilted his head to the side, seeing the battle in his mind. Then again, it might be fun to watch. Maybe at some point he’d give Talulla the opportunity to attack him just for kicks and giggles.

  There was a knock on his door, and he turned. “Come in.”

  Slick walked in. The young male wore black jeans and a black, sleeveless shirt that revealed chorded, muscular arms, both of which showed scale tattoos. Slick found it amusing that they were so close to how his actual beastwalker form appeared. His chiseled jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes lit with the fires of hell. Slick was pissed. Azure had a feeling he knew what the male wanted.

  “You let her go?” Slick’s voice barely kept a human tone.

  “She isn’t your concern, Slick.” Azure’s tone was a tad patronizing. But it was hard not to be patronizing when he felt like he was constantly dealing with overgrown adolescent boys.

  “I want her for my mate.”

  “She hasss a mate,” Azure bit back.

  The male’s hands fisted at his sides. “They’re not bonded. I’d have scented it on her. He can be dealt with. She will get over his death and move on.”

  “You want to kill her mate?” Azure’s brow rose, surprised at the male’s boldness. “You don’t even know who it isss. Remember that dire wolf that attacked you?” Azure asked, as if there could be any confusion about who he was speaking of. “Gage is her mate. You still want to kill him? Or try to?”

  “Gage isn’t a god. He’s capable of being killed,” Slick pointed out. “The others of his kind were wiped out with no problem.”

  Azure couldn’t help but laugh. “With no problem?” He shook his head. “Sometimes I forget that some of you didn’t live in Damaria. I assure you, there were plenty of problems when the dire wolvesss and the kingdoms battled. They took many to the grave with them.” Azure ran a hand down his face. He was tired. Zeena was driving him crazy with her jealousy and desire to become pregnant. Though he, too, wanted children, it wasn’t exactly the best time. He was just trying to keep his kingdom from growing weaker.

  “Why do you want her so badly?”

  Slick looked away, his stance relaxing a bit. “She’s just different. Strong, witty, independent but not…” He searched for a word but came up short as he shook his head.

  “Bitchy?” Azure offered.

  Slick shrugged a shoulder with a huff of laughter. “Yeah.”

  “True. That’s a hard combination to come acrossss. Most confident women feel the need to lord their superiority over men, thereby making the male emasculated. A powerful female is very attractive, especially to our kind. But a strong female, willing to be vulnerable with only you, that’sss something to hold on to.”

  Slick shuffled and rolled his shoulders back. “She’s gone then?”

  “No.” Azure seriously considered allowing Slick the opportunity to choose his own destiny instead of having to take the scraps from their Creator. “I moved her to a different part of the mansion because I need her help.”

  “Gage isn’t here?” Slick looked around as if the wolf might jump out from behind a curtain or piece of furniture.

  “No, he went to get our newly marked animi from the Kingdom of Fangs.” According to Link, Gage wasn’t coming back with the females, which struck Azure as very odd. If Katy were his mate, his beast would demand they come to her. Rescue her. Azure studied Slick. The male had been a loyal subject. Obeying orders. Not questioning. He’d never been shy about making his interest clear when it came to new females brought in, but if the female showed no interest in him, he backed off. What male would want to force a female to be with him? There was no joy in that.