Page 27 of Emerald Flame
Warren met Kiara’s gaze once more. She drew close to him and in a very warlock way he could feel her need for comfort, a sensation that matched his own. He moved the cell to his left hand and slid his arm around Kiara’s waist then pulled her tight against him.
She trembled, but it wasn’t from fear. Instead, also with warlock senses he shouldn’t possess, he knew she’d connected even at this distance, with what was happening in Ralph’s club. She was forcing herself to take even breaths.
He spoke into the phone. “Ralph. I want to help, but you need to pull it together and give me the details. Tell me what you saw. Start at the beginning.”
He heard Ralph take a ragged breath then the warlock told the story swiftly. Right after Ralph had left the message on Warren’s phone, Julio and his men had arrived with assault rifles. The bouncers had fought hard, but they’d died in the gun battle. Julio’s men had fired on all the customers in the place. Most were dead.
From early in the evening, Ralph had known something was off. When Julio had arrived, Ralph had sensed a dark warlock presence near him, a wizard in fact.
Ralph hadn’t been able to see him, but he was a man of tremendous power. A kind of wave had flowed through the room which had carried the partial-shifting spell. Muzzles had elongated, parts of arms and legs. Without the full shift when major bones were involved, crippling pain had ensued.
At the back of the club, where Ralph had his office, he’d gathered as many of his wolves as he could into his safe room. There’d been a lull in the shooting, but it picked back up.
Several of his wolves had been trapped in the dressing room area behind the stage, including Susie. The brutality of the hit had a clear purpose, to warn the rest of the club owners what they could expect if they resisted Julio.
Ralph continued, “Kiara knows where the safe room is. She’s been here many times.” Warren glanced at Kiara who nodded.
“You’ve got to help us, to get us out of here. If you can’t, Alpha Warren, no one can.”
“Do you know how many men Julio brought with him?”
“I don’t know. It was chaos and noise. I only had time to rush the women into the safe room.”
Kiara squeezed his arm, then said, “Ralph, I’ll bring a potion to reverse the spell.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Warren added. “Hang tight. I’ll get troops over there as fast as I can. Fergus will help as well. You’re not alone.”
“Thank you.”
Warren ended the call then immediately contacted Fergus and put him on speaker. He let Fergus know what was going on at the club.
“I’ve already got troops headed over there,” Fergus said. “I’ve had several of my wolves in the vicinity keeping tabs on the Strip. As soon as the first shots were fired, I had info.”
“Okay. Good. But Fergus, we’ve got a wizard backing Julio’s play.”
“Shit.”
“No kidding.” He needed to know something else to fully understand the scope of Julio’s attack. “What’s going on at my compound?”
“My spies tell me everything’s quiet. Julio’s men haven’t made a move, though there are at least thirty surrounding Caldion. We’re sure they’re waiting for you to show up. But you don’t need to worry. Alessandro has your compound on full lockdown. Everyone is safe. So, how do you want to run this at the Strip?”
He glanced at Kiara, meeting her gaze. He didn’t even need to pose the question. She simply dipped her chin, a resolute expression in her dark brown eyes. “Kiara and I will be over at Ralph’s in a matter of minutes. We’ll get the wolves out of the safe room using Kiara’s invisibility shield.”
Kiara touched his arm. “Hold on, Fergus. I need to tell Warren something.”
“Go ahead,” Fergus said.
“I’ve got to put a spell together to get the wolves out of the partial-shift. They won’t be able to move until I do. I’ve seen it happen before. It’s agony for the wolves.”
Fergus let loose a string of invective. Warren instinctively held the phone away from them both. He finished with, “Julio’s a bastard.”
Kiara added, “I second that.”
“Do we know which wizard?” Fergus asked.
Warren was aware of several powerful wizards in Elegance Territory. But which one was dark enough to want to align with a powerful drug dealer?
