We came to a halt, backs to the wall of a squat building opposite the tower.
I grabbed Sloane’s arm. “They’re in there. I can feel it.”
“I don’t sense any eyes on us,” Poppy said. “I think we’re clear.”
“We’re not taking any chances,” Sloane said. “We do this stealth for now.”
Someone screamed, and then there was a blinding light and a figure materialized outside the tower. He was dragging something. A woman. She was limp, body trailing on the ground as he lugged her across the snow by her hair.
I needed to get a better look at him. To see his face, but the snow was a howling blizzard now. Fucking hell, it wasn’t even winter yet.
Where was he taking her? He was headed for the fence, and then another blinding light and he was gone.
“Motherfucker.” Sloane looked back at us. “The guy was using magic. Not sure what kind without getting close. But you guys need to hang back until we’ve scoped the place out and deactivated any spell traps.”
“Do it,” Tor said.
“Ready, Elites?” Sloane looked from me to Jessie and then Poppy.
“Ready,” we said in unison.
We made a dash for the tower, keeping low, using the snowfall as cover. Five seconds and we were in the shadow of the building.
Jessie pressed her hands to the door. “Spell-locked. Chaos.”
“The Order?” Poppy shook her head. “What the fuck?”
“Why the hell would the Order want shifters?” Sloane said what we were all thinking.
“We can worry about that once we get them out.” Jessie traced runic patterns on the door and then slipped her hand along the hinge, extracting a piece of obsidian crystal. “There you are, you bastard.”
The air vibrated.
The spell was broken.
A wave of alarm rushed over me. A metaphysical cry. The buzz in my veins was suddenly a scream.
I clutched my belly and curled into myself.
“Cora?” Sloane put her arm around me.
The threads binding me to my guys thrummed urgently, and I caught movement to my left as the guys abandoned their vigil and rushed over.
“It’s okay.” My voice was a whisper. “It’s her. The connection…The spell on the door must have been muting it.”
“Then let’s tell her to tone it down.” Leif tugged open the door, and the smell of urine and faecal matter hit us.
“Fuck.” I covered my nose and mouth.
Tor, Leif, and Rune entered the tower. Cries of alarm were followed by gasps of shock and sobs of relief.
The alarm vibrating my body cut off suddenly. The connection was severed. Warmth rushed through me, sweeping away the final vestiges of the cold burn that had been eradicating the infection.
“Cora, are you okay?” Sloane was still with me, her arm around me as I straightened.
“I’m fine.”
We backed up as the guys emerged, trailed by the shifters. Astrid was huddled against Leif and the rest of our dire wolf shifters trailed behind him. Tor emerged a moment later carrying a shifter I didn’t recognize. I locked gazes with her arctic blues and a connection zinged between us.
“It was you,” she whispered through cracked, dry lips. “You’re one of us.”
“No, she isn’t,” Tor said, jaw tense. “You don’t belong here, and I’m going to make sure you get back.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “You’re not going to kill us?”
Tor frowned at her. “We’re not the ones who started this war.”
She looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it. “There’s not much time,” she wheezed. “Our bodies are dying. We can’t…can’t stay much longer.”
Another golden-haired varga hugged the door frame. “They took the others of our kind weeks ago but left us to die.”
“They took Elsi,” one of the Holm shifters said. “They just took her. Can you find her and get her back?”
Sloane and I exchanged glances, but it was Jessie who spoke. “Not right now, but we’re gonna figure this out. I promise.”
“We need to get out of here before they come back,” Poppy said.
Sloane shook her head. “No, we get everyone else out and we scope this place.”
Arctic Eyes groaned in pain.
We need to get the varga through a rift, Rune said.
He was right, we needed to get the varga home and the shifter females back to their packs. There wasn’t enough room for all of us in the two vehicles we’d brought, but there were pack wolves surrounding the lot. Some of us could get a ride with them.
Okay, so I had a plan. “Leif, Tor, get the varga home and our shifters back to their packs. Jessie, you’ll have to go with them. Sloane, Poppy, and I will grab a ride with one of the other wolves once we’ve done a sweep of this place.”
Astrid whimpered and Leif reflexively tightened his grip on her. I caught her slight smile and irritation bit at my chest. I’d never considered myself territorial, but I’d never thought I’d get sexy with two guys at the same time either.
Shit changed. “Astrid, I’m sure you can walk on your own steam. It’s only been a fucking day since you were captured. The varga who can barely stand could do with an assist.” This time I speared Leif with a cool look.
He blinked sharply as if coming to his senses, released Astrid, and turned to help the varga who was clinging to the door frame.
Astrid narrowed her eyes in my direction. I didn’t have time for drama, but I flipped her off anyway.
Poppy stifled a snicker.
“I don’t want you to stay here,” Tor said. “Come with us now and we can double back later and check it out.”
I shook my head. “If the Order finds out the shifters are gone, they’ll wipe this place and we’ll
