Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

OGDEN

I held tight to Simon's furry body, wishing I could get out of this damn cage. Having my mate close did miracles for me. I could actually feel my magic growing stronger and my energy levels rising as our magics entwined. It was crazy. I'd never heard of anything like that happening, although who would I have asked?

The drugs that had made me groggy a minute ago were draining quickly from my system. It had to be because of Simon . That was the only explanation.

And now I was ready to kick some asses.

" I need to find the keys," Simon said as he squirmed in my arms to get free. " Get you out of here."

" No ." The single word came out more like a roar, my dragon adamant about not letting my mate risk himself again.

" Ogden ." Simon peered up at me. His yellowy-green gaze met mine. " I don't take unnecessary risks, remember? I like having my…" His words stopped abruptly. A flash of pain shot over his face.

" What ? What happened?"

He shook his head.

" I don't take unnecessary risks," he repeated, leaving off whatever else he'd been about to say.

Something had happened. Someone had hurt my mate. My dragon thrashed for freedom, eager to devour my enemies. I didn't care if I had to swallow them whole. I wanted to destroy them. Some small rational part of me recognized it'd take a long time to digest something the size of a human, though, and I didn't want to be stuck in my dragon form that long. But if I got free, I wasn't sure my rational thoughts would have any sway over my desire for revenge and the need to protect my mate.

" Ogden , please…" Simon's soft paw touched my cheek. " I need you out of this cage."

I glanced through the bars of my cage at the fight going on around us. My mate's friends from Willow Lake were fighting my enemies, fighting for my life and my freedom, while all I could do was sit on my ass and watch. I hated it.

And if they lost…

I needed to be free so I could help. It could be the difference between winning or not. Between saving myself and all these other supes or living in a cage for the rest of my life.

I swallowed hard. With a shaky hand, I loosened my hold on Simon . I cupped his head in my hand, and he looked up to meet my eyes .

" You need to be careful. Be safe," I choked out. " If you need to run to protect yourself, then run."

" I promise." Simon swallowed hard. " Do you remember anything from when they brought you here?"

" I was unconscious. The first time I woke up was just as that bear went for you." I couldn't help him. It wasn't my fault, I knew that, but I still felt like a failure.

" I'll find them." Simon licked my hand with his rough tongue like he was trying to soothe me, then he darted out of the cage.

I gripped the bars, ignoring the zing of foreign magic, and watched my brave mate sprint through the room. I was determined to help him, if I could. The large bear shifter still hadn't moved from when I'd fried him earlier. Over the cacophony of noise, I couldn't hear if his heart was still beating or not. I hoped not. He'd threatened to kill my mate. He deserved death, but even if he survived, it would take him a long time to heal from the wounds I'd inflicted. Good . I hoped his burns got infected.

And I was ready to do the same to anyone else who came near me. My fires were slowly building up again. Normally my recovery period was quicker, but I was obviously still impacted by the summoning. They were coming though. Soon they would burn for release. My gaze darted from one of my captors to the next.

" Get back," the little bitch of a troll screeched.

Somewhere along the line, she'd armed herself with her favorite cattle prod, but I doubted it'd help her. She was trying to work it with her non-dominant hand, since her dominant one was still wrapped up and injured from when she'd gotten too close to me the first time we'd met .

" Put that down," Isaac demanded, keeping her attention on him and away from the wolf— I thought it was probably Adrian —who was stalking her from the other side.

Her back was against a line of cages. The imprisoned supes, showing a surprising amount of initiative compared to the last time I was here, clawed at her to hold her in place. She struggled against their grasping hands as she shifted into her alternate form, which would harden her skin, making it more difficult to penetrate. That was her only defense, though. Since she couldn't activate her cattle prod, her fight moves were limited to swinging the prod around wildly while cackling like a witch in a low-budget movie.

She smacked Isaac across the face. Before she could lift the prod again, Adrian had her arm clamped in his teeth. She thrashed her arm from side to side to dislodge him.

" Run , Edgar ," she shouted.

But it was too late for the human. Davina and Teague had already cornered him. Good . He and his cohorts deserved to be at the mercy of a death mage.

" Don't hurt me!" The human lifted his hands in the air. His pants were shredded, and I wondered if that was my mate's work. " I surrender."

That was the first thing the human had done that showed he wasn't a complete idiot.

" Perfect . I'll take this one," Davina shouted to her teammates. She was laughing as she manhandled the man until he was belly down on the dirty concrete floor with his arms and legs spread out. She might only have been a medium, but the way she moved, I didn't doubt she could have taken down any of the supes. The human sobbed as Davina checked through his torn pockets.

She was a vision. If I'd been into women—and not happily mated to my kitty cat—she might even have tempted me. Her style was exquisite. Her flashy red leather jacket looked stunning on her. It had to be tailored. I'd definitely be asking her about it later.

Provided I ever got out of this blasted cage.

Within a few minutes, the human was cuffed and secured. The troll surrendered as soon as she saw the human was in custody. With those two down, there were only two more to go. Only . Ha . As if the demon wasn't the equivalent of an army on his own. I hoped Simon was right and the demon was working against the mage.

Actually , where was Simon ?

I searched the area, sparing only a fleeting glance at the rest of Simon's motley group of friends who were working on the mage and the demon.

The bear shifter groaned. Damn it. I'd hoped he was dead. The asshole rolled.

And that's when I saw Simon . He was creeping over to the injured bear shifter. Couldn't he have done that when the guy was unconscious?

" Simon …" I whispered, whether in prayer or warning, I didn't know. His ears twitched, so I knew he heard me.

I held my breath as Simon's shift washed over him. He was so damn vulnerable in his human form. I clenched the bars, trying and failing to rip them apart. When Simon's hand slipped into the bear's pocket, I didn't blink.

A second later, he held a set of keys .

He did it. Holy Magic , he did it.

Simon raced toward me. His hands shook as he tried key after key. Then one slid into the lock. Magic shimmered along the cage.

Turn . Click . Freedom .

I burst out of the cage.

No cheerful song about innocence and first love suited this moment. I was free, and I was ready to destroy things. I usually preferred older songs, but that didn't mean I didn't know newer ones, and right now the chorus from " Bodies " by Drowning Pool was my personal soundtrack. I roared.

Everyone spun toward me, needing to assess the latest threat. The human, even though he'd already surrendered, pissed his pants. My dragon's roar hadn't scared my mate, though. Not at all. His flushed face and dilated pupils said it all. My display turned him on. Such a good mate. Every primitive atom in me wanted to bend him over, right now, right here, and reward him.

But first I needed to devour our enemies.

I yanked on my magic, urging my shift to flow over me.

It didn't work. My shift refused to come. Fire and electricity spewed from my mouth. At least I still had recovered enough to do that again. It arced across the room and slapped against the mage's shield. His ring caught my eye again. There was something about that ring. I'd bet anything that was the source of his unnatural power. It had to be the Coven of One ring Gage and his friends had said was missing. I hadn't believed it existed, yet here was proof .

I staggered toward the mage, not quite at one hundred percent yet, but determined to break through his shields and rip the ring from his finger. I didn't care if I had to bite off his hand to do it.

I made it three steps before my legs gave way. Blaze it all anyway. I thought Simon had fixed me, but whatever they'd drugged me with wasn't gone from my system yet.

" Fuck !" I screamed out my frustration.

" Teague , help Simon get the others out," Isaac shouted as he joined his teammates in a semi-circle around the mage and the demon. Adrian , still in his wolf form, was dragging the squirming troll across the floor to where Davina had the human tied up. She might have surrendered, but she wasn't happy about it.

" Come on," Teague shouted at Simon .

Simon lingered, staring at me like he didn't want to leave me.

" Go on," I urged. " I'll be fine."

He hesitated a few more seconds before following Teague to the caged supes.

I grasped at my magic again. Still , my body refused to obey me.

All I could do was watch and wait for the opportunity to blast my enemies.

" Get the mage's ring," I shouted at the others. Since they hadn't been drugged and weren't fighting through the drug's hazy aftereffects like me, I suspected they'd already concluded he was wearing the Coven of One ring, but it didn't hurt to say it.

Van and Dillon were both in their hellhound forms. It'd been centuries since I'd seen a shifted hellhound—they were magnificent, although not as magnificent as my beautiful mate. Fire dripped from their black, canine-like bodies. Touching that fire would scorch the mage, but they couldn't seem to get through the mage's shields to get to his body. They clawed at the shimmering cage but couldn't crack it.

Nelson was also in his ethereal, shadowy form, floating around the mage's shield like the guy's own personal black cloud. His wispy form opened only enough to allow the hellhounds through. At least if the mage couldn't see the others, it would hinder his attacks against them.

Gage , Hayden , and Isaac were fighting to free the enslaved demon. As soon as Adrian finished dragging the bear shifter over to Davina's pile of captured supes, he bounded toward the demon.

" We gotta get the demon away from here," Hayden shouted.

" On it." Gage grunted. His fatigue was showing. Since he was tethered to Willow Lake , he wouldn't be as strong outside his territory.

The trapped demon looked at Gage , as if begging for death. Instead , a portal opened behind Gage . Gage's team looked alarmed, so I hoped it was Gage's portal. Then Gage wrapped his arms around the other demon and dragged him through.

" Fuck ," Hayden shouted as he lunged after them, only to have the portal snap shut before he could get there. " Gage took them to Willow Lake , didn't he?" Hayden shifted quickly and pulled out his phone from the back pocket of his torn and grease-stained jeans. A minute later, he was issuing orders to people to find Gage and help him subdue the strange demon. His fear for his people was palpable. He may not consider himself the alpha, but he was.

The mage was still fighting, but he was clearly weaker than he had been when the demon was there. He tried backing away but ended up tripping on the motionless bear, which sent him sprawling right to me. His magical shield faltered, just for a moment, but that was enough. I couldn't shift yet, but that didn't mean I was useless. My fires had ignited inside me again. I unleashed it and my fiery electricity flowed over the mage. My attack wasn't as strong as it had been against the bear, but my efforts were enough to stop the mage from creating another shield. I squeezed every bit of magic I could muster into my fire and electricity. It poured from me for a long moment before sputtering to an end. It was spent. I was spent. I had nothing left. I hoped it'd been enough.

Van —at least I was sure that one was Officer Hellhound —sprang forward and clamped his teeth around the mage's throat. I stared, waiting for him to rip through the tender flesh. He didn't. He simply held tight, as if waiting for the mage to surrender. I doubted that would happen.

The mage's ring pulsed. Putrid green energy surged around us.

Fuck .

The only way to stop this was to get that ring.

I wrapped my hand around the ring. The rising magic seared me. This was not a blessing of the Eternal Magic ; she would never create something as twisted and dark as this. I cried out but didn't let go. My palm melted around it. The smell of burning flesh— my burning flesh—assaulted me. I had to get this ring away from the mage.

I tightened my grip and pulled as hard as I could. The ring came away… but so did the mage's hand. It came away like his limbs were no stronger than those of a paper doll.

Huh .

My dragon form and fires may have abandoned me now, but at least my strength hadn't faded again. If I'd been in my dragon form, I would have undoubtedly bitten his hand off. At least this way, I wouldn't have to digest any part of the guy.

Still … I hadn't planned to do that. Oops . As blood spurted from the ends of the limbs, I prayed that Simon hadn't seen what I'd done. I wished I could shoot a cleansing flame over my blood-splattered scales, but I couldn't even gather enough heat to form a smoke ring.

I dropped the hand.

A wild and defiant look fell across the mage's tear-stained face. His nostrils flared. Then he pushed his neck against the hellhound's fiery and razor-sharp teeth. He didn't even cry out as he severed his carotid artery on Van's canine.

Van gagged at the rush of blood in his mouth and dropped the mage, but it was too late. The mage was dead.

I looked away. There was a time in my life when the sight of blood and death didn't faze me, but it'd been a long time since I'd been a warrior. Peace and laughter and love were what I wanted in my life now. I was an entertainer for a reason; I enjoyed making people feel good .

I never wanted to see death and suffering again. This … I shuddered. This was not my life anymore.

Simon leaped into my arms, as if he sensed my turmoil and wanted to comfort me. I grabbed him tight and pressed his face against my chest. My innocent little kitten didn't need to see the blood pooling around the mage any more than I did.

Unfortunately , we could still smell the blood.

" It's deja-fucking-vu, isn't it?" Isaac said as he shifted and dropped to his ass beside us.

" We knew this was coming," Van said. He'd shifted too and was wiping his mouth on his sleeve. " Jake's vision told us this would happen."

" I'm going to need a fuck ton of apples to help heal that many people." Teague rubbed at his forehead as he rejoined us. It took me a minute to realize apples must be what he used to balance his magic. Each supe had something, usually a food, that helped them replenish their magic after they used it.

" Did you get them all out?" Van asked.

Teague shook his head. " Only a couple. We have the key, but none of them are opening as easily as Ogden's cage. I'm having to use a lot of magic, but at least with the key we don't need Gage's magic too, like we did last time."

" They mustn't have finished the spells on Ogden's cage after they abducted him again," Van said, eyeing the stacks of cages.

Some supes begged to be free, but some were quietly resigned to whatever might happen next. Those quiet ones worried me. How long had they been held in captivity that they assumed we were their new owners, and believed their situation wouldn't improve?

I'd only been in a cage for a short time, but I expected that helpless feeling would linger for a while. I never wanted to be trapped like that again. Ever . In fact, I wasn't all that keen on small rooms, either. Simon's place was okay for now, but I needed big. My hoard room alone needed to be at least four times the size of my current one. I needed room to shift. I needed room to cuddle with my mate.

I'd heard of some truly spectacular supernatural architects. When I got home—and wasn't it peculiar to call Simon's apartment home?— I would start reviewing their portfolios. And I'd need a real estate agent. We needed some land, preferably somewhere Simon's mother and her network of nosy locals couldn't spy on us.

" Police !" someone shouted from the door.

" We've already apprehended the suspects," Van shouted back. He heaved a sigh, then pushed to his feet to brief the other police officers. After a few terse commands, someone jogged toward us.

" Which one of you is Teague ? I'm here to help you. I'm trained in supernatural medicine."

" You'll have to wait for me to open the cages, but you can tend to them once they are out," Teague said to the officer. " I can't manage both things."

I wanted to help, but now that we'd neutralized the threats, my energy was fading again. So I let Simon guide me to a sunny patch of grass. He left only long enough to unearth a blanket from somewhere. Then he settled beside me and draped it over my bare shoulders .

More paramedics arrived soon after. They came around handing out bottles of water and magic replenishing foods. Simon and I shared a couple of tins of tuna. Fresh fish would have been better, but we could make do. Being close to Simon was also helping to fix my magic. It must have had something to do with the whistle, because I normally needed a lot more to balance my magic. I worried he was pushing magic into me at his own expense, so I tricked him into eating a larger portion of fish.

As we ate, Simon described all the things that had happened while we were apart.

I had mixed feelings about Wesley's death and knew I'd have to sit with it for a while. I'd thought he was my friend, but he'd betrayed me. He'd almost cost me my freedom. Was it over money? Or had something else driven him to that extreme? Should I have seen it coming? Could I have prevented this if I'd given him a raise or full management of The Drunken Drake ?

Thoughts like that were futile, but feelings of guilt, warranted or not, lingered. And when Simon told me about jumping off the building? I'd hyperventilated so severely the paramedics rushed over, put a paper bag over my mouth, and told me to breathe slowly. For the record, holding a paper bag over a dragon's mouth when they're upset is a shitty plan, because then there was a fire to deal with on top of everything else.

Simon didn't say anything more after that. He pulled me onto his lap and rocked me back and forth. Slowly , the area filled with all the other naked former prisoners. More blankets were procured and distributed.

When it appeared the last of the prisoners had been released and no one new had emerged from the building for a few minutes, I struggled to my feet. I gripped the blanket around my hips and staggered toward the door.

" Ogden ? Where are you going?"

" I haven't seen Morgan yet. I want to check on him…"

Simon made a soft noise. I stopped and looked at him.

" What ?"

" Morgan isn't here, Ogden . He was pushed through a portal. He's gone."

" No … That can't be…"

" I'm sorry. I tried to stop them." Simon's eyes were glossy as he clasped his hands in front of his chest.

" He was just here…" I stared at the building.

" Wait … I threw the tracking device in after him." Simon scrambled to his feet and dashed toward Officer Hellhound . " Van !"

Simon explained what'd happened, and Van made a call. Before the call ended, I knew it wasn't good news.

" They can't find the fucking signal," Van said. His eyes showed the fire of his hellhound.

" What does that mean?"

" Either something is blocking the signal or it's been destroyed." The hellhound clenched his teeth.

" Could it be out of range?"

He shook his head. " The magic and the technology combined should make it traceable anywhere."

Simon's shoulders drooped. " I should have jumped in after him. I should have…"

" This wasn't your fault, kitty cat." I wrapped my arms around him. " And if you went after him, I might have lost you too. "

After that, we waited impatiently for the bear, the troll, and the human to be questioned. Van , being a hellhound, could tell when someone was lying, so I trusted him when he said those three didn't know where the unicorn had ended up. That meant we needed to talk to the demon Gage had hauled away. As if reading my thoughts, Van was already on his phone again.

" Damn it," Van snarled after a brief conversation.

" What ? What happened?" Hayden demanded.

" The demon is gone." Van frowned.

" He escaped?" Hayden looked ready to shift and run all the way back to Willow Lake to hunt for the demon.

" No ." Van shook his head. " Apparently when we killed the mage, the demon started convulsing. They tried to save him, but… He's dead. Gage suspects it was part of the mage's curse to keep the demon under his control."

Dread pooled in my stomach. " So how are we going to find Morgan ?"

" What if he's with someone who is hurting him right now?" Simon paled. " Or … What if he is all alone and trapped in that cage with no one to care for him or release him?"

Van grimaced. " Unicorns have more magic than most supes. He can survive a long time, even if he is trapped without food or water."

" But it'd be torture…" I whispered.

Nelson emerged from the shadows at the side of the building. He looked me square in the eye. " I'll find him. I can promise you that."

His promise calmed me. I didn't need to be a hellhound to trust Nelson was telling me the truth. I believed him. I had to trust he'd find Morgan .

" Thank you," I said, tugging the austere-looking man into my arms. " He is sweetness personified. He doesn't deserve this."

Behind me, Simon growled. Then he pulled me away from Nelson and pressed his face into my neck.

" It's okay, kitty cat. I'm all yours."

" Don't like you hugging people where you are half naked," he muttered as he tightened his arms around me.

" I know. I'm sorry." I patted him. Being in his arms gave me a sense of peace I feared I'd lost when I first woke in that stupid cage again.

It took another few hours before we could leave. This time, when we climbed into Van's SUV , I pulled Simon into the back seat and crawled into his lap. Then I cuddled close to my mate and hummed " We are the Champions " all the way back to Willow Lake .

I couldn't believe they'd all come to help us… to help me. I was thankful for every one of them and I would never forget what they had done today.

It would take a long time to pay off this debt to them.

Few younger supes observed ancient traditions like life debts. But I was ancient myself, so I did. I would use all my power to give each and every one of these people whatever they desired until my dragon believed they had been properly compensated for coming to my mate's aid when I couldn't.