Page 64 of Prisoner of the Lycan Prince

I stalked to the ladder built into the side of the crypt. “Tell me everything,” I barked over my shoulder. “Leave nothing out.”

By the time I entered my study, Goliath and Adina had filled me in on the attack. No one knew how Armand had entered Draithmere. But it didn’t matter. Somehow, he’d breached the boundaries. Forty-eight hours later, Harper and Arlo were missing, and I had no fucking clue how to find them. And without Arlo, I couldn’t search for them. I was trapped at Draithmere.

Fire licked through my veins as I went to my desk and pulled out a flask.

“It’s a fresh brew,” Adina said, watching me carefully. “I made it stronger this time.”

I grunted my acknowledgment. But it didn’t matter. The brew might keep the madness at bay, but what good was lucidity when I couldn’t find Harper? The brew splashed into my empty stomach. When I’d drained the flask, I tossed it across the study. It smashed into the wall, embedding itself into wood paneling that had graced the room since the turn of the previous century.

Goliath gasped. Adina stepped forward, her hands raised in a soothing gesture.

“Your Highness, we have to stay calm.”

I looked around for something else to throw.

Classical music drifted from my desk. Frowning, I stepped back and looked down. The muffled noise continued, the musical scales rising and falling. I opened the top drawer and pulled out a mobile phone.

Harper’s phone, which I’d taken from her the night I brought her to Draithmere. Arlo must have lifted the muffling spell. Orson Ward’s face filled the screen. The word “DAD” appeared above his photo.

I swiped the screen and put the phone to my ear. “Rothkilde.”

“Oh, thank god,” Orson gasped. A blunt sound vibrated across the line, and he gave a muffled cry. “All right, all right!”

Goliath and Adina moved to the edge of my desk.

“Ward?” I demanded. “Where are you?”

He spoke in a breathless rush. “I know where Harper is. That’s all I can say.” He rattled off an address, and I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder and scribbled it on the first piece of paper I could find.

“Is Harper with you?” I asked, gripping the phone more tightly.

The call ended.

I pulled the phone away from my ear. Orson was gone.

“Google the address,” Adina said, but I was already typing. The result that popped up on the screen made me frown.

“This looks like a gas station,” I said. “It’s about ten miles away.” But it might as well have been ten thousand. Without Arlo, I couldn’t venture beyond Draithmere’s boundaries.

“I’ll go,” Goliath said.

I shook my head. “I can’t ask that of you. This is almost definitely a trap.” Armand didn’t want to meet for a quick chat. He was probably lying in wait with his entire pack ready to pounce. I’d underestimated him. As a new alpha, he wanted to cement his power. He’d broken into Draithmere, probably hoping to kill me. Instead, he’d taken Arlo and Harper. Now, he wanted another shot at me—and anyone else he could kill in the process.

Goliath’s chin went up. “Harper is my friend. Respectfully, Prince Einar, you don’t have to ask. I’m going.”

“Me too,” Adina said. “I owe it to Harper to make sure she gets home safely.”

Home. Harper almost certainly didn’t think of Draithmere as her home. But the house felt more like one with her in it.

“I can pull one person with me when I morph,” Goliath said. “If we can get Keir to help, he could bring someone too. That’ll make four of us against Armand and his pack.”

The odds were terrible, especially with four residents of the maze going up against the Puget Sound werewolves. Adina was powerful, but she was no warrior. Her magic was potion-based. Keir was prone to fainting. Goliath’s dragon was dormant.

On the other hand, if Harper was out there, I had to try.

“Let’s talk to Keir,” I said.

Ten minutes later, I watched Keir link arms with Leander. We stood at the maze’s entrance under a twilight sky, and all my instincts told me this rescue mission was a terrible, very bad idea.

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