Page 105 of His Curse

“Demon,” Colt growls a warning, eliciting another irritated sigh from the sparkly, horned pain in the ass.

“Zan and I will head right to South Hall where Chumani and Bella are supposed to be,” Frankie says, the femalealsoin front of us and another concern we all share. Having a human—zombieor not—along for the ride complicates things and will make all of us that much more tense, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and said she’d find a way here even if we didn’t bring her along. “We’ll get them out first because Chumani is with child and needs to be out of the line of fire, and Bella should be able to help keep her safe.”

“Especially if we can get those wretched gloves off of her hands.” Zan pulls his mate to him a little closer, his own worries clear. “From there, we will see if there are any others in East Hall before moving to West where the young wolf should already be working at freeing whoever is inside.”

Ronny nods as he pulls his t-shirt off and tucks it into the back pocket of his jeans. “After I get Wes and Hotah out, I’m going straight to West Hall but not until I free the banshee and brother wolf.”

“Right,” Frankie chirps. “Lark and Colt—”

“Will be handlingDickand his henchmen,” I growl, pulling my own shirt off and doing what my nephew just did. “And after we tear them limb from limb and scatter the pieces so their souls never find peace, we’re paying the good doctor a visit.”

“Damn straight.” Colton unbuckles his belt as we all start to slow our steps, the end of the tunnel finally in view. “And as soon as that’s finished, we all meet back here before Drej decimates the entire facility.”

A low, almost distorted chuckle comes from behind me and I turn to see the eldest dragon standing in the shadows wearing only a pair of boxers, his scarred face twisted into a grin of malice, the gold flecks of his eyes glowing in the darkness.

With an arched brow, I kick off my shoes and arch a brow in his direction. “You didn’t strike me as the type to get your jollies from things like this.”

“Those who fuck with my clan…” Andrej’s grin grows and looks a little like one Zan would sport. “Fuck withme. And I, dear Luna, am not calledThe Destroyerfor no reason.”

Well, that’s fucking scary.

I knew dragons all had special nicknames, Colton told me that Kai is Kasimir the Chosen, but the fact that his older brother is very literally nicknamed after The Maker’s brother who governs demons and The End? Yeah, I’m glad this guy is on our side.

Then, as if he didn’t just literally scare the pants off me because I happened to drop them when he said that, Andrej’s dark eyes slowly, meticulously move between the five of us. “Everyone knows where they are to go?”

“Did we not just cover that for you?” Zan huffs. “We’ve been over the plan—”

“Why the hell areyounaked?” I blurt as my gaze lands on the demon.

Who just shrugs before motioning to us. “Everyone else was removing clothing. It seemed like the thing to do.”

“Because they’reshifters, you big idiot.” Frankie swats at her mate with a groan. “They have to keep as many of their clothes in tact as possible so they don’t run out of here in the buff when Drej blows it all to hell. Which youknow, but decided to play stupid anyway so you had a reason to get undressed.”

“Clothing is overrated.”

“Put your shorts back on, demon,” my mate grunts with a shake of his head. “You can steal essence just fine with them on, and if you get close enough to suck a soul or two, you’ll have plenty of skin exposed for easy access without stripping.”

Zan rolls his eyes and pulls them back up his legs, but not without smiling at Colt and throwing in, “I do love it when you talk dirty, wolf. Perhaps I’ll get naked later, after this is all said and done so you can say it again.”

The two of them go back and forth for a few moments, the other males making their annoyance known as they do, but it’s lost on me when I start to pick up a few familiar sounds.

The roll of empty gurneys.

Squeaky wheels and glass bottles.

Combat boots on linoleum.

Hushed female voices full of disgust.

It all makes my stomach roll, but it means we’re that much closer to our end goal. We’re that much closer to putting an end to Dr. Kentworth and everything he’s created.

“Where did you say this put us, exactly?” I interrupt the arguing males behind me as I step closer to the concrete wall, stopping next to a large steel door before I place my ear against it.

Zan sighs. “The crematorium, my dear. The rest of the tunnel has been used for storage, and the clearest point of entry was through the crematorium.”

My eyes slide shut as I nod against the cold metal, a heavy sadness sinking into my bones. “That makes sense.”

“It does.”

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