and crept down the poorly lit corridor.
The stench of death grew stronger.
Something dark and evil slithered against my skin. I shuddered and peered back over my shoulder. Nothing but shadows. My wolf whined, urging me to run. She was right. If that smell was anything to go by, Som was already dead and I needed to get back to Blue. I cocked my head and listened with my shifter hearing. There was no sound of a fight and no gunshots from the yard. And Blue would fight—if she could. That thought spurred me on towards Som’s office. If Som was dead, I needed to know so that I could grab my emergency bag from under the storehouse in the yard and get the hell out of here.
My heart thumped a fast, erratic rhythm, and my palms were sweating. The last time I had run for my life, I’d lost everyone I loved. But Som wasn’t my family, he was just a Bogwart fae who had been banished from Faerie. He worked under the radar of just about everyone and could glamour better than any fae I’d ever seen. I’d worked with him since my parents died when I was six, and I had to survive in London’s back streets. Surprisingly, he’d been the only one I could trust to hide me when my foster family had been betrayed by the very agency they’d all worked for. Doherty, the director of the Supernatural Bureau of Investigation in Britain, and the man I suspected had killed them, had always wanted something from me. I didn’t hang around to find out what; instead I hid here.
I crept down the dull corridor, my footsteps near silent, my breathing controlled. A droplet of sweat ran from my hairline down my neck and spine. My wolf snarled, wanting me to let her out. I was sorely tempted to do just that, but I had a feeling being dexterous enough to use my weapons would be more useful than fangs and teeth.
The stink of death became overpowering. I froze and took slow and controlled breaths, just like I learned in my time as a trainee SBI agent. If Som was dead, his killer might still be here—which also meant the portal couldn’t be closed.
Shit… That put Blue at more risk. The fae could come through and cause havoc in this world. And a portal open for longer than an hour would mean Doherty would be alerted. The SBI sensors would pick up the portal's energy surge, and he’d send a team here to close it.
Adrenaline coursed through my blood, sending my heart rate skyhigh. Blue and I needed to get out, right now. Fire uncoiled, sensing my anxiety. She pushed against the walls I’d locked her behind, but I ignored her, just as I had since the day I’d left Connor to die. Instead, I nudged my wolf forward just a little. She responded, and I gritted my teeth as my bones stretched, making my ears and claws grow. I stopped well short of a full shift, just needing her heightened senses, and though she grumbled at me, she complied.
I paused and strained my ears. Nothing. No sound. Just the wind shifting around the outside of the building. The hair on the back of my neck rose. It was eerie—and wrong. Som always had some kind of crazy heavy metal banging away in the background. He said he found it relaxing.
With the guns clutched in my clawed hands, I edged down the corridor. Taking a deep breath, I tensed my muscles and kicked open the door to his office. Instantly, I retched. Not even my stomach could ignore the blood and body fluids painting the floor and walls. In the moonlight that streamed through the small, dirty window, the bits of skin I could see appeared dark, like Som’s. I had no idea if it really was the Bogwart or not, as Som’s little gang of fae creatures all had blue, purple or grey skin when in their true form.
I spun in a circle, expecting some kind of enemy to still be there. It didn’t help my nerves when the room appeared empty. Something had done this, something strong—and vicious. The office had been trashed. The metal filing cabinets were ripped open, huge jagged gashes torn through the sides. Whatever had done this didn’t have the pure magic or knowledge to undo Som’s fae charmed locks, so they had gone for the pure muscle method of getting