AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A chill crawled through his veins. “What do I have to give them for Tai’s return?”
“Noxx wants you to play a game. Specifically, she requires that you and Joelle both play along, insisting that only your mate will have answers to the questions. Also, she’ll be watching so she’ll know if either of you doesn’t participate.”
Alexei didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely not. I won’t put Joelle at risk.” He would lock her in his house with a legion of guards. “What else would they take instead?” There had to be something, another alternative.
Nita shook her head. “Play the game. You have until dusk to get to the first clue or she’ll kill Tai.”
Yulia’s wail sounded like a woman who had lost everything. It sent a shudder through him worse than a banshee’s cry. He couldn’t give in to Noxx’s demands. Not even for the child. He couldn’t lose his mate.
“Alexei?” Joelle stroked his wings. “I have to do this.”
“No.” He didn’t budge, didn’t look at her for fear his resolve would crumble at her expression that would be filled with the same heartbreak as in her voice.
“You can’t stop me. You promised no more locks. Besides, I would find a way out.”
Fuck him and his past promises. “There has to be another way.”
She slid her fingers along his jaw, forcing him to meet her gaze. “There isn’t.”
“We need time to plan, for you to train.” He didn’t sayyour new powers, but he didn’t have to.
“We don’t have time.” His mate tugged him closer. “We’ll have to improvise with just you and me against the world.”
“You, me, and a small army.” Because by the gods, he would mobilize one before he risked her life.
Her eyes shone bright, her magic flaring over her skin. “Let her awful games begin. We’ll win and bring Tai home—hopefully without bloodshed.”
Alexei didn’t answer. He would crush Noxx and every last one of her despicable, child-stealing followers. The streets of LA would run drenched with their blood just as soon as he got his mate to safety without breaking his promises.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Heading to the fifth stop in Noxx’s scary scavenger hunt of revisiting the worst terrors from her childhood, Joelle wanted to curl into a ball in the front passenger floorboard and hide, but Tai’s life depended on them seeing this through. Sunset had already come and gone with long shadows streaking across their path.
Now, the night sky hung heavy with fog and city smog casting eerie haloes around traffic lights and neon signs. The potholes dotting the pavement of this sketchy part of LA made her glad that Alexei drove the Hummer with reinforced suspension. The stench of rotten garbage and motor oil carried through the thick bulletproof glass.
“Four stops with nothing but a message at each.” Frustration had adrenaline spiraling through her with no outlet. “If Noxx has Tai, why doesn’t she just come at us for a trade? Why draw it out like this?”
“She’s picking us off and stripping our defenses without risking her own. Does Noxx like to play cat and mouse games with all her targets or was this treatment reserved for you?” he asked, but his distant stare suggested he didn’t expect an answer. Maybe her mate could figure out the next step in the hunt for Tai because she hadn’t been able to. “We call it after this stop.”
“But Tai—”
“We’re not doing another location switch. We’ve already had to ditch our driver and backup thanks to Noxx’s messages at the last stops. She has spies everywhere, and I can’t protect you out in the open like this.”
Joelle waved toward the spells, bells, and whistles that decked out the luxury SUV’s dashboard. “Not in a warded, armored vehicle that weighs enough to probably survive an explosive?”
He shot her a look that made her wish she’d kept her sunny snark to herself. “As if I would take you out in something unprotected.”
Flattery would fix the tension. “I have the best mate in the world.” She beamed a smile his way, but the edges wobbled. Her fear for Tai hovered like a blade about to drop.
“You do,” he said. “So you should reward me by letting me take you home and finish this hunt on my own.”
“Where I’ll sit in the library and wait like the good little demon wife with a half dozen guards?” she countered.
“At least two dozen guards, and if I’m lucky you’ll wait in the bedroom where there are extra protection wards.” He checked the navigation system and made a left onto an unmarked street between two boarded-up factories. Before them loomed four huge, round structures surrounded by a chain-link fence. Alexei drove toward the property. The gate stood open, a metal “keep out” sign dangling sideways off one hook. “I think we’ve found the next stop.”
She’d never seen anything like the giant towers. “I wonder what those are.” She pointed to where lights dotted the top of each.
“They’re silos. A malting company operated out of here until they shut down almost a decade ago.” He nodded toward the rear of the lot. “See the factory back there? They had trucks going in and out all day and night when their production was at peak.”
