Page 41 of Primal Dragon

“Only a couple of them. They covered their tracks. They kept trying to wipe my memory, but it never worked with me.”

Cillian tilted his head and studied her a moment.

Henrik cleared his throat and tried to get his attention. “Quinn is right. James wasn’t at the shipping yard, which means there’s more than one facility where Stefano is holding people.”

“Or James is already dead,” Cillian replied.

Quinn shook her head. “He’s not. I know he’s not.”

Warren moved across the room and peeked out the window, pushing the curtain aside slightly. “And why are you so sure?”

“I just am. You’re all magic. You can shift into an animal or you’re immortal or whatever, but you can’t believe in your instincts? James isn’t dead.”

“Why is this James dude so important?” Warren asked.

“James is my best friend,” she replied.

Warren looked over at Henrik and cocked an eyebrow.

“If it wasn’t for James, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have. He’s been a good friend to the cause,” Henrik replied. “He went missing a couple of weeks ago. We don’t know what happened to him.”

“Your girl is best friends with a vampire?” Enzo said.

Quinn moved to sit up. Henrik aided her. “I’ve been thinking about this. The club is packed with a ton of security and that’s where we drop the females. I’m thinking if James is anywhere, it’s at the club.”

Henrik raked his hands through his hair. “I had a similar thought. Which also means it’s going to be the hardest place to get into and more importantly out of.”

“If the club is HQ, then we need to figure out how to get Stefano and his monkeys out of there,” Cillian said.

“How many females did you rescue tonight?”

“Seventeen, eighteen including our friend who we put in the cage. She was magically low jacked. That’s how we found his shipping yard,” Henrik said.

“Which is what I planned to do to the five of you. Dress you up as human females, low jack you, and send you on your kidnapped way. Once we had your location, we would come get you and effectively shut down his operation. At least…that was the hope. With a dragon attacking one of his joints,” Syrena sighed, “we might have to alter our plans.”

“Why would he have so many women in one place?” Quinn asked. “Some of them had been there for weeks. What does that accomplish for him? Why is he doing this in Chicago? New York or Los Angeles I would understand. Or hell even along the Mexican border somewhere. He would have several places to ship them out. I can’t imagine that all of his buyers are in the United States.”

Arthur smirked. “I see why you like this one, prince. She’s beautiful and intelligent.”

Henrik growled.

Quinn squeezed his hand. “Yeah and I save puppies and kittens.”

Henrik turned to gaze at her. She was watching him curiously.

Nash grunted drawing his attention back out to the group.

“She’s right though,” Cillian said. “Why is he doing this here and now?”

Syrena sat on the chair across from Letty. “Chicago is an untapped source of dark magic.”

Everyone directed their attention to the tourmaline witch.

Enzo cursed. “You mean dark blood magic.”

Syrena nodded. “New York and Los Angeles are obvious spots to use dark magic. Tons of population, lots of murder. Everyone forgets the history of Chicago because it’s not New York. Dillinger was killed on a street of Chicago. Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. Al Capone. There’s all sorts of brutal history in this city that’s been brewing for decades and it’s barely been tapped into. Not to mention all the violence before and after. Whatever Stefano is doing, I don’t think it’s about trafficking people. Or at least that’s not all it’s about. He’s was leaving them sit.”

Letty sat up. “He’s on a mission,” she said quietly.

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