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Ezul turned, feeling a small tether of his mist pulling him toward the woods, somewhere off in the distance. Their home was in that direction, but something seemed off, and he knew instinctively that she wasn’t there.
A light vibration in his pocket drew Ezul’s attention, and he fumbled for the communicator within, pulling it free.
Answering, Kylok’s form shimmered into view.
“I have been attempting to reach you for nearly twenty minutes,” his brother barked.
“Now is not the time, Kylok, I am in search of–”
“Arombk reached out,” Kylok interrupted. “Vermile is the male responsible for the dissenters attack on the capitol. He has been a plant within the senate for months, if not years.”
Ezul felt his world tilt on its axis, dizziness assailing him as pain seared his heart and soul. Vermile… But he was with…
“No,” Ezul muttered faintly, his throat closing as he struggled to breathe. “No, he was helping Cordelia get to safety.” His Cordelia. His Runa.
Where was his mate?
“No, brother, he was not.” Kylok’s voice was cold and dispassionate, dragging Ezul from his stupor, if only for a moment. “Arombk was on a call with me when he saw Vermile escorting Cordelia to a transport. He sent his coordinates through a tracker before I lost contact. I was able to track them to Arank Forest, but the device must have been destroyed.”
The forest, exactly where his mist was urging him to go.
“Where are you now?” Ezul snapped, whirling around in search of another form of transport. Surely there was something nearby. Something he could take. He’d expended too much of his power to become mist and travel.
“You know where I am,” Kylok answered with a heavy sigh. “I cannot find her, brother. I’ve spread my clones as far as I can across the forest, but I am still recovering, and I am not well enough to provide more.”
Ezul nodded in thanks, knowing his brother was risking his own wellbeing to help him find Cordelia.
“Sahin?”
Kylok shook his head. “Dissenters attacked our home, attempting to kidnap Delilah. We handled them, but he will not be joining us on this hunt. He is staying back to safeguard his mate.”
Safeguard his mate, as Ezul should have done. Instead, he’d stayed back to fight in the hopes of keeping his family safe, and in doing so, he had unwittingly placed his mate and his unborn child in the hands of his enemy.
He could only hope he reached them before it was too late.
Chapter 20
Commandeeringatransportshortlyafter he ended the call, Ezul met Kylok several minutes later on the edge of the Arank Forest.
“I’ve sent several of my replicas in various directions. Some have encountered dissenters and ripped them apart. But as for the rest? They’ve died. I’m growing weak,” Kylok told Ezul bluntly, black drops of sweat dotting his brow. “Each one that dies drains me. I’ll need to mend the strain on my mind before too long.”
Ezul nodded, his voice serious as he looked at his brother. “I know the toll it takes on you, brother, and I thank you for your assistance. Always.”
“Of course. I have also sent a distress call to some of the other warriors on leave from war. I am unsure who will come to our aid though.”
“I alerted the capitol guards before I left, but I couldn’t wait for them to follow me,” Ezul added.
Not when Cordelia was in Vermile’s hands.
Kylok clapped Ezul’s shoulder, careful to keep from touching his skin as he gripped his brother in solidarity. They shared a brief moment before Kylok reached for one of the spikes on his shoulders that he often used as weapons. He pulled it free of his skin. The spike was nearly as long as Kylok’s forearm and coated in his black, poisonous blood.
“Let us go find your mate.”
Ezul and Kylok searched quickly but thoroughly for Cordelia, staying close to one another in case they ran into another group of dissenters in need of wiping out.
After twenty minutes of searching, they had already killed at least two dozen Aragnokan traitors prowling the woods.
Ezul took his opponents down easily enough, but Kylok swayed on his feet after a particularly vicious attack when he was forced to launch one spike after another at his opponents. His aim was true, hitting each male in the chest, his poison killing them within seconds.
