Page 146 of Wrath

“Our shifter friend tried to free the kings. I, of course, had to take precautions.” Axel sounded way too gleeful by the fact.

Psychopath.

“And the kings are still locked away?” Devlin demanded.

“Safe and sound,” Axel agreed, finally releasing the shifter. He dropped to the ground with an audible thud, his head lolling to one side. “Now, can someone tell me what’s going on here?”

“Aaliyah’s here,” I said quickly, skirting over the details and getting directly to the point. “Obviously, this asshole let her in.”

We should’ve killed him when we had the chance. I knew it was a mistake trusting him, yet a tiny voice in the back of my head demanded I give him a chance.

“I j-just d-don’t understand how he could’ve done this without us knowing.” Killian forked his fingers through his garnet-colored hair. His stutter was more pronounced than usual—no doubt a product of his nerves. “We had shadows trailing all of the council members.”

“Unless Aaliyah used someone we didn’t have spies watching,” Jax pointed out, frowning.

“We have spies watching virtually everyone. Unless one of the spies is corrupted.” My brain began to churn a million miles a minute.

Axel’s face abruptly drained of all color. “I have to go.”

“What?” I asked, incredulous.

Before I could press him for answers, he disappeared in a cloud of shadow. The coalesced ball of darkness shot down the hallway, and before I could think better of it, I took off after him.

He knew something.

And I’d be damned if I didn’t uncover what thatsomethingwas.

We wove through the halls, and at one point, I feared we’d lost the blob of darkness for good. But then it materialized again, rapidly ascending a staircase, and the four of us followed.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Devlin panted.

All of us breathed heavily, even Jax, who had vampiric speed and strength.

Axel in his shadow form was damn fast.

Finally, we reached a door at the end of the hall. Jax didn’t hesitate as he rammed his shoulder into the wood, causing it to splinter and break. Devlin kicked it the rest of the way down, and we stormed inside.

Axel spun to face us, his eyes wild, and a tiny girl whimpered where she clung to his leg.

I recognized her instantly, mainly because of the striking similarity to her brother.

Mary-Lynette, the half-mage and half-human child.

“What’s going on?” Devlin demanded, stalking forward.

Power flared in his eyes, making the purple positively luminescent.

“I swear I didn’t know she was bad,” Mary-Lynette said, sniffling. “She said she was my friend. She helped to teach me at night. I never would’ve let her in if I knew.”

Pieces began to fall into place quickly.

We had spies all over the capital, but we never would’ve thought to have them watch this young, innocent child.

Aaliyah had proven herself to be manipulative. I already knew she could influence dreams and even create illusions.

“Fuck,” Killian said, then winced and glanced at the young child apologetically. “I mean…fudge.”

“It’s not your fault, Mary-Lynette,” I said gently, kneeling before her. I tried to keep my mounting panic off of my face. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her. “The woman you let inside… She had red hair, didn’t she?”

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