Page 65 of Tortured Royals

“It’s undetectable,” the witch says, her lips twisting into a smile.

“And how do you propose I get this to all the clan leaders in such a short time? We finished our meeting not long ago.”

“That’s not my problem,” the witch snarls. “Get creative. Organize a dinner party or an orgy. Whatever you demons like. I don’t care.”

Ivar doesn’t look happy, but I can almost see his mind working as he devises a plan to gather the clan leaders again.

“We should act,”Dante comments.“This might be our only chance to capture a witch alone like this. We could question her and stop Ivar at the same time.”

The witch turns toward the portal. “One day, demon. If it’s not done by then, our agreement is over.” She takes a step toward the circle of fire, and Alaric draws two blades from his belt.

“Leave Ivar to me,”my assassin growls.

“No, wait!”I blurt, but it’s too late. A cry tears from Alaric as he sprints toward Ivar and the witch. In seconds, he’s within four feet of them, but before he can attack, he slams into a magical barrier. A wave of power blows him back, and my assassin is thrown into the air. Snarling, he lands in a crouch.

The witch whips around, pulling an orb with neon pink liquid from her robes, and her lips form an ugly slash across her face. “Who is this?” she rasps.

I start to move, but before I can leave our cover, Dante grabs me with an invisible hand.“Stay here, princess. Don’t reveal your identity. Let us deal with this.”

My heart thuds as I stare at Alaric, but I stay where I am, trusting my demon.

My mates launch forward, but Ivar snatches the orb from the witch and throws it at them.

Leaping into the air, Nate catches the weapon, and the liquid sloshes and bubbles in the glass ball. “Fuck, it’s ticking,” my shifter shouts, eyeing a circular metal disk on one side of the orb. “It’s a bomb!”

Shandi squeals, rushing from the office, and Ivar grabs hold of her. Alaric growls, rushing at the demon again with his blades, but in the span of seconds, the witch has disappeared into the portal. Ivar and Shandi flee after her, and the moment they’re out of sight the portal closes, leaving Alaric to slice at empty air. He curses, spinning back to study the weapon in Nate’s hands.

A steady ticking noise comes from the orb, the sound growing steadily faster.

“Get rid of it!” I shout, running over to him.

Nate pulls back his arm, and he launches the weapon toward the high up windows of the warehouse. The moment the orb is out of his hand, we turn and race toward the front door.

“Shade, get away from the warehouse!”I yell.

“Why, what’s happening?”

“Just move!”

We exit the door as the orb explodes, fire erupting and creating an inferno inside the building. Glass shatters, and a rush of heat crashes into me as my mates and I are thrown high into the air.

I flare out my singed wings, my boots slamming to the ground yards from the warehouse, and Alaric, Mason, Dante, and Nate land around me. Turning, I find Prince Callan behind me with his hands outstretched. Wind whips out over the warehouse, a swirling vortex of air surrounding the flames as more explosions are set off, the fire contained by Prince Callan’s power.

“It’s the weapons in the storage room,” Prince Callan tells me with a look of concentration on his face.

“Keep it contained,” I tell him. “We don’t need this reaching the rest of the city.”

My archangel nods, sweat beading on his brow as he continues directing his power.

Shade flies down from high above, settling onto my shoulder.“Sooo, I’m guessing it didn’t go well in there?”

There’s another burst of light as something else explodes in the warehouse, but the light fades quickly.

Alaric steps up beside me, and I turn my head to my assassin. Anger is etched into every hard line of my mate’s face, and he stares at the warehouse like he wishes Ivar was still in there, burning with the weapons he negotiated for.

I clench my jaw. “I think it’s safe to say, the witches are coming.”

Chapter

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