Page 83 of Tempting the Tiger
Ayo gives a sharp nod. “Thank fuck Bryn taught me so much about fae magic, because I wouldn’t have been able to understand what I’m feeling otherwise. Yes, it’s a glamour, and I need to take it down before I’ll be able to tell if there’s anything else.”
“Such as?” Ethan asks.
“Well, a ward would be the obvious one, or other protective spells. Bryn would be able to see every spell layer on this doorway simultaneously, but without him I’m working blind.”
“Do what you can, sweet thing,” Ethan says, scenting Ayo’s neck.
Ethan and I keep watch while Ayo gets to work, whichinvolves him staring at the door with nothing visibly happening. I like to think I’m a patient person, but knowing my dragon could be down there, potentially injured or worse, has my tiger wanting to growl at my alpha-mate to hurry the fuck up. Since Ayo doesn’t deserve that, I bite my tongue.
I refuse to even consider the possibility that Bryn and his siblings aren’t down there, that this could just be the entrance to a tunnel used as a supply route for the warehouse, that we could be wasting time on the wrong location.
No, they have to be here. This location makes sense.
The door in front of us flickers. “Come on, Ayo,” I murmur, shifting my weight.
“Sorry,” he says through gritted teeth. “Goddess, I wish Bryn was here to talk me through this. I’ve almost… Just one more… Done.”
The door vanishes, revealing a small wooden platform at the top of a staircase which leads down into the darkness. There’s a door visible at the bottom on the right hand side, but that’s it.
I want to rush straight through, but I’m better trained than that. “Well?”
Ethan throws a sharp look my way but doesn’t reprimand me otherwise.
Ayo’s tone is thoughtful. “There’s some sort of ward, although it’s constructed differently than the one on Lance’s office was. I’m not sure what it does.”
“An alarm?” Ethan asks.
Ayo shakes his head, still focused on the doorway. “Doesn’t seem to be.”
My only priority is getting down there and finding Bryn and his siblings. If breaching the ward does trigger an alarm? Bring it. There’s nothing our team can’t handle.
“Will it stop us getting through?” I ask.
“I don’t think so,” Ayo says.
“Good work, sweet thing.” Ethan taps a button on his headset. “Romeo two-five, Romeo eight-seven, over.”
“Romeo eight-seven, go ahead, over,”Jet says over the comms.
“We have a go, over.” Ethan says.
“Copy that. Floor is clear, we’re on our way. Over and out.”
Ethan turns to me. “Let’s find out what this ward does. Be prepared for hostiles.”
I give a sharp nod and step through the open doorway with my rifle raised, only to grab the doorframe for support as I stagger, feeling like my insides are being viciously ripped from my body. My rifle dangles from the strap as I clutch my chest in a futile attempt to hold everything inside, and it hits me—my tiger is missing.
“Raj! What the hell? Cross back over.” Ethan sticks his arm through the doorway and grabs my vest, dragging me back across the threshold.
I suck in lungfuls of air as he holds me up, my tiger snarling ferociously at whatever the fuck that was.
“What happened?” Ethan demands just as Cal and Jet join us. “You two, don’t go through that doorway.”
“My tiger was gone,” I rasp. I barely manage to straighten and stand on my own, the remembered pain lingering.
“Like a prison ward?” Cal asks.
I nod, although if that’s what prison wards feel like it has to be a violation of some global supernatural rights law somewhere. No wonder Bryn rarely mentions his time in Wargate. It must have been pure torture.
