Chapter 11

My body would have fallen out of bed if not for Callan"s solid form next to me as the siren began to blare. Sharp, piercing shrieks came from the speakers subtly installed in the house as we both rolled to stand on our feet, alert coursing through us. "Intruder siren," Callan shouted above the noise as my heart froze in my chest. A subtle scent of jasmine hit us at the same time, our eyes going wide with recognition.

Fae.

Pricks of lightning coursed through my fingertips, waiting just under the surface for me to call them as we approached the door. Luckily, we"d gone to bed fully clothed, so tired after the night"s events that we"d barely had time to change into our sleepwear. My legs were bare under my thin cotton shorts, but the heat of my power kept me warm, ready for trouble.

"On me," he said in my ear as he passed me, cautiously opening the door, one hand already half shifted into his feline claws. We moved as one, rounding a corner, almost jumping out of our skin when we collided with Wolfe and Finn, both men in various states of undress with their arms at the ready.

"I could have killed you," Finn hissed under his breath, eyes darting around for trouble.

"Good luck with that," Callan said darkly, a slight edge of danger in his tone. "How did they get in?"

"No fucking clue." Wolfe"s voice was low and deadly, on high alert. "Where are Lily and Nia?"

I took off in the direction of their room, just a short way down a wide hallway, nothing but the sounds of the alarm going off as we moved. By the time we"d reached their door, my chest was tight with anxiety, the overwhelming scent of fae permeating out into the hallway, thickening the closer we got.

"Rowan," Callan"s voice was demanding behind me, a clear warning to wait for him, but it was the smell of blood that drove me forward. The alarm gave one final shriek before falling silent, our bated breaths loud in the sudden silence. Golden lightning streaked with blue formed into the palm of my hand as I gripped the simple metal doorknob, twisting the knob and barging into the room with a loud clang. I stopped in my tracks, taking in the chaos before me.

The room was a maelstrom of shattered furniture and splintered wood, remnants of a fearsome struggle. The air was crisp, the window shattered, sharp shards of glass glinting under the moonlight that beamed through the empty windowsills.

The room was empty except for Nia, who writhed on the floor, an inky black sludge stuck to her face, darkness swirling on its black surface. Deep cuts covered her entire body, blood saturating the rug beneath her back as it continued to ooze out. Her fae healing had already started to try to close her wounds, but there were so many I wasn"t sure it would make a difference.

Her fingers clawed at the edges of the black goo, struggling to tear it off so she could breathe, but it wouldn"t budge. She thrashed as her body fought for air, almost nailing me in the shin as she struggled. My hands came on top of hers to join her efforts, but the substance was more solid than it looked, almost like a mask that was glued to her face. Pinpricks of midnight satin branched underneath her skin, her veins beginning to turn a sickly color.

"Power," Oliver shouted as he pushed his way past the guys to come and kneel next to me. His hand heated, flames bursting out alarmingly fast, pummeling straight into the mask on Nia"s face.

"It"s a famel potion, very dark magic that"s sole purpose is to devour other magic. Overload it with power and we might be able to save her." His free hand grabbed mine, shoving it until it hovered over Nia"s face. Lightning ignited from my fingertips, sizzling as it combined with Oliver"s fire magic. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the mask hardened, then cracked. Applying more power, it shattered, Nia gasping for air and sending a rush of relief through me.

But where was Lily? The scent of fae had faded from the room, leaving only blood and magic behind. Nia seemed to have the same thought, struggling painfully into a sitting position, her eyes wide and frantic. "They took Lily," she gasped, still fighting for air as she recovered. Fury laced her words, and she struggled to come to her feet despite her injuries.

"Cas?" I asked her urgently, my blood boiling. I"d never expected them to come for us here. This was a heavily patrolled, densely populated shifter city, the largest in the entire country, and heavily warded. They shouldn"t have been able to get in.

"Tantaii and Roxy."

"Was she – "

"They knocked her out," Nia growled, her voice wavering slightly as she pooled water from her pouch, the color lightening as she began to accelerate the healing of her own wounds with her magic. "Then tried to kill me. I don"t know how they got into the pack, but they were thrown off by the sound of the alarm. But they were in and out so quickly, it didn"t matter. The window exploded, they hit me with that black. . . goo, and the next thing I know. . . Lily was gone." Her voice cracked on the last word, the pain clear on her face.

"We have to go after them." My words were directed at Oliver. His extensive knowledge of both fae and witch were at the top of my list of tools that would help find Lily. The ring heated against where it lay on my chest, responding to my energy and beckoning me to put it on, but I ignored it. "Why would they take her? She doesn"t even have the ring." Queen Tantaii wasn"t going to stop. She knew to hit me where it hurt the most. She could have easily attacked my room instead of Lily"s and fought for the ring straight out, but she hadn"t. Instead, she"d taken my best friend.

"I agree," Nia chimed in, sweat beading on her brow as she healed. "And I"ll be going, whether you are with me or not."

"She"ll know we"re coming," Callan said, scanning my face. "It"s unlikely she would kill Lily."

"I don"t give a fuck," I raged, lightning sparking at my fingertips as Nia finished up her healing, looking just as upset as she rose to her feet, color beginning to flush back into her cheeks. "You don"t think I realize she"s trying to draw me out?"

Queen Tantaii was betting that I would come for Lily, and she was right. I knew it"d be walking into a trap, but I didn"t care. Lily was one of the most important people in the world to me, and I was not letting her be a pawn in this game. "We can"t leave her with them. If this is the way Tantaii wants to play it, then so be it."

"She knows that attacking you outright while you hold the ring would be stupid," Oliver mused, sweat from exerting so much power so quickly beginning to bead on his brow. "My guess is this is an attempt to barter. A ransom," he added.

"We don"t even know where they went," Wolfe"s voice was deadly low, Alpha energy radiating off him, sucking the air out of the room despite the open windows.

"The faerie prison," Finn said softly, all heads turning toward him. "That"s where she kept all her prisoners. Highly guarded, and directly under Primoris." Fuck. Primoris was the evil queen"s lair. Getting through their defenses would be next to impossible. "You spent a fair bit of time there too," Finn added, his eyes on me.

The room fell silent.

Wolfe paced back and forth, his alpha energy crackling in the tense air, every line of his body radiating with rage as we all considered where to go from here.

"We can"t just barge into Primoris," Callan finally broke the silence, calm even though I could feel his apprehension through the bond. "We need a plan, and a lot of help."

"Every second we waste is a second too long," Nia scoffed.

"Can we portal in and get her?" I asked. Angry tears sprung to my eyes as I tried to think as clearly as possible, to push down my panic and approach this rationally. I wouldn't charge in like a raging bull, but if there was a way to do that and still come out on top, I would take it.

"She has protections over the city," Oliver said, shaking his head slowly. "We wouldn"t be able to get closer than the outskirts of town."

"That"s better than nothing," I muttered. But then what? How do we break into an impenetrable fortress? A thought occurred to me then, a long shot, but maybe it was our only option. "You said it"s directly under Primoris. Can we go under?"

"Maybe," Finn replied, rubbing his pointed jaw with a hand as he considered my suggestion. The more he thought, the more he nodded. "Getting us there isn"t the problem, especially if I get an earth fae to help us. We can use the tunnel system and get us right up to the prison wall. What we don"t know is what kind of enchantments, what kind of defenses they"ll have once we get in."

"I can help with that," Oliver said darkly, and I was reminded that he"d been in that very prison before the previous version of myself, Olette, had set him free. "I had many years to observe their defenses. Most of them are on the outside. If we can break through those and get into the walls, it will be mostly guards we"ll have to deal with."

"I can"t go with you," Wolfe ground out, as if the words physically hurt him to say. "There"s too much going on here, too much work to do. I can"t just abandon the pack."

"We know," Callan said, clapping a heavy hand onto the Alpha"s shoulder. They shared a look, a full conversation passing between them in only a few seconds.

"So, we"re doing this?" I met everyone"s eyes, one by one, until they nodded. "Get ready. One hour, and we"re going."

"Rowan, there"s a very real possibility the Queen will be waiting for us when we get there," Oliver warned, more serious than I"d ever seen him. My jaw clenched so hard my teeth clacked.

"Then so be it," I told him. "I"m so sick of this shit. I just want to live my life, not have to look over my shoulder all the time, wondering when she may or may not show up to try to ruin everything. Let"s take it to her."

We"d get Lily back, no matter what it took.