Alaya, please, I pray to the shifter goddess, let my plan work.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER - RICHARD

Dirk swipes a hand over the portal’s glossy green surface, the magic of his security clearance seeping into the shimmer. We step back as the portal explodes into the room and then dissipates, opening for us.

“Last portal, Alpha,” Dirk murmurs. “Are yeh ready for this?”

I grit my jaw. “As ready as I can be to challenge my oldest friend.”

“Eh, don’t think of ’im that way,” the sylph cautions. “He’s keeping yeh from yer woman. He is the enemy.”

Despite what happened in Ever, I still hold out hope that, with the initial shock past, Marco can be made to see reason. But if he can’t, I’ll challenge him to become king, and as his Second for a longer duration than Eliel, I’ll be allowed to fight first.

Focus, Alpha, Big Daddy growls into our bond. Get our girls back. We’ve got a day to prep. The challenge is tomorrow.

That’s right. We’ll find a place to hide; I still have friends in Santa Alaya. We step out of the portal, and shock ripples through me at being in my adoptive haven for the first time in decades.

I expected guards to be stationed here, but there aren’t any. Marco must be so confident in his ability to keep Lola from me that he doesn’t even need to guard Santa Alaya’s only entrance.

Dirk looks around. “Beautiful Santa Alaya. I’ve long been of the opinion that she’s the most stunning haven, don’t yeh think?”

I stare at the pristine blue waters of the bay and the multicolored city rising up through the hills to a pink-and-white fairytale castle. All I see is a barrier between me and my Luna.

“Hello, Alpha,” a throaty voice whispers in my mind.

Relief floods me at hearing her. I hoped we’d be able to connect once I was inside the wards.

“Lola, where are you?” My question carries all the urgency I feel. Now that I’m here, I want to run to her.

“Castle. Come to the ballroom. They’ve moved the challenge up—it’s happening in fifteen minutes.”

Urgency fills me as I turn to Dirk. “Lola says the challenge is in fifteen minutes in the ballroom. We’ve gotta go.”

“I’m coming, sweetheart,” I purr into the bond. Relief and satisfaction fill our shared mental space.

“Hurry.”

Dirk grins like a feral cat. “That means I’ve gotta carry yeh, Alpha. “Yeh’re not my mate, so this is gonna hurt a little bit.” He opens his arms like he’s expecting a hug.

I stare at the round blue disk connecting two leather straps that crisscross over his chest. Sighing, I step into his arms.

“Godsdamn, yeh’re big,” he grunts, reaching between us to depress the disk.

Wind whooshes, and then everything disappears.

Screaming wind stings my skin, peppering me with a hail-like sensation that causes Big Daddy to snarl and pace in my mind. My hair whips around my head as I keep my eyes tightly closed. I don’t want to see us flying over Santa Alaya with Dirk in elemental form.

When the howling wind stops, I blink my eyes open. He’s dropped us into the corner of the ballroom terrace, which is full of wolves in their finest dress and swankiest silver jewels. A few turn when we appear out of thin air, but mostly they’re engrossed in conversation—gossip, if I had to guess—and they pay us no mind.

“Let’s go,” I growl to Dirk, pushing my way through the crowd to the giant terrace doors. Inside the ballroom, hundreds of wolves mill around in small groups. The center of the room is left clear for the challenge itself, with Marco’s silver-etched throne at the head of the room. A wall of doors at the back lead to the rest of the castle and his office.

Goddess, I do not miss this place. How did I serve as his Second for so long? Speaking of which, when I take a quick peek around, I don’t see Marco’s current asshole of a Second, Eliel.

Dirk taps my arm. “Yeh want me to zip around and find ’er? Or are yeh taking care of that with the old mind-meld action?”

Before I can answer, drums begin to beat from deep within the castle. The castle herself swings a set of coral-pink doors open wide, announcing the king’s arrival.