Page 52 of Bite the Power
"Talk to me," Kaidan commanded. "What's going through that mind of yours?"
"I keep thinking about Magnus's motivations. Sure, the ancestral land thing is personal, and the whole kingship rivalry between your fathers runs deep—but this feels bigger than family pride."
The Jeep's engine growled as they climbed a steep incline, and Kaidan's light blue eyes flicked to her briefly. "Meaning?"
"Meaning maybe this isn't just about becoming king." Tessa watched the landscape scroll past—pristine white broken by jagged outcroppings of dark stone. "Maybe he's willing to destroy Frosthaven completely and rebuild from scratch. A scorched earth approach."
Kaidan's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Explain."
Tessa's scientific mind raced. "Think about it—he's targeted the research station repeatedly, tried to kill me twice, attempted to assassinate you, and now he's kidnapped Eli. That's not the behavior of someone who wants to inherit a functioning kingdom."
"It's the behavior of someone who wants to eliminate all opposition," Kaidan said grimly.
"Exactly." Tessa pointed toward a cluster of arctic foxes moving in erratic patterns near a rocky outcropping. "Look at the wildlife. They're avoiding that area completely—and that's one of the weak points I identified on the fault lines."
Kaidan's eyes followed her gesture, his enhanced vision picking up details she could barely make out. "The geological surveys from thirty years ago showed this entire western region sits on unstable bedrock."
The implications crashed over Tessa. "If Magnus triggers a catastrophic earthquake here, it wouldn't just destroy the research station or kill Eli. It could take out half of Frosthaven."
"That sick bastard," Kaidan snarled, his alpha dominance radiating through the confined space of the Jeep. "He'd rather rule over ruins than not rule at all."
What if we're too late? What if he's already set everything in motion?The thought of losing Eli—the man who'd brought her to the Arctic and become a mentor—made her stomach clench with sick dread.
"We need backup," she said firmly. "If I'm right about this?—"
"Already on it." Kaidan grabbed the radio with one hand, never taking his eyes off the treacherous terrain ahead. "Bjorn, spread the search teams to all major fault lines. Check for any sign of explosives or sonar equipment."
Bjorn's voice crackled through the static. "Copy that. Where are you headed?"
"Western cliffs. The major fault line by the icy precipices." Kaidan's voice carried the utter authority of a king issuing battle commands. "If Magnus wants maximum destruction, that's where he'd stage it."
"Be careful," Bjorn's concern bled through the radio. "That area's been unstable since the last glacier shift thirty years ago."
As they approached the towering ice cliffs that marked Frosthaven's western border, Tessa squinted through thewindshield. The landscape here looked almost alien—massive sheets of blue-white ice carved into impossible spires and overhangs by centuries of wind and weather.
"There," she breathed, pointing to what looked like parallel lines pressed into the snow. "Tire tracks."
Kaidan slowed the Jeep, his enhanced vision confirming what she'd spotted. "Military-grade treads. Heavy vehicle equipped for ice terrain. It's Magnus's truck."
The tracks led up a winding path carved into the cliff face, disappearing around a bend that would take them out of sight of the main territory. Tessa's heart pounded against her ribs as they began the ascent, each turn revealing more of the spectacular—and terrifying—drop to their right.
"Kaidan," she said quietly, her earlier bravado crumbling as reality set in. "What if this is exactly what he wants? What if he's luring us up here to?—"
"To finish what my father started thirty years ago." Kaidan's hand found hers briefly, his touch grounding and reassuring despite the circumstances. "But he underestimated one thing."
"What's that?"
His smile was a dangerous promise. "He's never faced a mated king who will stop at nothing to protect his future queen and their future kingdom."
Tessa's stomach twisted into knots as the Jeep climbed higher, each hairpin turn revealing more of the terrifying drop that yawned beside them. The ice cliffs stretched endlessly upward, their blue-white faces gleaming like frozen tears in the Arctic sunlight.
Her earlier confidence—the scientific certainty that had driven her analysis of Magnus's probable endgame—crumbled like unstable ice beneath the weight of stark reality. Up here, isolated and vulnerable, she felt the crushing magnitude of what they faced. Magnus wasn't just some disgruntled rival; he wasa calculating predator willing to destroy everything, including innocent lives, to claim what he believed was rightfully his.
"What if he's got Eli up there rigged to some kind of explosive device, waiting for us to arrive so he can take us all out in one catastrophic blast?"
"Then we deal with it," he said with the kind of calm certainty that made her remember why she'd fallen for this Alpha king in the first place. "Together."
Together.The word should have been comforting, but instead it filled Tessa with a different kind of dread. She'd just found her mate, just experienced the most perfect night of her life, and now they were potentially driving toward their deaths on an ice-covered cliff in the middle of nowhere.
