Page 62 of Tortured Royals

“I count at least seven guards,”Prince Callan says, standing beside Nate.

“Ten,”Alaric replies, towering over the other two and pointing to three more guards stalking the roof.

“We don’t want to spook Ivar until we get the information we need,”I remind them.

“So how do we get in without being noticed?”Mason comments.

“That door,”Alaric says, pointing to the right side of the building.“There’s only a single guard positioned there.”

“I saw that too,”I reply.“That door leads to an old underground storage room. That’s our way in. Shade, I need you to stay out here and let us know if any other unexpected visitors arrive.”

“Eye-eye cap’n,”she replies, flapping from my shoulder and perching on the roof of a rusted forklift that’s resting on its side.

“It also might be better if you don’t get spotted just yet,”I tell Dante.

He grins, and then he winks out of sight.“Not a problem, princess.”

It wouldn’t be the first time I envied his power, but I grin when an invisible Dante squeezes my ass.“Show off,”I mutter.

“You know, if we all hold hands, we could simply stroll over there,”Dante chuckles.

“Oh my god, please tell me you’re all about to hold hands and do a hero walk to the warehouse,”Shade squawks in our heads.

“He-ro walk?”Mason mutters, confused.

Alaric frowns, crossing his arms.“Does the bird always speak nonsense?”

Shade squawks, flapping her wings to show her agitation.“It’s not nonsense. If you’re all touching Dante, he can make you invisible.”

Nate groans and rubs the back of his neck.“Let us have some dignity will ya. It’s not that far.”

I grin.“I don’t think we need to resort to hand holding just yet.”Truthfully, the idea doesn’t bother me, but something tells me Alaric isn’t keen.

Leaving Shade where she is, we move closer to the warehouse, darting out quickly in intervals and ducking behind the discarded machinery until we’ve stopped behind a pile of scrap metal that’s the closest cover to the door of the warehouse.

“I call dibs,”Nate says, eyeing the guard at the door. He cracks his knuckles, preparing to shoot out, but before the shifter has even left the cover, the guard’s head jerks like he’s been hit, and the demon guard is lowered to the ground.

“Well, what are you waiting for?”Dante drawls in our minds, and the door opens.

Nate’s eyes bulge.“I fuckin’ called dibs.”

I pat the shifter on the shoulder sympathetically.“Next time, buddy.”Then I dart out, moving to the open door. The others follow and we creep inside, entering the darkness of the storage room.

Chapter

Twenty-One

~ Princess Blake ~

It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, and then my jaw slackens. Tall rows of wooden crates fill the room reaching higher than Alaric’s head. It’s silent, and we walk between the crates, following the only clear pathway further into the room.

“This was empty the last time I was here,”I mumble.“There must be hundreds of them.”

Nate moves to a crate sitting on the floor on its own, and he squats, gripping the edge of the wooden box and cracking open the lid. A sharp, acrid scent fills the air, and when the dust settles, we all peer inside.

Dante curses as Nate holds up a glowing green orb. The liquid sloshes in the glass ball, bubbling at the movement before settling again.

“Witch weaponry,”Alaric growls.

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