Page 2 of Ascension of the Pack

‘I’m coming with you,’ I interrupted.

He nodded tightly, his eyes still black with rage. ‘I’d expect nothing less.’ He summoned Jess’s hellhounds. ‘Come on, Indy, Gato. Let’sgo and get her back.’

The sense of foreboding in my gut told me that it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Chapter 2

‘What do you mean, she hasn’t been processed?’ Emory’s voice was tight.

The poor bastard behind the desk swallowed hard and continued tapping on his computer. ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ he said finally, a tremor in his voice. ‘I’ve double- and triple-checked, but there are no records of a Miss Jessica Sharp being arrested.’

‘It has beenhourssince she was taken,’ Emory all-but roared. ‘You assured me she would definitely have been processed by now.’

The clerk licked his lips. ‘She should have been, but she’s not showing up on our system.’

Greg leaned over the desk and moved threateningly into the clerk’s personal space. ‘And if she’s been taken to a black site, would you have a record of that?’

The clerk paled and stammered, ‘B-B-Black site, s-s-ir? There are no b-b-black sites.’

Gregshot him a disgusted look. ‘We both know that isn’t true. Emory, come on. There’s no point in waiting around. She’s not being brought here.’

Emory’s nostrils flared and I could hear the sound of his teeth grinding from several metres away. He glared at the clerk with such intensity that I knew there was a real chance the man was about to die.

It’s not the chump’s fault,Esme muttered.He’s just inherently useless.

Ouch. I stepped between Emory and the clerk. Esme was right about the chump thing, but he didn’t deserve to die for it. He hadn’t arrested anyone; he was just a pencil pusher. ‘Come on, Emory,’ I said softly. ‘Let’s go. Plan B.’

‘Plan B is to raze this fucking building to the ground,’ he growled. Behind me, the clerk gave an ‘Eek!’ and made himself scarce. Good move.

‘That can be Plan C,’ I said lightly. ‘For now, we need to focus on finding Jess. Do you hear me, Emory Elite?’

His head snapped up. ‘I’m not the Prime Elite. Not anymore.’

‘Honey, they can take the Prime title from you, but you’ll always be elite.’ I winked, hoping to tease a smile out of him. None came. ‘Come on, Emory. Let’s find her.’ I took his shoulder and he let me manoeuvre him out of thebuilding.

We drove in silence to Jess’s house. We’d barely been inside long enough to flick the kettle on when Nate phased in. ‘Anything?’ I asked hopefully.

He shook his head, anxiety in every line of his body. ‘No, I can’t feel her at all. I’m focusing on her with everything I’ve got, but it’s like the bond has vanished.’

Emory entered the kitchen looking grim. ‘It’s the same for me.’ Vampyrs and dragons get on like oil and water, but the two men were clearly setting aside their differences. For Jessica, they’d work together effortlessly as allies.

My phone beeped loudly and I pulled it out, hoping for a miracle. It wasn’t far off; the text message read:Even the Librarian doesn’t know this address. An address I didn’t recognise followed.

My heart started to fill with hope. The message was from an unknown number, but I knew it was from Elvira because of the reference to the Librarian. She couldn’t risk signing her name; presumably, if she was texting me cryptically, she’d also gone to the effort of acquiring a burner phone.

I suddenly remembered a crucial fact she’d told me during our talk about the Librarian: she’d said she was going undercover with the Anti-Crea. In all the furore, I’d forgotten about her latest assignment.

‘Get me a laptop!’ I ordered. Before the words were out of my mouth, Fritz was passing me his. I went onto Google maps and typed the address. It came up as The Old Assembly Hotel, but when I tried to view it on the map it was blurred out, as if it hadn’t finished loading. We waited a beat but it didn’t get any clearer.

‘Someone has removed the sharpened images,’ Fritz explained.

‘The Connection,’ Greg said grimly. ‘It’s a black site.’

‘That’d be my guess,’ Fritz agreed.

‘She’s here,’ I stated. ‘Jess is being held at The Old Assembly Hotel. Elvira texted me the address.’

Emory surged to his feet. ‘Easy, boss,’ Greg said. ‘We need more information before we go in guns blazing.’

---