Page 83 of Assisting the Alpha
I want to protest, maybe shift back and take charge again even if I would be doing so naked, but my nose is more sensitivein this form and I can take down others more easily. Might as well let Lexie communicate for this team for now.
The mixture of scents I’m picking up is confusing and I can’t detect any hint of Nyoka or Ayo. When Lexie shakes her head at me I growl and stalk further into the warehouse.
“Ethan,” Zaiden says from right behind me, “I’m picking up the scents of a couple of the task force.”
Fuck. I knew that was a possibility, and Zaiden will certainly be familiar with their scents, but I’d hoped it was just Nyoka behind this. Ayo will be crushed by their betrayal.
I reluctantly let Zaiden lead the way, unable to contain my growls as the five of us race through the corridors. I have to assume that where the task force are, Nyoka and Ayo likely will be as well.
We pass Jet’s team fighting as we run, taking three different turns before coming face-to-face with four members of the task force, six shifters in their animal forms, and a black jaguar with gleaming yellow eyes. Right behind them is a plain white door.
Nyoka. I have no doubt that Ayo is behind that door. They’re guarding him, stopping us from rescuing my mate.
Like hell they will.
None of us hesitate. We dive into the fray, spells, clothes, and claws flying as the shifters with me shift. People keep getting in my way, but I’m determined to get to Nyoka, my lip curling back as I bare my teeth at him.
As soon as I get closer he snarls, baiting me. I leap at him, ready to take out this motherfucker who thinks he can take Ayo from me.
I’m immediately repelled, flying back and slamming into the wall behind me, cracking it. I shake off the daze and stalk closer more carefully this time, but the result is the same; I can’t get to him.
I throw my head back and howl.
Chapter Twenty-Four
AYO
I’ve never been more grateful than I am right now that generations of sorcerers have kept our ability to access ley lines a secret. I’ve spent the last however long since Nyoka walked out in a meditative state, the way my mum used to get me to do when I was little and didn’t have a focus to help me channel my magic yet.
Without my focus, it’s taken me a while to achieve the mental state necessary, but I’m now tuned in to my magical core and am carefully filling my magical well from the ley line I’ve tapped. I don’t want to rush the process and overload myself.
It’s already risky enough with no one to pull me back out. A sorcerer can completely fry their core if they stay connected too long, something I didn’t feel the need to mention to Ethan when I told him about ley lines.
I don’t have a choice, though. I have to stop Nyoka.
It’s still hard to believe my cousin is a deranged serial killer. I don’t understand how he can justify killing others simply to increase his own power.
Goddess, I wish Qadir was here. He’d have figured out what Nyoka was up to much sooner than I did. He would have stopped his brother. I don’t believe he looked after me out of guilt; Qadir loved me like a parent, or perhaps an older brother.
But I don’t have Qadir, or my parents, or even Ethan and our pack. I have no doubt they’ll be looking for me—Ethan will tear the city apart to find me—but how can they possibly know where I am? I don’t even know where I am.
No, I’m on my own.
My pulse races and I break into a sweat. My magic is almost fully topped up and I can already feel the telltale tingling of ley line overuse in my core. The moment my magical well is full I attempt to break the paralysis spell pinning me to the bed. It takes me three attempts, because performing magic without my focus is extremely temperamental, but the moment I’m free I tear off all the wires, withdraw the cannula from my hand, and leap out of bed to grab my focus. I yank it over my head and settle it under my gown, resting against my skin.
A massive wave of relief swamps me. My headache disappears immediately. My magic clicks into place.
Everything looks a little hazy, the way it always is when connected to a ley line. Ordinarily, only my own magic is visible to me, but the ley line connection provides me with a visual overlay of any other magic surrounding me; something I can normally only feel.
I falter when the room shakes, dust raining from the ceiling tiles. The silencing ward prevents me from hearing anything going on outside, but I quickly erect a personal shield anyway. If someone has found me, I need to get out there to help them. They won’t be able to defeat Nyoka without me.
My heart fills with hope that maybe I won’t have to do this alone after all.
The emerald green glow of a mage’s magic shimmers from the runes on the control panel, which I ignore in order to study the emerald green grid ward surrounding the room. It’s not simply a silencing ward though, it’s more like a wall, or maybe a bomb shelter. Magical instead of physical. The equivalent of concrete ten feet thick.
I open the unlocked door, aware I can’t walk through it yet as I watch Ethan’s silent howl. His aura glows pure gold, just like last time.
There’s a chaotic fight going on around him and what I assume is Nyoka in his Nagual form with his back to me, mid-leap at Ethan. His aura is grey, tainted and vile, almost black with evil.
