The city flashed by outside the van windows. Lance clenched his fists. This was it; they were zeroing in on the enemy’s hideout. He had one chance to finish this. He needed to concentrate. Every breath he took, every beat of his heart, had to be focused on the mission ahead.

But inside, he was being torn apart.

His snow leopard raged against him, demanding that he turn back. It didn’t understand what Keeley had done. It only knew that she was his mate, and he’d abandoned her.

No. Worse than that. He hadn’t just abandoned her, he’d left her locked up, imprisoned in one of the agency’s shifter-proof holding cells. And when he returned…

He gritted his teeth. When he returned, he would hand her over to the police. Briers had shown him the outstanding warrants for Keeley Bailey’s arrest. She was a criminal, and she’d tried to hurt Maggie, and she would pay for what she’d—

Pain shot through his chest. Lance doubled over, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. The shimmering, golden bond that connected him to Keeley was stretched tight, pulling on his heart. His snow leopard howled in pain as the bond twisted and frayed.

No.

Lance knew he should let it happen. Let the bond fray and break. Turn his back on his mate the same way she had betrayed him, and put an end to the connection between them.

I can’t.

Lance clutched at the delicate bond, not relaxing until the pain in his heart and soul eased.

He didn’t know for sure what would happen when the bond broke, but right now, he told himself, he couldn’t risk it. Even the pain of it almost breaking was enough to unsettle him, and for this mission, he needed to be in total control.

The bond stayed. For now.

*We’re here.* Parker’s voice in his mind sounded like an echo, and it took Lance a moment to realize why. Of course. Hadn’t the night he’d recovered Maggie started like this? A lead appearing like a miracle from heaven, Bradford driving like a madman to the location—

And him, tearing himself to pieces with guilt and fear.

Not this time. Lance steeled himself. He’d been caught on the back foot for too long. Always one step behind, always scrambling to keep up. No more.

He nodded to the Parker and Yelich. All three of them slipped out of the van, moving as one, and approached the target.

Briers’ lead had brought them to an empty warehouse along the water’s edge. Barbed wire topped the fence around the building, and what lay beyond it didn’t seem worth guarding. Boards covered the door and windows of the office at the front of the warehouse, and piles of trash blocked the large main doors. Flies buzzed in the late morning sun.

Abandoned, according to Briers’ intelligence. Or it had been, until the people after the dragon eggs had moved in.

Lance checked the ground at his feet. No shadow; the shield scale strapped to his arm was holding.

Not that that will help us if the enemy agents are shielded, too. Like they were at the station.

He frowned. Another thing to worry about. We thought we had secured all the shields—all the ones Julian remembered, anyway. If we were wrong about that, then how many other criminal groups might have access to dragon scale shielding?

Lance paused and took a deep breath. Focus, he told himself. You can’t afford to be distracted right now. Not after Keeley.

Everything she did was a distraction. All she wanted was to get her hands on the eggs.

His hand went to his comm, and he realized almost too late than he’d been about to ping Briers and ask for an update on their prisoner. He gritted his teeth. Focus.

Briers’ voice buzzed in his ear, passing on information about the target. There was a second small door around the side, but no other exits. Lance gestured to the other agents, directing them to pincer in on the building.

The midday air was completely still. The smell from the piles of trash grew stronger as he approached the warehouse, the stench so rank it seemed almost solid. Lance grimaced and held his breath.

Yelich was already at the front door. She dropped her head as Lance approached. *Can’t smell shit through all this… shit.*

*Parker?* Lance fell into position beside Yelich and waited for the bloodhound shifter’s assessment.

*Not shit.* Parker had gone around the side of the building. *Just rotten. Old trash.* He grumbled a bit, and then added: *Can’t smell anything past it, but can’t tell if that’s because it’s so rank, or there’s nothing there to smell. Should’ve brought Zhang.*

Lance shook his head. Carol had been too shaken by what happened with Keeley to come on this mission.

Lance focused all his senses. He couldn’t hear anything from beyond the door, but according to Briers, Keeley’s associates had entered the warehouse several hours ago and not yet emerged. They were in there somewhere, and Lance would find them, shielded or not.

He nodded to Yelich. *Break down that door.*

Yelich grinned.

If they needed any more reasons to carry out this mission under shield—this was it. Lance’s snow leopard strained to take form as Yelich rolled back her shoulders and began to shift. Her hippo was a tank made of pure muscle. The door disintegrated as she charged it.

More crashes came from the other side of the building, as Parker broke in the side door. Lance fell into position behind Yelich, quickly scanning the room.

Lance spun around, searching every corner of the huge shed. Light filtered through gaps around the edge of the main warehouse door, barely illuminating towers of crates and rusty machinery. His nostrils flared.

*What the hell?* Yelich stamped one foot and huffed. *There’s nothing here!*

Her voice disappeared in the gloom. A door opened halfway down the side wall, and Patel appeared, shaking his head. *Empty.*

Parker followed him, his bloodhound’s heavy feet padding silently on the concrete floor. He swung his head back and forth, sniffing the ground. And the air.

Lance cursed and lowered his gun. If there had been anyone hiding here, Parker would know.

“What the hell is going on?” he muttered, and activated his comm. “Briers, your lead’s a bust. There’s no one here.”

He turned around, not wanting the others to see the frustration on his face.

There was no response on the comm. Lance tapped his ear. “Briers?”

Behind him, Parker huffed out a breath. *That smell—*

Lance’s nostrils flared. His snow leopard surged, sharpening all his senses until his ears and nose started to go cat-shaped to match his silver eyes.

The inside of the warehouse smelled as bad as the outside. The stink wasn’t hiding enemy shifters, though.

Lance’s eyes widened as he sifted through the garbage stench to the chemical tang beneath. “Everybody out!”

He flung himself at the door. The floor shook as Yelich started a one-woman stampede, and Parker—

Lance paused, scanning the room. Parker had been over there—and now—

*I’ve got him, you ass!* Yelich roared into his mind, and Lance started moving again. An instant too late.

A whoof of air hit him less than a second before the heat of the explosion.