and pushed into the sky. “Holy sh—”
Broken Sue, face a mask of rage, stalked up to me, his body all scars and muscle, his beast owning his powerful movements. “Do not let him kill your mate, Jessie Ironheart. It is a soul-crushing pain that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Unlike me, you have the power to save your mate. Save him.”
I nodded, unable to speak, overwhelmed by both his pain and mine. He walked to the nearest gargoyle, a big, scarred creature that kind of matched him, and held out an arm. The male swooped him up like a bride, neither of the guys caring or reacting, and pumped his wings. They shot up into the sky.
Cyra joined them, and Hollace and the other flyers were already up there. I prepared to change again, but Nathanial landed next to me.
“Yeah. Good call.” I jogged to him, turned, and stuck out my arms like a child. “I’d just slow everyone down.”
“It does nnnot lo-ok bad on you, I-ron-heart.” He grabbed me and shot skyward, faster than any of the others. “You we-re not ma-dde for aer-eeal warfare. You pro-tect with ma-gic.”
“Let’s hope so.” I pointed in the direction Austin was still traveling, moving fast. Elliot had to be flying somehow. There was no other way he could be moving so fast, not without a road.
Nathanial pumped his wings and carried us forward, faster than the others, and everyone else spread out behind us. The wind whipped at my face, and I realized flight was more comfortable in my gargoyle form. Too late now. I’d change once we landed.
“There,” I shouted over the rushing wind, my eyes watering, Austin’s heart beating true and mine on the verge of breaking. I let the black rage in my chest seethe and boil, the aggression blotting out some of my fear. I would get him back. He’d saved me yesterday. It was my turn.
And I would make Elliot Graves regret the day he’d shown up in my life.
Austin stopped moving, and I could feel he was being lowered. We were gaining on him fast, gargoyles blotting out the sky as they carried my fighting unit over a smaller peak and beyond. I monitored Austin’s movements and worked at the Ivy House link, trying to get it back online.
“Why won’t it respond?” I asked Ivy House.
“Magic, somehow. A vulnerability?”
I could feel the uncertainty in her tone.
It didn’t matter. Even if Elliot had severed it for good, it wouldn’t matter. We had our mating link, deeper than magic.
Closer now, nearly there, I spotted a flat spot on a big outcropping of a mountain, open to the sky. A helicopter waited, its rotors still spinning. The maw of an open cave could be seen beyond it.
“How in the hell?” I murmured.
There were too many questions to process—how had Elliot managed to get Austin into that bird? How had he silenced the chopper? How powerful was this guy?
The most important of all—was he still toying with me?
I gestured for Nathanial to descend, and he squeezed me to his chest and dove at a stomach-losing pace. On the side area beside the helicopter, he snapped out his wings, slamming on the brakes, and gently lowered to a stop. Despite the fact that we’d practiced these maneuvers—a lot—my stomach rolled. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get used to that.
Austin’s progress had stopped, inside yet another mountain. Elliot was cutting off my aerial artillery.
Hollace dropped the basajaun before rising higher into the air and changing form. With people already gathered on the small platform beside the chopper, he was too big to land.
A gargoyle swooped toward him before I could point and shout, grabbing him up and depositing him next to us.
“What do you want me to do, Jessie Ironheart?” the basajaun asked as he caught up.
“What can you do? Can you feel his positioning within the mountain or anything?”
“When I get inside, I should have a better idea. It’s hard to make a first acquaintance on the surface.”
“Then let’s get inside.” I turned back to everyone, the platform filled up and gargoyles still in the sky. “Keep on your guard. We don’t know what we’re walking into.”
I stayed in my human form, checked to make sure the helicopter was empty, and then jogged to the large opening in the side of the rock face. The air changed as soon as I passed through, much colder than it should’ve been. I pulled magical warmth over myself as my eyes adjusted