Her palms slammed down on the conference table as she stood up. “How the hell did you get in here? I told you, I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“You asshole! Motherfucker!” Julianna shot out of her chair and went flying at him. Her husband, fortunately, managed to grab her by the waist.
“You know I want to eviscerate him as much as you do, darlin’.” Duncan shot a dirty look at Ransom. “But we can do that later, once we defeat the mages.”
“Goddamned bastard,” she hissed at him, mismatched eyes full of fury. “I’m going to kick your ass when this is all over.”
“Get him out of here,” Lucas said to Cross. “Send him to the Fenrir basement holding center. We can deal with him when this is all over.”
“Wait,” Anderson held a hand up. “He wants to help.”
“He—hold on.” Lucas’s dark brows knit together. “You brought him here?”
“He came to me,” his father answered. “And he wants to help. I think you should consider it.”
“Consider it?” Lucas asked incredulously. “After what he did to Isabelle? And the fact that he was working with the mages to kill you?”
“I wasn’t.” Ransom insisted. “Isabelle, you heard what Joanie said. She kept me in the dark.”
“Isabelle?” Lucas turned to his sister.
“How could I believe him?” she said, lower lip trembling. “After everything. They took my son right in front of me!”
“I swear to you, on Pops’s grave,” he begged. “I didn’t know they were mages. But,” he took a deep breath. “You’re right. I was here in New York to get my revenge on your father. I didn’t know who you were at first. Yes, I was here to scope out your clan. That night, when you told me who your dad was, I felt like a bastard. I couldn’t go through with it, but they—the mages—they found out about us. They wanted me to bring you to them, but I wouldn’t. And … and I killed one of them. That’s how I ended up in the Hudson.” He glanced over at Cross surreptitiously, but the hybrid’s face was inscrutable. “And I vowed to stay away from you to protect you. I didn’t even know about Evan. Or that you were my True Mate. But I swear to you, I’ll get Evan back. No matter what it takes.”
“Well you better have a plan then,” Lucas said. “Because the mages have sent us a message. They want the dagger in exchange for Evan. We’re supposed to meet them at the top of Fenrir building at two o’clock.”
“Goddammit!” he cursed. So that’s why his mother kidnapped Evan. “If I can talk to Joanie, I can convince her to let Evan go. Or at least get close enough so I can grab him.”
“Are you prepared to do anything to get him back?” Lucas challenged. “Even if it means choosing between Evan and your mother?”
“I lost my mother to the mages a long time ago,” he said sadly. “I just didn’t know it. If that time comes, I know what choice I’ll make.” He looked at Isabelle. “I love you and Evan, even if you don’t believe it now.”
Before Isabelle could react, the door to the conference room came crashing open. “This is bad, guys, it’s really bad!” Lizzie exclaimed as she dashed into the room, computer tablet in hand. Snake had followed in behind her.
“What’s wrong now?” Lucas said.
“We’re getting reports that Lycans have been disappearing all over the world.”
“What?” Frankie gasped.
“It started about an hour ago,” Lizzie said. “According to our witnesses, the mages have been popping up and snatching Lycans, using their transporting spell. And get this: They’ve only been showing up in places they had already attacked in the last year.”
Lucas met Ransom’s gaze. “You were right. They’ve been testing their defenses. Lizzie, do we know where they’re being taken?”
She flipped her tablet to face them. “Snake and I have been working on this software that tracks cellphone tower pings.” There was a map on the screen, with orange blinking dots popping up every few seconds. “Using what data we have, including those from phones from our contacts who’ve disappeared, we were able to track a large amount of pings coming from this town in Upstate New York. It’s called Lake Hope, right at the border of Connecticut.” Her brows drew together.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” Lucas asked.
“It’s not just Lycans we’re seeing pop up there.” She bit her lip. “Humans, too.”
“How many?” Cross asked.
“We’re getting more and more pings, see?” The orange dots had already multiplied since she’d shown it to them. “Right now, I’m guessing one hundred and fifty and growing.” She zoomed out of the screen. Although the orange dots were concentrating on one area, even more blinking lights surrounded them. “And those are the human soldiers around them.”
Cross and Daric looked at each other. “Three hundred Lycans and three hundred humans,” Cross said. “That’s been their plan all along. They’re going to use them in some sort of ritual.”
“Kidnapping three hundred Lycans and humans over time would have attracted too much attention, plus there’s the problem of keeping them alive until they completed their numbers,” Daric added. “Coordinating it and doing it in one swoop would ensure we were caught off guard.”
“But what do they need them for?” Ransom asked.
“We’re not sure yet,” Cross said, then his face lit up in realization.
“What is it?” Lucas asked.
“It’s a risky move, taking all those people. You know it has to be something big—their end game.”
“Go big or go home,” Lizzie said, her face draining of blood.
Cross’s jaw hardened. “The three artifacts contain Magus Aurelius’s power. He was about to perform this ritual that would bring the world under his power when the Lycans, magical beings, and humans banded together to stop him just in time. What if … what if he knew he would be defeated that day, and so, instead of continuing the ritual, he distilled his powers
