The tracking spell had worked. For the next six days leading up to the full moon, we were able to track Bridget’s comings and goings perfectly and had even had Wesley give us visual confirmation on a lot of locations, just to be sure it was working properly.

Unfortunately... that told us nothing. None of her movements seemed to make any sense, and we’d gained absolutely no insight into how she was planning to complete this spell which would transfer all my magic, and my guardians, over to her.

Worse still, we had zero leads on finding Vic or the mysterious Lachlan. Vali and River had told me they were trying to find them in the hopes that they might know more about Bridget’s plans and maybe even how to remove the magic-blocking bracelet. It sounded like a good idea, but now that it was coming up blank, I was starting to lose hope.

“So, we follow her like a shadow today until we work out where this spell will go down, and then... what?” I asked, clenching and unclenching my fingers in the hem of my shirt.

“And then we disrupt whatever components she needs to complete the spell. If we can keep her from doing whatever needs to be done, then we have gained another month to figure this all out.” River sounded confident in this plan, but there was a tightness to his jaw that gave him away. He was worried.

“We’re just assuming that there even are components to disrupt,” I pointed out. “What if it’s not that complicated? What if it’s just as simple as ‘Oh look, full moon. Bam. Magic gone.’”

“It’s not,” Austin snapped. He’d been particularly peevish today, way more so than usual, which was kind of cute. I liked to imagine it was because he was worried about me, but it was probably worry for what might happen to them if Bridget succeeded.

“Austin’s right,” Caleb confirmed. “There is no way in hell a spell like this, something powerful enough to actually strip a Ban Dia of her magic, could be done without a ritual—probably blood sacrifice and definitely a sacred space laid out with corresponding runes. There will be enough for us to disrupt. Trust us.”

I chewed my lip as I considered this. I really did want to trust them on this, but it all seemed too hopeful. All of our fates could hinge on this. Except...

“River, I think you should stay behind,” I blurted out, and he raised a dirty blond brow at me.

“Excuse me?” he asked in a dangerous voice.

Licking my lips, I straightened my spine to defend what I’d just said. “You’re the only one not bonded to me in some way. I think you should stay away so that if things do go wrong, you won’t get sucked into Bridget’s web. Actually, you too Wesley.”

“No way,” Wes snapped, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at me.

“Ah, yes way. You’re not bonded to me as a dianoch, so she shouldn’t be able to absorb you with her diabolical plan. Unfortunately, I’ve already doomed these four, but you two should stay safe. Just in case.” I hated saying those words, hated the idea of being separated from two of my guys at a time that could very well see the end of me, but it was for their own damn good. Surely they could see that?

There was a long, heavy silence for a moment as the guys all just stared at me. No, they glared at me. Finally, River flicked a glance at Wes who gave a tiny headshake.

“No,” River said. “Sorry, Kitten but I’m pulling rank on this one. As team leader, I make final calls on mission plans, and this mission plan requires everyone’s involvement. End of story.”

“What? You can’t do that!” I protested, but they were already dispersing from the kitchen without listening to me. “River! You can’t do that!”

He didn’t respond until it was just the two of us left in the kitchen, and then he prowled closer to me, boxing me against the counter with a hand planted on either side of me.

“Technically, Kitten, I can. I shouldn’t; you’re absolutely right. But sometimes we have to risk the anger of the ones we love in order to keep them safe.” He leaned in closer, capturing my gaze with his golden eyes. “So, in this instance, unless you plan on physically restraining us, there is not much you can do to stop Wes and I from coming.”

“River.” I pleaded at him with my eyes. “Can’t you see that’s what I’m trying to do? Keep the ones I love safe? I just have a really bad gut feeling about how this is all going to go down, and I just... I can’t lose anyone else. Not now. It’ll kill me, you know it will.”

A hot tear slipped from my eye, and River caught it with his finger, wiping it away and caressing my cheek with his palm.

“If that were to happen, it wouldn’t kill you, Kitten. It’d hurt, I have no doubts about that. It’d damn near feel like it was killing you. But it wouldn’t. You’re too damn strong, love. The only way you’ll ever be defeated is if you let yourself be defeated.” His voice was soft and low, intended only for my ears. “But this thing tonight. You need all of us there with you. We need to be there together as a united team. Individually we are strong, but together we’re indestructible.”

Hearing River echo a thought I’d had myself, only a week or so ago... it was startling. But it gave the idea more weight. He was right. We were stronger as a team, so maybe he was right about needing to come with us tonight.

“River, I just... if at any stage it looks like things might go bad, you need to promise me—”

“We’re not leaving you, Kitten. Not ever, so don’t even ask that. If things go bad, then they go bad for all of us. But we won’t turn tail and run without you.” He was firm in this, totally resolute, and I knew I wouldn’t change his mind.

“Well, then we better win, huh?” I tried to joke, but it came out sounding weak and scared.

River gave me a small, half smile and cupped my face with his palm. “It’s the only acceptable outcome, love. I won’t tolerate failure on this mission.”

His formal phrasing made me smile, so it was with reluctant acceptance that I nodded my agreement and then sealed it with a kiss. River’s lips met mine gently, and he kissed me slowly, like he was committing this moment to memory, just in case. It was because of that kiss that I knew he wasn’t anywhere near as confident as he was acting.

That bastard.

“I love you, Kitten,” he whispered when we broke apart, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“I love you too, Alpha,” I whispered back, swallowing tears down and silently praying this wouldn’t be the last kiss we would share.

“What do you think is down there?” Caleb murmured from beside me. We were lying flat on our bellies on the roof of a two-story office block, watching the storm shelter entrance that shifters had been coming and going from for almost an hour.

“Has to be some sort of sacred ground doesn’t it?” I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the doorway. “That’s where you said she’d be completing the spell.”

He grunted a noise, chewing his lip as we continued to watch. We’d tracked Bridget inside almost two hours before and she hadn’t left, so we were pretty confident this was where it would all go down. Where I might die... if I wasn’t smart about how I handled things.

“Hopefully the others have been able to get more than we have from here,” he said, sounding disappointed. “So far, all we know is that she’s got a buttload of shifters helping out, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it’s sure as hell going to complicate matters.”

“True,” I agreed. It wasn’t like we had really expected her to try something like this magic-stealing crap without any backup... but it would have been nice. I guess her hubris only extended as far as confessing her plan in advance. “How many have you counted so far?”

“About fifteen or sixteen,” he replied, shifting his weight to find a more comfortable spot. “You?”

“Same,” I confirmed. They’d been carrying boxes and potted plants out of the basement for the past hour, loading them into a waiting truck. That suggested they were clearing out space for something.

“We can handle that many normal shifters easily. I just hope she doesn’t have more stashed inside or something.” He had a good point. Fifteen shifters would be a walk in the park for two dragons alone, and that wasn’t even taking Caleb, Austin, and Wes into account. Or River with his arsenal of weapons. As for me? Well, my job was pretty clear. Bridget.

Distract, delay, detain—whatever it took to keep her occupied while the guys saved my bacon. I’d really never fully appreciated how much I relied on my powers until I no longer had them. I felt powerless and vulnerable. Was this what Lucy had felt like when I was on Fox jobs? If so, it fucking sucked and I owed her an apology.

A tremor of anxiety rumbled through me at the thought of my bestie. She still hadn’t returned any of my calls, but after Wesley had looked into it, he’d said there was evidence they might have just gone away for a vacation.

Every fiber of my being hoped that was true.

“Hey,” Wesley whispered as he materialiszd from crow form to human beside us. “Any luck here?”

“No sign of Bridget, but we’ve counted about fifteen shifters,” I reported. “How about you?”

“The roof of that building is that sort of retractable glass designed so you can open it up and have a courtyard, you know?” He fiddled with his ring as he lay beside me on the roof. “So I’m wondering if this entrance brings them out into that part. It would make sense if Bridget actually needs the moonlight to complete the spell.”

“You couldn’t see anything?” Caleb asked, and Wes shook his head.

“Nope, the glass is tinted and it was too dark inside to make out anything.” He sighed, and I placed my hand over his.

“That’s good info, Wes,” I assured him. “It makes sense with all the plants they’ve been moving out.”

He huffed, pursing his lips as he looked down on the spot we were monitoring. “Have they brought anything in at all?”

“Not much,” Caleb answered. “Except for whatever that is.”

While we watched, several muscle-bound shifters carried an intricately carved silver chest off the truck and down the stairs into the darkness. It was big, maybe five feet long, and looked heavy. Whatever it was, they were handling it with extreme care.

“Well, that’s interesting,” I murmured. “What do you suppose that could be?”

Caleb shrugged. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe an altar or something? It looks like an old, magical artifact, at any rate.”

“Definitely old,” Wes agreed, staring at the darkened hole where the chest had disappeared with its guards. “We will need to keep an eye out for that when this all kicks off.”

“Hopefully it’s just a pretty box that she thought would look great holding her cauldron and spell book,” I mumbled under my breath, and Caleb arched an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, yeah, not the time for jokes. Got it. Any new orders from River?” I asked Wes.

“Yep, he said if nothing more has happened to fall back to the meeting point. It won’t be dark for another couple of hours yet, so we should be conserving energy.” He gave me a little nudge with his shoulder. “Or maybe fuelling up on coffee?”

I snickered, despite the tense situation we were in. “I love it when you talk sexy to me, Wes.”

“You two are addicts,” Caleb muttered, scooting away from the roof edge and dusting off his clothes. “Why don’t you just throw in some cheesy bread for Kitty Kat, and she’ll really be in heaven.”

I licked my lips with enthusiasm, even as my stomach rumbled its agreement. People shouldn’t joke about coffee and cheese with me; that was a quick way to getting stabbed with a fork or something.

“Silly thing to joke about, bro,” Wes chuckled, following us back over to the fire escape on the far side of the building. “Now you’ll need to follow through on that offer.”

Caleb groaned, and I laughed as we made our way down the rickety iron ladder to the dirty alleyway below and then around to the diner we had named as a rendezvous point. It was a totally inappropriate time for joking and coffee, but... if not now, then when? We really needed to seize these moments when they arose because who knew when the next one might be.

If ever.