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“Fine,” Zen relented. “But I can’t imagine that any of the Anti-Order would have done anything to your queen-to-be. Why wasn’t she guarded?”
Shame flashed through me, but I didn’t answer his valid question. “Send me the information,” I intoned flatly, disconnecting the call. I turned to Saint and the enchantress, who continued to shake their heads.
“You’re not going alone,” Cirilla insisted.
“I need you to work with Zen’s enchantress and see what kind of locator spell the two of you can create to locate Elix. If you can’t, get a warlock in Silverhold.”
“I’m coming with you,” Saint insisted.
“You’re definitely not,” I growled. “I need you somewhere safe. We’re up against dark magic, Saint. I have guards. You’ll return to the palace with Cirilla.”
“I can take care of myself!” Saint spat as Cirilla smirked in the corner. Saint noticed. “What are you grinning at?” he fired out.
“Now you know how Elix felt when you always kept her in a box,” she replied haughtily.
“That was for her own good!” Saint retorted. “Look where she is now that she went out on her own! She was safer with me, with us!”
Cirilla’s leer faded, and she hung her head.
“That’s enough, both of you!” I growled. “We’re going to find her!”
“Of course we are, Jace,” Cirilla reassured me. “We’re getting closer. I’m sure of it.”
It washard to imagine the beautiful house that had probably once stood in the smoldering remains as the sun blazed high in the sky. The emergency crews had extinguished the flames and combed through the wreckage tentatively, so as not to disturb the scene for evidence.
Over the past hour, I twitched with the urge to shift into my wolf body and help, but I’d been warned back by the investigators.
“It’s still dangerous, Alpha, and I’m sure that there are no bodies on site. But we’re double checking. It’s no place for a king to be poking around.”
I didn’t heed their warnings at first, but it soon became evident that there was nothing there to find, and I fell back, wondering where Elix could have gone. She didn’t have shifting abilities like me, but she had other powers that might see her through the night if she was lucky.
But who knew the capacity of Lysandra’s magic?
Helplessly, I looked around the vast fields, toward the forest beyond, unsure of how to proceed, when my cell phone rang finally.
“I’ve found her with a locator spell!” Cirilla cried from the other end of the phone, her voice raised in excitement. “She’s in the Bellewoods!”
My eyes trailed again to the thick of trees beyond, and without uttering a word, I sprung forward, my muscles contracting. Tufts of dark fur sprouted over my neck and back, the clothes tearing away as I became the massive canine beast inside my fae exterior.
“ALPHA!”
A guard yelled out from behind me, but I didn’t slow down or look back, the phone falling to the grass, paws sprinting forward to lose myself in the trees. I had no idea which direction I was headed, but I was sure I could find Elix now that I knew where she was.
“ALPHA, WAIT!” But the sounds were already fading behind me, and I was gone, lurching over fallen logs, ears and nose twitching as I enhanced my senses in search.
Come on, Elix. Where are you?
Following my well-honed instincts, I sniffed the air and headed inward. These were the Bellewoods, according to the GPS map I’d studied as best as I could on the way over. If I recalled correctly, they bordered on Silverhold Tower.
Call out to me, Elix. I know you’re here.
Hairs on the back of my neck rose, my pulse quickening as the rush of water met my ears. Elix’s succulent aroma overtook me, and I ran faster than I’d ever moved, dark magic wafting around me. We weren’t alone out there.
Shallow breathing reached my ears, and I whipped my chin to the side, eyes resting left then right, teeth bared and ready for attack.
My tongue lolled out as I came to an abrupt stop. Part of me wanted to shift back into my fae form, if only to use my voice, but before I could, I saw the cave.
Elix!
