Page 59 of Tortured Royals

“You want us to follow him, my mate?”Mason asks.

“It all just doesn’t sit right,”I say.“I’ve never seen Ivar look so confident.”

Nate’s brows lower.“You think Ivar is plannin’ on contractin’ a witch assassin?”

I shake my head.“I don’t know, but I can’t help but feel like we’re still missing a big piece of this puzzle.”

“It could be days before Ivar makes contact with the assassin,”Dante points out.

“No,”Alaric growls. “The decision has been made. He’ll make contact and soon, before any of the clan leaders have a chance to second-guess their support of him.”

A long black car stops at the end of the alleyway, and the driver keeps the engine on.“That’s Ivar’s ride,”Dante points out.“I recognize his driver.”

“Okay, well we need to—”My words die off as I turn and see Nate further down the alleyway. His elbow is wrapped in strips of his clothing, and he smashes the driver window of a beaten-up black van before jumping into the vehicle. In a matter of seconds, he has jump-started the van and is driving slowly toward us. He stops opposite us and winks at me.“Want a ride, gorgeous?”

I grin.

“I thought these are metal death traps?”Mason asks with a confused expression, reciting my words from earlier when we’d first been discussing if we should take Noah’s car.

All four of us turn to look at him.“It is,”I say.

Mason looks taken aback.“And you wish to enter it, my mate?”

“Okay, I might be exaggerating slightly. It’s a contraption on wheels that can get us places faster. One of the many inventions we’ve copied from the human realm,”I explain.

Mason still looks confused.“So…it does not kill anyone?”

“Not demons, anyway,”Dante answers, smiling.

Before Mason can ask more questions, Nate beckons us.“Let’s keep this movin’, shall we?”

We start piling into the van with Dante taking the front seat next to Nate, and the rest of us climbing in the back. Thankfully, the vehicle is empty, but it rocks when Alaric hops up, the back wheels lowering at his weight. Mason is the last of us to enter, and he peers at me warily.

I hold out my hand.“It’ll be fine,”I tell him.“Trust me.”

His eyes spark at my last words, and he doesn’t hesitate to place his hand in mine. “Always, my mate,” he replies, and my heart warms as I help him into the van.

“Let’s see if he still feels that way when the car starts moving,”Shade comments as Mason settles down on one of the long leather seats lining the sides of the van.“Maybe you should get him to sit near a window.”

“He’ll be fine,” I send back to her, though Mason is staring at me.

“Why the window?” he asks.

“It’s nothing,” I assure him, shutting the back doors of the van.

Nate twists his neck, checking the back. “All right, if you guys are ready.” He rubs his hands up and down the steering wheel. Just as he’s about to pull away from the gutter he curses.

I jerk my head up. “What is it?”

“Ivar just exited the club,” Dante explains, waving at someone through the front window. “He’s spotted us.”

“Fuck.” I duck down, carefully peeking through the front windshield. Ivar enters his car, and seconds later, the black car starts down the street and disappears from view.

“Not to worry,” Dante says. “This simply means we’ll need to be more discreet.”

“Discreet? What are you—” I don’t finish. Tingles race over me followed by an icy sensation, and then we all…vanish.

A rush of air leaves me, and Prince Callan reaches out, pulling me onto his lap. I can’t see the archangel, but his scent swirls around me, his hands tightening on my body. The van purrs beneath our feet, but all I can see is the alleyway and the street below us.

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