Chapter 18

Greg had never been as afraid as he was when he became aware of the grim reality of Adriana’s situation. Since the establishment of the mating bond, he could feel so much more of Adriana’s thoughts and emotions. She was far more frightened than she wanted him to know, and he realized it was important to her—in this moment—that he didn’t know just how scared she was.

More than anything she was afraid of O’Shea, not just of his depravity and cruelty, but the fact that he was a warlock and that he had bound her with magic. Greg was just as frightened as she was, but that fear was tempered by anger. He was furious with her; she had deliberately misled all of them in order to confront Eoghan herself. Granted, she’d wanted to protect Erin and set her free, but she should have known better. For one moment, Greg allowed himself a smile. In that moment, he was glad he was the nurturing daddy figure in her life. Decker was going to be all kinds of pissed. He didn’t envy their mate Decker’s fury.

As Colby and the men readied the boats, Greg ran to find Wordsworth. Entering the library, Greg called his name.

“Dr. Summerlin?” the owl-shifter called, scurrying out from behind the stacks. “You must be beside yourself with worry.”

“That doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

“You must think I can do something to help. Whatever it is, I will do everything I can.”

“Thank you. I need you to do some more research. O’Shea is holding Adriana. He’s got her chained to a wall with silver manacles, but he’s also used magic to bind her. We don’t have any spare witches so I need you to see what you can find out about breaking that spell. Decker is going to assault O’Shea and his men in their fortress. We’re coming in from the sea. Our only objective will be to get to Adriana. I need to know how to free her, not just from the manacles but from whatever spell he’s using to hold her there.”

“And the little girl?”

“Adriana persuaded her to get out and meet us on the beach. Adriana seems to think Erin will be able to give us helpful information.”

“I’ll get to searching the non-electronic sources and put as many IT people as we can spare to searching the data that’s recorded and stored within our system.”

“Thank you. Anything you can do will be appreciated.”

Wordsworth nodded. “Once you’re there, reach out. I will give you everything we know.”

Greg left the library and sprinted towards the docks where the boats were being prepared.

“Any word on Decker?” Greg asked Colby.

The lynx-shifter nodded. “They’ve arrived and he’s sent a couple of scouts to reconnoiter the fortress.”

“Adriana let me know that Erin had followed Decker’s instructions and was chock full of useful information.”

Colby grinned at him. “You know, you three may end up having to be her guardians.”

Greg shook his head. “We kind of talked about it. We won’t be her guardians. Unless Erin has family who come for her and she wants to be with them, we will be adopting her. She will be our daughter.”

Colby shook his head. “You are a glutton for punishment. A wolf-shifter mate who is also a witch, and then a human witch-child.”

“We’ll figure it out. I know we’re all committed to ensuring Erin has as good a life as we can make it, and when she comes of age, she can choose to remain human or become whatever brand of shifter she wants.”

Colby clapped Greg on the shoulder. “She might have had a rough start, but I think Erin is going to have an amazing life with three amazing parents. We should all be so lucky.”

“Yeah, we just have to survive the next couple of hours.”

“With Decker on point, our team coming in to get Adriana out, and the Shadow Sisters looking for blood, that poor bastard O’Shea doesn’t stand a chance. Any idea how we’re going to get her out of those magical bonds?”

“None whatsoever, but Wordsworth is on it.”

“If anybody can get it figured out, he can.”

“Colby? Greg?” called Brie. “We’re ready to go.”

Once they were on their way, Greg reached out to Decker. He was going to use the developing link between them when Brie handed him a sat phone, rolling her eyes.

“Greg? How the fuck did you let her get into this mess?” growled Decker into the phone. “Forget I said that. What do you know? Not long physician answers. Short and succinct.”

Decker was scared, not for himself or even for Greg, but for their mate. Truth to tell, so was Greg.

“Adriana slipped away from the abbey and established a link with O’Shea so she could find Erin. She hoped O’Shea would trade her for Erin. He didn’t. He chained her to a wall. He used silver, Decker; she’s going to get burned…”

“Good thing for her she’s mated to a physician. What else?”

“Right. O’Shea also bound her by magic. Erin tried to free her, and when she couldn’t, Adriana sent her to meet us on the beach. By the way, we’re going to transmit what we know about the fortifications. Information we know, by the way, because apparently our daughter pays closer attention to instructions than our mate.”

Decker chuckled in spite of himself. “I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.”

“Me, either. But Colby seemed to think…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. My unit will make a frontal assault, drawing Eoghan and his thugs towards the front of the main keep. If we can get them outside, so much the better. You, Colby, and your people go in after Adriana, but what are you going to do about the magic?”

“Not sure yet, but I have Wordsworth working on it. Don’t kill Eoghan until we know what’s involved.”

“I won’t. If Wordsworth doesn’t have any answers, I’ll get Eoghan to tell us.”

“How will you convince him to do that?”

“I’ll appeal to his better nature.”

“In other words, you’ll torture him.”

“You catch on fast, Doc.”

“Save some of him for me.”

“Will do. But stay with her. Keep the link with her wide open and have her shut down the link with O’Shea as much as she can. Keep her safe.”

“We’re closing in on your position,” reported Greg.

“Let me know when you have Erin safe. When you get to Adriana, lead with that.”

“You don’t seem to doubt that I’ll be able to do that.”

“None whatsoever. You can do this, Greg. You keep both of them safe.”

“Will do.” Greg opened the link with Adriana. “Decker is there. I can see Erin on the beach. Brie and the Shadow Sisters are going to get her out of there. Decker’s going to engage O’Shea and his people from the front. We’re using the information Erin is going to give us to get up to you. As soon as you hear Decker hit the front, shut down the link with O’Shea.”

“But you’ll need to know where Eoghan is.”

“Trust me, sweetheart, Decker won’t give O’Shea and his mutts a choice about meeting their threat.”

“Okay, but Eoghan knows Erin is missing…”

“Not to worry. The first boat with Brie and the Shadow Sisters is about to land. She’ll be away from there in nothing flat. Colby is radioing Decker to let him know we’re a go. I love you. We both do, but be ready to do some serious groveling when we get back to the abbey.”

“See you soon.”

They pulled up onto the beach, and Erin ran to him. Greg leaned over the boat railing and scooped up Erin out of the ocean. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ve got you.”

“They want me to go with them,” said Erin, pointing to the boat with Brie and the Shadow Sisters.

“I know. Adriana asked them to take care of you for us so we can get Adriana out. Decker is going to go through the front. He was so proud of you for the way you got us that information. Without your keen observation and bravery, this op would have been a whole lot more difficult.”

“I want to stay and help,” she argued. She reminded him of Adriana.

He nodded. “I get it. But we’re all going to be hungry, and Maya is going to need your help getting food ready. She says you already make cookies better than anyone else.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I am, indeed. Now can you promise me you’ll go with Brie and stay safe at the abbey until we get back? Adriana’s had a rough day, and you know how much she likes those frosted gingerbread cookies you make.”

Erin considered his words. “She does like those.”

“Yes, she does. I have your word?”

The little girl nodded solemnly. “Okay, but I’m not going to bed until you all get home.”

“Deal.” The boat with Brie and the Shadow Sisters from the abbey pulled up alongside them, and Greg passed Erin to Brie. “Maya needs Erin’s help with food prep—especially cookies.”

Brie wrapped her arms around her. “Well, yeah, she would need Erin because god knows the last time I tried to bake cookies, I set off every smoke alarm in the abbey and almost burned the kitchen down. I am no longer allowed in the kitchen without a supervisor.”

Greg smiled, and Erin giggled. “Be good, sweetie. We’ll be home as soon as we can.”

Brie set Erin down on the deck, and the two of them waved as the boat sped off in the direction of the abbey.

“You’ve got the whole dad thing down,” said Colby.

Greg flashed him a smile. “All in all, I think I got the easier side of the whole fated mate triad. Now that we’ve all had our sentimental, feel-good moment, let’s go kill this bastard that’s threatening my family.”

They beached the boat out of direct sight of O’Shea’s stronghold and turned their attention to finding and freeing Adriana.

Even with the link dampened, Greg could feel her fear and anger rolling down the link to him. Decker might think he would be the one to kill O’Shea and avenge all he had done to Adriana, but if Greg got to him first, all bets were off.