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I nodded at Draven, and he fell back on his scaly legs, releasing a blistering spray of fire into the door.
We weren’t about to knock and announce ourselves.
Draven crashed through first, his forked tongue extended, but a piercing yowl filled the air before I could bound in behind him. Roars and howls filled the air, and I realized too late that we had walked into an ambush.
Orson was not alone in that warehouse after all.
Chapter43
Abby
Aphysical pang doubled me over as I ran toward the warehouse.
Elijah!
Intuitively, I sensed that my body was responding to something he was feeling, but I was still several blocks from the warehouse.
What happened already? I’m not that far behind!
Sprinting the rest of the way, I gasped aloud to see the chaos that had erupted in the short time since Elijah and I had parted. At first, I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at, an all-out war ensuing, spilling fully onto the street and through the yard linking the warehouse to Orson’s house.
I drew back in a panic, my eyes searching for my mate, but my senses were overcome by an eerie sensation.
“Elijah!” I called out, rushing toward the building, fighting through the fully shifted bodies.
Orson had clearly prepared for this, calling in as many men as he could, but he had sorely discounted their loyalty against our forces. Already, the gang members were fleeing, some bleeding and whimpering, while others simply hoped to keep themselves intact.
“ELIJAH!”
The overwhelming sense hit me full force now, and I whirled around, Etta’s bright eyes glittering furiously at me.
Magic. I was smelling magic in the air.
“What did you do?” she hissed at me. Shame struck me like a brick, and I recoiled, physically assaulted by her question. “Where is Orson?”
I shook my head ruefully.
“I don’t know,” I mewled. “I’m sorry, Etta. You need to get out of here.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No! You need to get in there and put a stop to this! Call Elijah off!”
The din of the fight grew around me, the pitch confusing me, Etta’s accusing stare withering me from the inside out.
“He tried to kill me,” I told her. “You saw him yourself.”
Etta shook her head again. “No! He wouldn’t do that! He was just trying to scare you, Abby! Orson’s done so much for you, and this is how you repay him?”
I dropped my head, uncertainty swimming through my mind.
“He was going to kill me,” I insisted. “I’ll never be safe… and he’s trafficking… and…”
My arguments were weak to my own ears.
“You’re ungrateful! Who else would have done all this for you? You were nothing, Abby! Orson had no reason to accept you as a runner. You hadn’t proven yourself. He did it out of respect for Elijah!”
Her pleas were beginning to sway me, and I looked back at the mounting battle inside the warehouse.
“Please! Abby, go in there and stop Elijah before it’s too late!”
