Chapter 149: Running Into Trouble

[Axel].

Evander has been in a sour mood since we left Gideon behind in the hotel. His face is frozen, but his eyes are busy with a thousand horrors.

I know that look. I have worn it myself. It comes from suffering that final something that finally shatters something irreplaceable within you. Whatever it was that Evander did for the sake of this mission took its toll on his heart and soul.

It was the same way I felt when she married the two of them and I thought she was lost to me forever. I wore it again when I had to accept that she was pregnant, and one more time when she disappeared. Each of those moments took a chunk of my heart.

Who knew that finding true love could hurt so deeply?

"Nothing worth having is easy," Conner sighs inside my head, trying to help me focus. "We will get her back."

"Yes," I agree. "But will we get to keep her?"

Rosalynd was supposed to be my mate. My Luna. I knew from the moment my wolf called her his that day in the park. Yet since that day the universe has asked of me far more than it should of any alpha. Not only am I to share her, but now I might lose her. And for what?

I should have listened to Conner when he demanded we mate and mark her and carry her away before all of this mess found its way to our doorstep.

Evander insisted we raid his family arsenal before we head off on this journey. Over the millennia, his family's natural inclination to gather and store wealth has gifted us with an array of articles for defense, both traditional and magical. I'm too new at magic to dare attempt anything too tricky, so I settle on a set of goblin-made blades that look like teeth made of steel. Evander tells me that if held at the right angle, they also inject poison into the victim. I can't wait to sink one of these into Vincent's head.

My cousin on the other hand has outfitted himself appropriately as a prince. From his enchanted leather armor to the crossbow on his back, it is obvious that he intends to leave no survivors. I am sure I saw him pack a few incendiary devices as well. When I asked him about it his response was "I want to burn it all to the ground."

"I contacted Seb, and he said his pack will be waiting along the perimeter in case anything or anyone tries to escape."

"Perfect," Evander nods. "I have alerted my army to wait in the shadow roads for my signal," he holds up his hand where his signet ring rests, its enormous emerald glowing in the midnight darkness. "They will teleport to the location of this ring, no matter where we are. If it is removed or I fall in battle, they will also be called."

We are crouched down in the field near the airport. It is still, the wind whispering through the dry grass. The distant call of a wolf reminds us that we are not alone, and I release a deep breath. It is eerily quiet.

It looks abandoned, but the bond tying me to Rosie feels stronger than ever. She's in there. I can sense it.

Evander sniffs the air. “I think this is as close as we can get before tripping the wards,” he declares. “The ozone smell is getting stronger. If we cross his runes, he’ll know and we will only have moments to grab her and go.”

I nod. “Will we be able to blink past the line?” On the way here we practiced short-distance teleportation using my ring and his coin. Both allow us to slip in and out of the shadow roads at will to a known location. By looking towards the horizon, we can bring ourselves across that distance instantly just by looking, blinking, and activating our spelled items.

“We should be able to. I’ve never seen a ward that could keep a fae prince out of a ward that they wanted to cross. Besides, I don’t think his wards were designed to keep us from crossing. He just wants to know when people do. If they were more aggressive, I’d feel it.”

Something doesn’t feel right about this whole situation. It feels too easy. I tell Evander this and he brushes my concern to the side. “I know it is a trap," he confesses. "The key is to get close enough to her to have a fighting chance before the trap is completely sprung. Once we have her, we will all be stronger together."

I don’t quite agree with his logic, but I also do not have a better plan.

Following his lead, we blink across the field. The first blink is easy. The second blink feels like traveling through marshmallows, slow and sticky.

"We've hit the first ward," Evander murmurs. "He knows we're here now."

We blink two more times and each time is harder than the next. Evander was right, he doesn't seem to want to hurt us, just to force us to work for it. But he also hasn't appeared, which makes me wonder what he has planned. This seems like a lot of work for a warning system if you aren't going to use the system to at least check and see what triggered it.

With our next blink, Evander makes it to the doorway.

I try to follow, but my legs won't move forward the small step that it needs for me to make the shift from one reality to the next. Evander looks back, waving his arm forward, motioning me to follow.

I am too far away to tell him what's wrong without screaming, so I point to my feet and signal that I'm stuck.

He looks shocked, but then his eyes open wide with fear.

Turning around, I see why.

A giant hole appeared right behind me. Beyond the hole is a sterile room with blinking lights and glowing tubes of fluid.

At the center is a man wearing goggles and gloves.

Vincent Vex.

"Perfect." He grins as he reaches forward, yanking into the void.