The cruelty of inflicting such a barbaric device on a shifter never ceased to amaze me. That Tiberius Vane had shackled this female did not, however. He’d done much worse in the time I’d known him.
Knowing she was Alaric’s mother forced me to act. My mate, with her soft heart and sweet nature, would never forgive me if I left the shifter to her fate.
The female weighed little more than a feather when I lifted her from a pile of threadbare blankets.
By the time I’d arrived back in the foyer, the others were waiting with grim expressions on their faces.
Maverick’s lips parted in surprise. “Who is that?”
“Alaric’s mother, I believe.”
He peered at the female in my arms and frowned. “This isn’t Brianna Vane.”
I ignored him. We didn’t have time to debate the identity of the avian shifter.
“Did you find any trace of my queen?”
The bear huffed but stepped back. “I found traces of her scent in a cellar room, but the trail went cold,” Maverick told us. “They must have used a portal spell to leave the estate, which means they could be anywhere.”
Kai cleared his throat. “In my vision, I saw a windowless white room. This ties in with MageLab. If we can figure out where it is, we will find Raven.”
Zane nodded thoughtfully. “Or we could live-stream on Magigram and threaten Vane if he doesn’t let my pet go.”
“Are you fucking stupid?” Maverick’s eyes glowed in annoyance as his bear came forward.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Zane seemed genuinely curious.
The bear snorted incredulously. “We’d incriminate ourselves in a dozen different crimes, all of which would have the Supernatural Council’s security task force on our asses.”
Zane shrugged. “A stint in the penitentiary sounds like a fun vacation to me.”
“The kitsune could track her, surely?” the merman suggested.
“Possibly, but we can’t ask him, and besides, he’s gone again.”
“Adam Vane might know something,” I pointed out when it became apparent none of them were using their brains. At the mention of Adam’s name, the tiny female stirred.
“Adam,” she whispered.
“I don’t have his contact details.” Maverick glanced over at her before giving the melted pile of goo that was once Tiberius Vane’s closest associate one last kick. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before we’re caught at the scene of a massacre. With your rep, Zane, we can’t afford to take stupid risks.”
“Excuse me? How fucking rude!” The incubus blinked us away, leaving the bear behind.
We landed just outside the wall. A few minutes later, a furious bear scrambled over and threw the incubus into a tree.
“My mate needs me!”
“Don’t get your panties in a knot, care bear. I need her too, and I plan to murder every mage within a hundred-mile radius if that’s what it takes to track her down. But first, we’ll go back to the club in Thornville to find your phone so you can call your butt buddy about MageLab.”
“He’s not my fucking buttanything, you asshole!”
“Tomato, tomahto.”
10
Alaric
The pain thumping inside my skull refused to go away, and, thanks to magic-blocking cuffs, I had no way to heal myself. Or shake the bone-deep cold that had me in its grip.
