Filed to story: A Claim of Fortune Book PDF Free by Jaymin Eve
The car picked up speed as Finley snarled. “I felt it too. You’ve got a stronger connection… Can you tell more specifically what’s happening?”
My mouth went dry as nausea swirled my stomach. “I don’t… They’re not in pain, but it feels like they’re in trouble. Hurry, Fin. Hurry.”
He flew through the streets, and when we reached the tangled mess of the security gates, I felt the blood drain from my face. This was just like my first almost kidnapping.
Please let them be okay. Please.
“What the fuck is going on?” Finley’s gaze scouted the landscape, and there was no sign of the guards.
“They’re down near our house,” I bit out, grabbing his arm to urge him on. “There’s magic all over the area. Can you feel it?”
His focus snapped to the street, as he peered through the windshield. “I don’t want to take you down there,” he said, his voice filled with bear rumbles. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Our pack is down there,” I yelled, too panicked to do anything else. “I have to be there, and we need to move now.
Please.”
His expression torn, he finally slammed his foot on the accelerator, the powerful engine shooting us forward toward our pack. And whatever was waiting for us at the end of this street.
EMME
The roar of the engine was loud, but it didn’t drown out the sound of my own thundering heartbeat. There was no sign of Slade’s dragon in the air, which hopefully meant this wasn’t a worst-case-scenario situation. The discomfort through the bond was mild, but I couldn’t stop rubbing my hand over my bites as I silently urged Finley to hurry. Even though he was already foot to the floor.
Further along the street, shifters came into view, gathered in a huge group. Finley hit the button to open his window, and his scowl deepened as he sniffed the air. “You’re right, it’s magic,” he bit out. “Fuck.”
My wolf lurched forward, but I managed to block her before she forced a shift. In her form, I was better at fighting and had some resistance to magic, but I didn’t want to change yet.
Not until we assessed the situation. Though I did wish I had a weapon.
“I need my blades,” I said, hands flexing in my lap. “I know I’m still learning, but they’re infused with metals and stones that help deflect magic.”
“There’s no time,” Finley said shortly. “If Slade’s dragon isn’t loose, then they’re holding them with a spell. We have to get to our pack.”
He slammed on the brakes when we were a dozen feet from the motionless group of shifters, most of whom had their backs to us. We were out of the car in seconds, and while there were at least thirty shifters in my line of sight, I couldn’t see my pack.
But I felt them out there.
With a growl, Finley shifted into his bear, the force of the change shredding through the clean jeans he’d just put on. I waited for him to approach, and when he was at my side, his bear paw wrapped around my shoulders.
“I won’t run off,” I promised, easily understanding his beast. “Let’s find our guys.”
We set off toward the main group, who remained stationary, and I didn’t need that roiling stink of sulfur in the air to tell me magic was involved. I could feel it in the churning of my gut. My body and wolf were sensitive to magic, and it only grew stronger with each day I spent in the cities. And each alpha I bonded.
Maybe it was a normal part of being in a quintet, and if we all lived through this, I’d ask one of my alphas.
No.
Not if.
When we lived through this, because any other option was unacceptable.
Sliding through the gaps in the crowd, I noticed a few familiar faces including Kellan’s brothers, and Kassidy. My panic spiraled when I spotted children too. If any of those precious little ones got hurt…
No.
They weren’t after the kids. Everyone here would be okay; I’d make sure of it.
Finley’s growl stole my attention, and I focused on what had drawn his wrath. “Is that fucking Sorenson?” I snapped, familiar orange hair coming into view.
Along with the rest of our pack.
The tiger shifter was an entitled alpha, but he had nothing on even the weakest alpha of the Reeves pack. Yet here he stood, holding all of them in stasis.
Including Slade, who was the only one bound by a shimmering silver rope, wrapped from his throat down to his ankles. As he struggled, burn marks shone on his skin under the bindings. Whatever was in those ropes was both painful and debilitating.
As my gaze ran across my pack, I finally understood why I’d gotten a sense of discomfort but not injury through my bonds. They were being held, and fighting the spell, but except for Slade, none of them looked injured.
Sorenson, who’d been pacing back and forth and ranting at Hunter, took a few seconds to notice we were here. At his growl, Finley took off at a speed no normal bear could achieve, and the tiger shifter turned quick enough to flick a small glass vial at the bear’s feet. When it cracked, a spell rose and coated Finley’s fur.
In his bear form, he held some resistance to the magic, which slowed him, but he managed to make it a few more feet to slam against Sorenson, knocking them both down.
Sorenson cursed, and his expression turned thunderous. From where I stood, he didn’t look well, with haggard features and dark rings under his eyes. He was weakened too, trying to shove the bear off, but not moving him at all.