Chapter 191
Charles
I frowned. I knew that tone. There were only a few reasons for that tone to be going off, but none of them were good. My first thought was that it was just an Enforcer report. I waited for the chiming to stop, but it didn't. It was a call, and there was no reason why the Enforcers would need to call me unless they needed to call me. Shit. Had Lucian done something or was it something else? Were the elders making their move?
“Charles?” Grace asked again, shifting on the desk, trembling. “Why are you—”
“I have to take this.”
She groaned. “Can’t it—I was—”
I leaned up and kissed her, pulling my phone from my pocket. “I’ll make it quick.”
If I could. I would, at least. She growled and leaned up, wrapping her legs around my waist. She nibbled at my neck, tugging at my collar with little pleading sounds that my gut clenched and my cock stirred with need. I answered the phone.
I wasn't prepared to hear what was going to be said.
“Your Majesty, we have an emergency.”
My heart lurched. My eyes narrowed. I went still, blocking out the sensation of Grace's lips on my neck and the heat of her body pressing against mine.
“Go on.”
“Cecil's been taken.”
A red haze descended over my vision, tinged with the metallic tang of fury. I clenched my jaw holding back the ground my mind spiraled as I thought about all the worst things I could happen and waited to hear the rest of the report.
They had been out with Kelly and Eason at the mall. Things had been fine until an attack on the mall started. It wasn't so big that people were hurt, but it was just big enough to overwhelm the enforcer team that was assigned to Kelly.
“There was spellwork there, making a mess of everything. Not just a smoke screen but something else. We’ve never run into anything like it. It wasn’t pre-laid, the scans had come up clear before we went it. It had to be something activated there or cast there. We think it was a delayed release or something. A magical device rather than a spell, given the smoke. We're in pursuit, but whoever they are good. Maybe even trained. These are not the same people that were behind the Blood Moon attack, I can tell you that.”
It was a small relief, but it was obvious. At least no one under Astarte’s command was involved.
“And the others?” I kept my tone even and glanced at Grace, not wanting to alarm her. She didn't seem to be paying attention to anything that was being said, too focused on trying to get her hands into my pants.
“Richard and Kelly are in custody. Eason was injured during the fight, but he's fine, healing up and pissed.”
“Anything else?”
“Based on the spell work, we don't think it's actual witches but something that they probably bought from one, so this might not have to do with Blood Moon but with something else entirely. They had been aiming for the kids, which implies…”
Ransom. I didn't need him to say it, and my first thought was this had to be about Devin. Who had he borrowed from who would think to steal a child? It couldn’t have been a lycan, so no matter what sort of red herrings would come, I knew at least that much was true. To steal a child, to attack someone's family was the worst thing that could be done and would be grounds for instant treason, instant death, and a violation of every stitch of our culture. I considered my own family and shook my head. There were only a few people in the clans that Devin could have borrowed money from. Isolde wasn’t behind this. Ascher would have told me if Devin held a debt.
Greenvalley…
It was very possible that Tessa had loaned him money, but her father would have just come after me let alone sent someone to kidnap his kids…
“Keep me informed.”
I hung up, listening to Grace’s soft, needy sounds. She drew back, her lip between her teeth and looking at me as if she would do anything for me to pick up where we left off, but there was no way I could. They had Cecil, whoever they were. And if they lost the Enforcers tailing them,
“Grace…”
“What is it? Don't tell me you have to–”
Her phone rang behind her. She huffed and looked at it before rolling her eyes.
“I think you should answer.”
The chirp of Grace's phone felt more and more insistent. A playful scowl crept onto her face.
“It can wait.” She reached for me again. I pushed her hands away gently.
My voice felt strained and barely masked the gnawing unease that had taken root in my gut.
“It probably can't.”
If the Enforcers were right, if my gut was right, there was no way we could wait. Every minute since she'd been removed from the mall was another minute we didn't have to spare.
“Something going on?”
“Yes, but–” The call went dead. My stomach lurched.
“ Charles, what's going on?”
“The Enforcers just called… There was an incident at the mall. Next call: answer.”
Her eyes widened, but before she could even ask the phone started to ring again.
“Please, Grace, answer the phone.”
She snatched the phone off the desk and answered it as I pulled out my headset and put it in my ear to call the Enforcers back.
Grace's breath hitched. Then all the color in her face drained and vanished as I heard Cecil's voice crying out.
“Let me go! Take me back to Kelly and Uncle Eason! Let me go!”
Grace's expression went blank her breathing came out in sharp, short pants, and I heard Cecil whimper.
“Asked them what they want, Grace,” I said gently.
She didn't move. She didn't even seem to hear me. I could feel her mind drifting away, and before I could take the phone from her another voice came.
“Alpha Wolfe, you have three hours.” The voice was cold and metallic he was probably using a voice scrambler. “Three million dollars in cash was delivered to the abandoned warehouse on the east side of Mooncrest. No tricks. No backup, and I'd be quick about it because my patience will run out long before then, half-breed. Your husband has pissed me off enough for a lifetime.”
The call ended just as Cecil cried out again.
“Mommy–!”
I got the Enforcer team on the line. “Give me an update. They just called.”
“We lost them at the edge of the city. There was too much traffic, and they went off the road into the forest. We’re scanning, but they’re using some sort of cloaking spell.”
Which meant they knew that Enforcers were around.
“The ransom has been set for three hours from now on the east side of Mooncrest. I want everyone able on the streets. Get scanners across the city, track them down before they get there, and narrow down which warehouse, and–” I looked back at Grace. She hadn’t moved. She didn't even seem to be breathing. Her eyes were vacant, and she stared out into some distance.
“Grace?”
She said nothing, yet I could feel something in the air shifting and turning, burning almost. My heart started to race. Something was coming, yet I couldn't exactly guess what it would be.
“Grace, honey… Answer me.”
Her skin started to ripple and I cursed, stepping back from her to give her a space.
“Your majesty?”
“Be on guard. As soon as Eason is ready get him to the City Hall, so he can grab the tablet and we can track them–”
Heat filled the air familiar welcoming almost soothing in a way. It struck me full on the chest and wrapped around me singing me. Then, Grace was different shifting, almost melting. It was strange because I had never seen someone shift like this, but I knew what it was.
Grace told me she'd only shifted once but seeing her now, seeing how she was reacting to it, and knowing what Eason was, I had a feeling she had never actually shifted in her entire life. The desk groaned and creaked as she grew bigger, yet smaller, at the same time denser. Heavier. The smooth curves of her body shifted and sprouted fur until two legs became four. Her face became a muzzle, and her brilliant eyes turned vicious, bright, and furious.
By the time her feet hit the ground, she was already fully shifted into a lycan-sized wolf, though she was a bit smaller than a full-blooded alpha lycan.
I held my breath waiting for her to either attack or notice me, but she didn't. Before her weight had fully settled, before I could even call out to her, she turned and dashed towards the window breaking through the glass.
