If Slick fought Gage and won, and that was a long shot, then Katy would be free to mate someone else, but that wouldn’t change the fact that she was a dire wolf. Azure would have access to her magic all the time. And if Slick fought Gage and lost, Azure was simply down one male who wasn’t strong enough to survive. Also, it would be entertaining as hell to watch Gage be called out for a female that he obviously didn’t want.

  “Slick, look out this window.” Azure motioned toward the window facing the back courtyard. “What do you see?”

  The snake walked over and looked out into the night. “An outdoor seating area, some garden lights, and a well-manicured lawn.”

  Azure nodded. “Yes, but there’s more. Look closer. Look for something tall and black as pitch. It has no windows. Only a single door and on the door⁠—”

  “Is a silver serpent,” Slick said softly. “Where the hell did that building come from, and how does it fit there?”

  “Magic.” Azure winked. “The object of your affection is in that building working on the project I have for her. The building can only be seen by someone who knowsss it’s there. Otherwise, it simply doesn’t exisst in this realm to them. They could walk right across the courtyard and not even run into it.”

  Slick turned to look at him. “What kind of magic is that?”

  “It’s our own glamour, but magnified. Marissa, the voodoo priestess, hasss been helping me learn how to harness the magic of our people and use it in other waysss than just our own personal glamour. The wards inside the mansion are one of the smaller things she’s taught me. The building is just a glamour on a new level.”

  “So you’re going to let me challenge Gage for her?” Slick didn’t seem worried that he might lose. Maybe he was delusional and thought he couldn’t possibly lose?

  “Why not? Every man should be able to have the chance to choose their future.” Azure looked back at the building and again wondered why Gage hadn’t headed for New Orleans. It didn’t add up. “You know what? Come with me.” Azure nodded for Slick to follow him. “Since you’re so eager to make her your female, who better to protect her?”

  “Protect her? Who does she need protection from?”

  “Well, she’sss in a vulnerable state right now. So if something happened, she would need someone to help her. Not to mention, if Gage getsss a wild hair up his ass and decides to come for her, you will be here to stop him.”

  Slick’s eyes lit up. He liked that idea.

  As soon as they were in the courtyard, Azure lifted his hand and said the words Marissa had given to him, calling on the natural world around them to shadow them from watchful eyes.

  He pushed open the silver serpent-covered door and waited for it to close before continuing forward. “None of the femalesss can see you or hear you,” he told Slick. “Marissa has them drinking a concoction she callsss Helen’s Poison. Because it makes them blind and deaf.”

  “Remind me not to piss this Marissa-chick off,” Slick muttered.

  “Wise decision.” Azure led Slick over to the table where Katy lay. Her head was turned away from them. The even, deep breaths as her chest rose and fell made it clear she’d fallen asleep, which was probably a good thing. She needed her strength.

  “What’s wrong with her? Why is she tied down?”

  “Stop,” Azure ordered when Slick started to get closer to the little wolf. “Don’t touch her. She’s tied down becaussse we didn’t know how her body would react to the magic. Her life force has been tied to that of ten other human femalesss. When the spell is complete, they will be animi that our males can take as matesss.”

  “How long does it take?”

  “Not completely sure.” Azure folded his arms as he looked down at Katy. “The other animi never lived past five hours. But the spell was getting close to being completed about then, so I’m going to say … six hours.”

  “Others?” Slick’s head turned, his eyes wide. “There have been others, and they died?”

  Azure shrugged. “They weren’t powerful enough.”

  “And they were also tethered to humans?” Slick shoved his hands into the front pockets of his pants, almost as if he needed them to be restrained to keep from touching the little wolf. “How many?”

  “Just one.”

  “They died from one connection, and you’ve tied Katy to ten?” Slick’s voice rose as his skin began to shift to scales, the human flesh fading away. “There’s no way in hell she’s going to make it. You’ve just signed her death warrant.”

  “I think you’re underestimating the little she-wolf. I think she’s going to surprise us all. She sure as hell surprised me with the fact that she is Gage’s mate. If she wasn’t a dire, Otto’s poison would have killed her.”

  “WHAT?” The hair on Slick’s head disappeared and was replaced with scales. “Otto bit her?”

  “Don’t look at me like it’s my fault.” Azure held up a hand. “It was her idea. Her way of proving that Gage was, in fact, her mate. I thought maybe she was just suicidal.”

  Slick’s shoulders drooped, and he suddenly looked like a deflated balloon. “Even if I fight Gage and win, I might lose her.”

  “We aren’t guaranteed anything in this life, Slick. You’re old enough to know that.” Azure turned and started for the door. “I’m setting you as her guard. If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible.”

  When he reached the door, Azure looked back over his shoulder. Slick stood in the same spot, his gaze focused on Katy. He’d managed to wrangle his emotions together because he looked completely human again. “Slick.” The other male turned to look at him. “Is she really worth death?”

  “She’s worth my life and more,” Slick answered solemnly.

  Chapter 16

  Are You Always Going To Be Bossy?

  “I tired. Scales dull. Claws worn out. If my time gone, living long time to meet Katy worth it. If Katy not here, I not either.” ~Otto

  Gage stalked through the empty halls of the Kingdom of Venom mansion, his senses primed for any sign of his quarry. Azure had recently walked this same path. He could smell the viper’s stench. His wolf snarled inside, eager to rip out the snake king’s throat. They would end this tonight.

  Rounding a corner, he spotted light shining from beneath a closed door. Gage paused, listening intently. The murmur of voices reached his keen ears, Azure’s hissing baritone unmistakable. Muscles coiling, Gage burst through the door with an explosive roar. Azure whirled from his place by the fire, yellow eyes widening.

  “You!” he spat as Gage shifted. But the attacker didn’t change into a mere wolf; he morphed into the beast that Visata created him to be—half man, half wolf, but bigger and stronger than both. “How did you get in here?” Azure spat.

  “You made a mistake taking my mate,” Gage rumbled, his voice calm despite the anger boiling inside of his veins. “You made an even bigger mistake by thinking to use her in your dark magic. Now you answer to me. I am the Dire Wolf of Visata. The arm of justice for our Creator, and your time for judgment has come. Justice will be served this night.”

  With blinding speed, he lunged across the room. His claws sliced through the air where Azure had stood a mere heartbeat before. The snake was fast, darting away and shifting into a giant cobra.

  Gage tensed, circling warily as Azure reared up, his hood flared in aggression. This time when the cobra struck, fangs glistening, Gage was ready. He twisted away, feeling the breeze as death narrowly missed him.

  Lashing out with a kick, he connected with the cobra’s sinuous body. But Azure absorbed the blow and came at him again, weaving hypnotically. Gage shook off the effects, refusing to fall prey to the snake’s tricks.

  When Azure’s heavy tail whipped toward his legs, Gage leapt and landed on the snake’s broad back. His claws tore through shiny scales, digging in deep. Azure thrashed and coiled, trying to dislodge him. Gage held on. He bit into the snake king’s hood, his jaws clamping down to rip away a chunk of flesh. Blood, hot and sickly sweet, filled his mouth. The snake screamed in rage and pain. Twisting like lightning, his fangs sank into Gage’s shoulder.

  Agony lanced through the wolf as venom entered his bloodstream. Gage roared and ripped himself free, falling and rolling back to his feet. They regarded each other warily across the dim room, both leaking blood, the air thick with their hatred.

  “You can’t defeat me, wolf,” Azure sneered, though his breath came in pained gasps. “My power runs deeper than our Damarian roots. I cannot be killed.”

  “Yet here you are, bleeding, which means you’re not invincible,” Gage spat out. He blinked back the creeping darkness trying to claim him. “You should have stayed in Damaria five hundred years ago, snake. And if I had been at the portal, I would have made sure you hadn’t gotten through.”

  Baring his fangs, Gage lunged again, only to meet the empty air. Azure slid aside and made for the open balcony. The wolf pursued, shaking off the venom weakening his limbs.

  He burst outside a second after the massive cobra. Gage shifted to his true dire wolf form, racing full out, but Azure had already slipped over the edge, disappearing into the darkness below.

  Gage skidded to a halt at the railing, bellowing his rage. He searched the ground below but saw nothing. The snake had already vanished into the shadows. Gage wanted to leap to the ground and rip up every tree by its roots until he uncovered the serpent. But he couldn’t. He needed to find Katy. Gage growled and squinted at the darkness. His enemy—the man responsible for causing Katy pain—had escaped. Gage knew the Snake King would slither into hiding to nurse his wounds and plot revenge. Azure would never let this go. That was okay with Gage. Azure’s days were numbered. He’d live looking over his shoulder, wondering not if but when Gage would attack.

  Panting harshly, Gage shifted back. He clutched the balcony edge as his shoulder blazed with pain, trails of fire branching under his skin from the cobra’s cursed venom. Gage grimaced, clenching his jaw against the agony. He lifted up a prayer to Visata to purge the poison from his body. He still needed to get to Katy. Slick had let him know where they could be found, and now, with Azure gone, his beast was urging him relentlessly to move. Now, the beast demanded.

  Gage took a minute to sniff the air, searching for the Queen of Venom. It wouldn’t be wise to forget about such a powerful enemy when he’d just attacked her husband. But Gage caught only a small hint of Zeena’s scent, which meant she, too, was gone.

  He had failed tonight. But it wasn’t over. Next time, he would finish it for good. The dire wolf had tasted his prey’s blood. It only made him hungry for more.

  Staggering inside, Gage found a jacket hanging on the back of the door. He tore it into strips and used one to bind his wound as best he could. The venom coursed through him, its evil magic seeking out his soul. But he could feel his body fighting it with supernatural speed. Visata had answered his prayer. He would not fall or fail his mate.

  Katy’s beloved face flashed in his mind, casting back the shadows. She was his light. He was only just realizing how dark his life had been until now. When faced with real darkness—evil darkness—he needed her. He needed the love of a mate.

  With stubborn resolve, Gage put one foot in front of the other, struggling down the long hallway. Step by painstaking step, he moved closer to the door, to Katy.

  He had challenged the viper in his lair and survived. Gage bared his teeth in a defiant smile, blood dripping down his arm. This wasn’t over. The snake king’s days were numbered. Vengeance was coming for him, and her fangs were as sharp as Gage’s own.

  Azure would regret the day he provoked the dire wolves’ wrath. Yet even if Gage fell, Katy would finish it. Of that, he had no doubt. A female so brave and fierce, her enemies would come to dread the name of the dire wolf’s mate.

  His legs nearly buckled as the door finally came into view. Gage swallowed back a howl of relief. He was almost there. Katy was waiting. He had to make it back to her side.

  The Dire would not be defeated so easily. Invigorated by his mate’s strength, Gage pushed forward. One step closer to her. And one step closer to their revenge. A massive explosion went off, and Gage nearly laughed. He’d run into some of Taras’s warriors, and they’d agreed to assist with a diversion. Thankfully, they’d waited long enough for Gage to confront Azure. Now, any warriors that thought to stand between him and his female would be running for the hills.

  Otto kept one of his hands pressed against the pulse in Katy’s neck. He needed to feel her heartbeat, needed to know it still pounded, even if it occasionally skipped a beat. Her body wasn’t as warm as it had been when he’d first snuggled up against her. And her breathing was much more shallow. How long had she been laying here?

  Lifting his head up, Otto peeked out from under her hair. He blinked several times, attempting to clear his vision. Slick sat in a chair next to the table to which Katy was tied. Otto scurried to his feet and bared his teeth at the snake and hissed.

  “Easy.” Slick raised both hands. “I’m here to protect her.”

  Otto kept on with the hissing sounds because they were the only sounds he could make while in his beast form. If he wanted to properly curse Slick out, he’d have to shift back to his non-beast form. But that made him feel vulnerable. He was much faster in his beastwalker shape, and all his senses were more intense.

  “You’ve got to trust me, Otto.” Slick’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. “I just want her safe.”

  Katy didn’t stir when Otto climbed up on her stomach. Her chest and stomach continued to rise and fall with her breath. So she was still in the fight. Finally, he stepped down onto the table and changed forms. Then he sat on the edge of the table, unwilling to put more space between him and his friend. “Hows you find us? Building not seeable.”

  “Azure brought me. I convinced him that I want Katy as my mate, and I’m willing to challenge Gage for her.”

  Otto snorted. “You?”

  Slick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I needed to find out where he’d taken her. I’ve texted Gage so he will know where to look. When he arrives, it’s going to get ugly. There’s probably going to be some loud⁠—”

  His words were cut off by a thunderous explosion that shook the building.

  “Guess he’s here. Damn, they flew fast.” Slick stood up and began untying the straps holding Katy down.

  Otto hurried to help him. As soon as she was untied, Slick started to pick her up, but the door to the building slammed open, hitting the wall so hard it sounded like a gunshot.

  “Put her down.” Gage’s voice dripped with rage.

  Otto backed up as the dire wolf walked farther into the building. He wasn’t in his human form or his beastwalker form. He was in the form the Creator had blessed their kind with when they guarded the Shaman. A huge beast that walked on two legs. He resembled what humans depicted as werewolves, but on an even more spectacular scale. He was easily seven and a half feet tall or more. Blood dripped down his shoulder, and sweat beaded across his flesh. Slick also backed away as Gage approached.

  Gage’s gaze ran over Katy, then he scooped her up in his powerful arms. “Otto, climb up.”

  Otto didn’t have to be told twice. He clambered up Gage’s back, using the rough texture of his fur to gain purchase. When he reached Gage’s shoulder, he shifted into his beastwalker form so he’d fit a little better and could hold on tighter.

  “Thank you, Slick. I might never have found her if you hadn’t been able to tell me about this building.”

  “What was the explosion, Gage?”

  “Diversion,” Gage explained. “I’ll be back once Katy is safe. I owe your king a gift for the care he gave my mate.”

  Gage turned to leave, but Slick stopped him. “Wait. Her life is tied to ten of the women in this building. She might not live.”

  A low rumble traveled up Gage’s chest. “She will live. The mate bond will supersede any other connection. Once it’s complete, it will sever the ties with these females. Speaking of which, you need to call the human authorities and report their whereabouts. And then get away from here until I reach out to you. I’m not concerned with collateral damage, but I’ll try to lessen it if I can.”

  Otto tapped Gage. He wanted to go. The longer they stayed, the more of a chance Azure had at catching them.

  “Yes, I hear you. We’re going.” Gage started walking for the door again. “Tell Myron to get out of town for a while, too,” Gage called back to the snake. “And be thinking of who will make a suitable replacement king and queen for the Kingdom of Venom.”

  They stepped out into the night air. “Hold on. I’m going to run to our vehicle. We’re parked a good distance away.” Then Gage took off. Using his supernatural speed, he moved so fast that the world became all one color around Otto. He closed his eyes and buried his face against the dire wolf’s fur. He was free. Katy was free. Maybe there was a chance she would be okay. Gage would do everything he could to make sure she was. Otto would just pray to Visata and trust his new friend to fight for this new life. For the first time that Otto could remember, he actually wanted to see what tomorrow would hold. There was a spark of excitement at what the future held with Katy and Gage a part of his life. Otto wouldn’t have to live in fear any longer. As long as Katy lived… She just had to live.

  Nausea roiled in Katy’s stomach as she tried to fight the deep sleep that had dragged her under. She pushed up and rolled to the side, right off the bed. She landed on all fours on a very thick carpet. A trash can appeared in front of her face before she could ruin said carpet. Her hair was pulled away from her face as another hand ran up and down her back gently. She groaned as her stomach heaved, but there was nothing in it, so there was nothing to puke up. This went on for several agonizing minutes.

  Finally, she pushed back and sat on her haunches. She wiped her mouth and blinked, clearing away the sleep. Her body was weak. She also ached like she’d been beaten with a tire iron and then ran over by a bus.