“Ash, I know where we are!” Chase yelled frantically. “It’s—”
Chase choked mid-sentence, as though a noose had tightened around his neck. He dropped to the ground, thrashing.
Corbin looked at the sky in utter exasperation. “How is that creature still talking?”
“Sorry, High Magus!” Another warlock ran up, out of breath. “I swear—I only left—for a second!”
“For Merlin’s sake, Barry, how hard can it be to lay a simple mute spell?” the witch said in irritation.
“He keeps breaking my command!” Black lightning sparked between the warlock’s fingers as he fought to control the struggling Chase. “And that’s the third gag he’s bitten through. You try shutting him up!”
The witch tilted her head. “Well, I could fuse his vocal cords. Or permanently paralyze his tongue…”
“Not until you have better control of your own familiar,” Corbin said. “And Adept, you must master the pegasus shifter. His powers are essential to ensure our success.”
“Yes, High Magus.” The warlock made a final throttling gesture, and Chase collapsed into unconsciousness. “I can do it. I just need a little more time.”
“Time is our most limited resource.” Corbin swept them all with his flinty gaze. “Even with my spells of concealment, our presence here will not go unnoticed for long. It is essential that you master your beasts. By any means necessary.”
His underlings bowed or nodded or muttered acknowledgement. The group split up, each warlock going back to his or her own familiar.
“Come,” Corbin said, without looking round at Ash. The binding tightened around his soul, leashing him to the warlock’s will. “We have work to do.”
Chapter 19
“What’s happened?” Hayley strode into the council chamber with a sleepy toddler on each hip and an expression that could have killed a man at twenty paces. The two towering sea dragon knights escorting her looked positively cuddly in comparison. “Rose, what’s going on?”
“Give her some space,” Connie said, without looking up from sponging Rose’s arms. “Ivy, can you pass me that ointment?”
The wyvern shifter shook her head, her hands tucked under her armpits. She was being careful to stay well back from everyone else in the crowded room, especially the children. “I can’t, I’m not in control of my venom. Not with Hugh—” She broke off, biting her lip.
“Here.” Virginia plucked the tube from the first aid kit, tossing it to Connie. “Do you need bandages too?”
Rose hissed as Connie started dabbing the antiseptic cream on her burns. “Not that bad,” she croaked. “Don’t fuss. No time.”
She had to stop to cough. Her throat still felt full of smoke. She’d had to fly through the burning roof of her pub in order to escape. Even in the confusion of the fight, she’d barely managed to evade capture. There had been so many of them.
She took a deep breath, trying to stop her shaking. She’d flown straight to Neridia and John’s private seaside villa. It was the most secure place in the city—quite possibly in the entirety of England—thanks to the dozens of sea dragon knights who made up the Pearl Empress’s honor guard. Even now, she could hear the muffled sounds of clanking armor and shouted calls from the warriors securing the perimeter. Everyone would be safe here.
But the warlocks had taken down Alpha Team…
“Daddy!” Hayley’s son Danny shot out from behind his mother, making a bee-line for Reiner. The boy leaped into the lion shifter’s arms, burying his face in his chest. “I can’t feel Da in my head anymore, he’s not there, he went away!”
“I can’t feel Alpha either, my son,” Reiner said, rubbing Danny’s back. He exchanged a worried glance with his sea dragon mate Jane. “Something’s interfering with the pride bond. But he didn’t go away. Someone took him.”
Hayley looked like she would have thrown up her hands, if they hadn’t been filled with her clinging children. “How does anyone kidnap a fully-grown griffin? Or, or a dragon, or the Phoenix, for crying out loud! Rose, your message didn’t make any sense.”
No matter how much Rose tried to get a grip on herself, she couldn’t stop trembling. She felt cold, bone-deep cold, like her heart had frozen solid.
“Someone should find some beds for the little ones,” she managed to get out. “It’s very late.”
“Rose,” Hayley started, but stopped as Virginia put a hand on her shoulder.
“Little pitchers have big ears,” she murmured, with a significant glance down at her own daughter Morwenna. The three-year-old was staying close to her mother, but her wide emerald eyes were skipping from face to face, clearly trying to interpret the adults’ expressions.
“We’ll take them,” Reiner said, catching his mate’s eye. Letting Danny slide down to the floor, he took the twins from Hayley. “Rory, Ross, we’re going to have a sleepover! Won’t that be fun?”
From the way the twins’ faces crumpled, they weren’t entirely convinced.