Enthralled: Tainted Book Four

18. No More Forbearance

Kerry

If that half-dragon didn't find his mate soon, he wasn't gonna be much use in helping me find my girl, let alone his little brother.

I mean, he did come in handy when Poppy Halder erupted like a volcano. Her eyes glowing with witchlight, she set all of us on our butts when one of their packmates linked them some bad news: The weres on bikes had lost the raiders' trucks somewhere in Manhattan.

Not gonna lie, I was surprised they'd managed to follow them that long. Eleven hours on a bike was a hard ride, not to mention planning an impromptu rota to gas up while not falling too far behind. Still, it wasn't until they hit Newark that they ran into trouble.

Five Fangs was a mostly rural pack on the outskirts of a larger city, but it wasn't nothing like the Big Apple and its snakes of interstates and traffic jams and insane drivers. Two of the weres got separated from the other two and then from each other, circling the airport and looping Interstate 78 again and again. The other two made it into the city, but couldn't find the trucks when they came out of the Holland Tunnel.

"At least we know they're close," Gelo muttered.

"I'll send some aides to lead your packmates here," Josef offered. "Tell them to find a place to stay put and send you their locations."

As two of them arranged that, I kept my eyes on Konstantin. After he'd helped Poppy settle down, he'd retreated to a corner and was now arguing with his dragon about something, growing more and more worked up, until finally Chime Karma boomed, "Don't give up hope!" so loud, everyone in the room swiveled to stare at them.

Deciding to intervene and give fate a little push, I waved Josef over, then leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"You know that Messenger you sent to open the portal for us this morning? Lanie whatever?"

"Lanie Molina."

"She's his mate." I waited until Josef's dropped jaw snapped closed again. "Order her home or something, then send him to her place."

"You sure they're mates?"

"Are there any other weres here who feels his mate, but can't find her?" I scowled.

He gave me a sharp nod before he hustled over to Gelo and muttered something in his ear, then all but skipped over to Titus, grinning like a fool, and I rolled my eyes.

Gelo went over to talk to Kon and, a few minutes later, Titus led the half-dragon out of the room.

So that takes care of that, I thought. His mate'll settle him down so he can be useful again.

"You know, the weretigers will only follow Kon now," Josef said with a spark of mischief in his eyes as he rejoined me. "They said they're bound by the moon to fulfill their khan's last command, but their code of combat holds that, if their leader falls, they follow the one who felled him."

Poppy snickered into her hand, and I was glad to see that she'd managed to get her anger locked away. It took a lot to piss off an earth witch, but once you did... Well, she was going to be quite an asset if it came down to a fight with the raiders or the Diabolical or both.

"What's so funny?" Rome asked her.

"Kon hates cats. No, hates is too weak word. He loathes cats."

"Can you blame him?" Gelo muttered as he joined us. "He knows Squidge. With one exception, anyone who has ever met that demon hates cats."

"Whoa. Wait!" Jax's head swung from me to Gelo to Josef. "Does that mean Kon's the new tiger khan? Does he have to move to India?"