Page 3 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

Caraway bit back a retort, because Thorne was well within his rights to take revenge on the human. Laurel was Thorne’s Well-blessed mate. They shared not only mana but emotions. Thorne would have relived Laurel’s pain as though it were his own. Anise wasn’t Caraway’s mate. She might not even be his friend.

Not after she blamed him for failing to notice she’d been locked in a cage for two weeks. That tightness in his chest constricted again.

“I hate to burst your bubbles,” Leaf drawled, “but neither of you will get your hands on him yet. Cloud has failed to draw worthy information from the human. His mind is locked tight like a vise. Cloud is finished with his interrogation, but we have other methods we will try next. There is one lead we need you to investigate, Caraway.”

Caraway looked at the other three, more capable Guardians. All of them were part of the Twelve, the most feared and revered warriors of the Order of the Well. Each of them vicious and uniquely powerful in their own way, it was every Guardian’s dream to one day earn their place in the tight-knit cadre of brothers-in-arms. Not only were they powerful, but two of them had already attained a status all Guardians secretly wanted but denied they did—they had found love in this impossible world.

Up until now, it was assumed the life of a Guardian was lonely and empty when it came to mating. Long term relationships weren’t encouraged. Not only was a Guardian’s duty demanding, but dangerous. Lives were often cut short. Short dalliances were encouraged.

Until recently.

Thorne had worked on abolishing the unsanctioned breeding law. Rush had a two-year-old daughter that ran around the Order campus. Times were certainly changing.

“Why me?” Caraway asked. “Clearly I’m not the most experienced in this group.”

“But you have the best connection to the person who has the information.”

“Who?”

“Anise.”

Caraway’s heart stuttered. His mouth dried.They’d found her?“You want me to interrogate her?”

“No,” Leaf replied. “None of that. But we want you to infiltrate her journey. Go where she is going and conduct your own investigation.”

“I’m not following.”

“She’s been invited to see the Ice-Witch.”

As though the hag was standing next to him, Caraway’s bones froze. The Ice-Witch was a powerful sorceress who, not only made the most heinous magical bargains with fae, but did so without scruples or discrimination. Every Guardian knew you didn’t bargain with the witch unless you were prepared to offer your soul and submit to eons of torture. If you came out of her ice cave with anything less, then you were having a good day.

But did Anise know this?

“The witch is a powerful adversary,” Caraway said. “Any of the cadre would do a better job.”

“It’s Anise,” Thorne replied with a soulful gaze. “It was me who pulled her from that cage, Caraway. But it was you she called for. If she’s heading to the Ice-Witch, then... she’s going to need a friend.”

Caraway swallowed the lump in his throat and he stared hard at the ground, trying not to let the burn behind his eyelids overflow into tears. Anise had asked for him, even after he’d failed to realize she was in trouble. He’d left Crescent Hollow before she’d been taken because Anise and he had argued. She was fed up with the red-coated royal Seelie guards causing havoc every time they came to town. She was fed up with the town’s Lord and Alpha, Thaddeus, ruling the village so cruelly. And she was frustrated that no one took her seriously as a lesser fae. As usual, Caraway had stayed out of the unrest. Guardians were forbidden to get involved with general fae politics. If it didn’t involve mana, then it wasn’t their problem.

Guardians were a dying breed and the war against warped magic and keeping the integrity of the Well alive was growing every day. They simply didn’t have enough resources to be the police of everything. A line had to be drawn, and fae politics was on the other side.

“How did you find her?” Caraway asked, throat dry.

“You know how Laurel and I got sent to the Ring by causing a disturbance at the Birdcage?” Thorne asked. “We ran into Anise there.”

Caraway nodded. The Birdcage was an elixir den in Cornucopia. Fae from all over Elphyne went there to unwind with dance, drink, or to screw, and to satisfy their deviant urges. Being in Cornucopia, the establishment got away without adhering to any laws that restricted revelry in the Seelie or Unseelie Kingdoms. Usually, this freedom leaned toward the hedonistic side, but Caraway had seen darker rooms and cages with strange sadistic goings-on.

Thatwas where Anise had been working?

“We need you to drill the Ice-Witch for information,” Leaf continued. “All our prisoner gave us was her name. But it’s the most we’ve received after days of interrogation.” Leaf plucked a feather from his shoulder and flicked it to the ground. Then he met Caraway’s eyes. “You’re authorized to use force if necessary, but if you discover the witch is the source of the perversion of magic the humans have been using, then don’t do anything. Bring the information back and we will assess. At the very least, get a location for us.”

Granting wishes to make someone taller or more beautiful was one thing, but lately, mana-warped monsters had been emerging all over Elphyne. If the witch was responsible for those, then she would be dealt with by the Order. If she was also the one feeding the humans secrets on how to use mana, then she would rue the day she betrayed her own kind.

Something else occurred to Caraway. “What would Anise want with the Ice Witch?”

“What does anyone want?” Leaf replied.

Anise’s cute tail swished into Caraway’s mind and his heart stopped. It was the one thing she’d always been self-conscious about, and he’d bet his sword that she was going to bargain away her soul so she could look like a normal fae.

The two of them had become friends over a mutual bond—they’d both been branded as outcasts. He, for his Guardian status and his family’s disdain for violence. She, because she couldn’t make the full shift into a wolf. She couldn’t shift at all. It had never bothered Caraway, but he knew she stewed about it.

This was not good. He couldn’t let her make this mistake. Anise was perfect, just the way she was born. Becoming a shifter was not worth the damnation of her eternal soul. That was priceless.

“I’ll go,” Caraway said. “Just tell me where and when.”

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