Page 92 of Wicked Fate

Briar interjected,After this, I’m getting quality sister time.

You bet,I answered.

Ryker's thumb traced circles on my wrist, his touch grounding me as the truck bounced along the road. Every few seconds, he kissed me and nuzzled my neck.

Suddenly, Xander reconnected to all of us,Cassi's recovered enough to perform the location spell on Adara. She found her, but... shit, Ryker, you're not going to believe where the queen is."

The truck hit a pothole, jostling us. Ryker's fingers dug into my side, steadying me while the silence stretched between us and Xander.

Just fucking tell me,Ryker commended as his frustration spiked.

She’s hiding in the wolf shifter royal palace,Gage answered.

The shock hit me like ice water. The royal palace? I swung my gaze to Ryker, whose face had hardened to granite. His jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle jump beneath his skin.

Are you sure?His rage simmered, ready to explode.

Kendric confirmed,Cassi said there's no mistake.

A wave of fury rolled off Ryker, so intense it made my skin prickle. His face darkened as he stared into the distance, processing this new betrayal.

That fucking palace. Right where she massacred our pack and the royals.He growled.The vampire queen is using it as her hideout?

Gage's voice cut through our link, bitter and hard. "It's a deliberate insult to every wolf shifter alive. It's the supernatural equivalent of giving us the middle finger."

Ryker's shoulders stiffened.I can’t wait to kill that bitch.

She's mocking us,Briar added.

The wind whipped around us as the truck sped along the dark highway, but I barely felt it now. My mind raced with the implications of what we'd just learned.

There was only one thing we could do.We need to move tonight, while we have the element of surprise.

Ryker's head whipped toward me, his eyes widening.Fuck no. Absolutely not. I almost lost you already once tonight.

That was the thing. I wasn’t asking his permission. I straightened my shoulders, ready to fight.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

That's exactly why we should attack now.I pulled out of his grip, letting the night air separate us.Think about it. They think I'm dead. They know the prison witches are drained from the fighting. They know several of us are injured, which means they won't expect us to strike back now.

No.Ryker shook his head and growled.We need time to regroup and plan. We need—

We need to seize this opportunity.The fire that had healed me was still burning in my veins.They've taken the wolf shifter royal palace. They've killed our kind. And now we have a chance to end this before they recover. We did damage to them back there. And the last time Ashlyn revealed their true forms, the vampires couldn’t cloak for at least a few hours.

Ryker gritted his teeth.You nearly died tonight, Ember. I held you while you bled out in my arms. I'm not about to watch you rush toward another death. I barely survived this time. The only thing that kept me going was your beating heart. But living through that again… I can’t handle it.

I agree with Ember,Kendric interjected.She’s right, and that’s coming from me, who is injured. They won't expect us tonight. The element of surprise could be our greatest advantage.

We need to end this,Gage added.I'm tired of being hunted.

It’ll be sweet vengeance to kill her where she killed our pack and royals,Xander linked.

Ryker's jaw clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grinding. The truck hit another pothole, and he steadied me automatically, his touch gentle despite the fury radiating from him.

This isn't a democratic vote, he snapped.

I scooted closer to him, lowering my voice so no one in the cab could hear us. "This isn't about democracy, Ryker. It's about survival."

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