Page 41 of Challenged
“See anything?” I whisper to Griffyn. He shakes his head no, his gaze locked on Aksel’s figure standing before the door of an inconspicuous building.
“Good luck,” I whisper under my breath, though I know he can’t hear me.
Aksel knocks on the door, the sound echoing through the empty street.
There’s no response.
He frowns, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I can see the tension in his body, the uncertainty that creeps into his normally stoic demeanor. Aksel, the dark fae who always seems so sure of himself, is nervous.
“Something’s not right,” I say softly, my gut twisting with unease. Griffyn glances at me, his concern written in the furrow of his brow.
“Give it a minute,” he suggests, trying to remain optimistic despite the sinking feeling in both our chests.
Time ticks by painfully slow, each second stretching out.
Aksel knocks again, louder this time, clearly growing impatient. Still, there’s no answer. My instincts scream at me, urging me to leap down there and get him out of this situation. But I hold back, trusting that Aksel can handle himself.
“Should we intervene?” Griffyn asks, his voice as low and tense as mine.
I shake my head, though doubt gnaws at me like a starving beast. “Not yet. Let’s see what happens.”
I can’t shake the feeling that this is a trap. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I watch Aksel from our hidden vantage point. “Griffyn,” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper. “This feels wrong. Why are we even doing this?”
“Because it’s our job, Felix,” Griffyn replies, his smoky gray eyes never leaving Aksel as he stands before the unresponsive door. “We would have done this kind of thing without a second thought before Anna walked into our lives.”
“I guess I just know how devastated she would be if anything happened to one of us,” I say, my snow leopard instincts itching to flee or fight, anything but stay still.
“I get it. Everything has changed. Even I would be upset if something happened to Aksel,” Griffyn admits.
I side-eye him. That’s not something I ever thought I would hear.
Our conversation halts as a small piece of paper slides out from under the door. Aksel bends down to pick it up. From this distance, I can’t see what’s written on it, but whatever it is, itseems to have satisfied him. He sets the package down by the door and starts to walk away.
“Finally,” Griffyn mutters under his breath, relief evident in his voice.
As Aksel moves further away from the door, my heart continues to race, adrenaline coursing through me like an icy river.
“Are you alright, Felix?” Griffyn asks, sensing my unease.
“Something isn’t sitting right with me about this,” I confess, my hazel green eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger. “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve made a mistake.”
“Let’s just get back to Aksel and find out what that note said,” Griffyn suggests, his tone both comforting and decisive. “We’ll figure out our next move from there.”
A thud sounds behind us and we’re both spinning to check it.
A young, female mage with long black hair is standing there staring at us with malice in her eyes.
She mutters a few words and sends a spell that blasts into Griffyn. I roll out of the way before she can hit me too, shifting quickly into my snow leopard form.
A glance at Griffyn tells me he’s frozen but not hurt.
I launch myself at the mage, dodging right and left to avoid her magic as I go. She’s laughing hysterically like this is all fun to her.
Is she part of the drug ring?
Right before I tackle her, she shimmers out of focus and reappears on the other side of the roof.
She can transport which makes this a lot more difficult.
