Page 60 of Titan’s Mate

“Keep in contact,” Brandon said.

Remy responded, “Understood.”

The residential compound was a large wood-frame building. Mari had seen the rough plan they’d created from their previous surveillance: it was a quadrangle, with a courtyard in the middle.

But now that they were here, she could see that it, too, was gated. Jaeda murmured, “Shit. Was that to keep people out, or to keep their women in?”

“Probably both,” Remy said. “Raines was a sick son of a bitch who liked to control people. And really, how the hell else would he even get a woman to stay with him?”

“Good point,” Jaeda said.

Remy was still checking the signals from the old security system. “The cameras here are operational too,” he said. “I don’t see any other signals—cellphones or communications equipment—but be on the alert anyway.”

Titan helped Mari out of the truck and they all walked through the gates, which Brock and Remy opened by simply teaming up and ripping one of them off its hinges. He was feeling antsy, and so was his bear, like things were about to go wrong. He didn’t know if they really were being watched, or if they were both just picking up vibes from Mari.

He could tell she wasn’t feeling well, no matter what she said. He prayed to the gods that this wasn’t the day all hell would break loose in her brain. He wasn’t ready. None of them were ready.

“Stick by me,” he told her.

She smiled up at him, her face pale. “Always.”

The team was waiting, and he tried to focus. They were all depending on him, especially Mari. If he could find this damn artifact, then at least they had another option for saving her—or possibly getting her to the other side without fighting demons the whole way.

He stood in the middle of the courtyard and closed his eyes, extending his senses, looking for the feel and taste of the Draken magic in the artifacts. As a clan shaman, he’d been born with the ability to wield them, and so he was attuned to their power.

There was something… He opened his eyes and pointed to the left side of the quadrangle. “I’m getting something from over there.”

“Okay,” Remy said. “Take Brock with you and start looking. The rest of us will clear the building to make sure there’s no one here, and search manually. Let us know if you find anything.”

Titan, Mari and Brock entered the building, checking for signs of habitation and making sure there was no one hiding in there. The area he’d chosen looked like it had once been lavish living quarters, which meant it had probably been Raines’. That was a good sign.

Titan stopped now and then, honing in on the emanations he’d sensed. They were getting stronger, but it was hard to pinpoint them. As Tyr had suspected, there was some kind of protection spell masking them.

They were just entering the bedroom when the comms crackled to life.

“There are some fresh shifter scents over here on the west side,” Remy said.

Brock jumped on that. “How many? How fresh?”

“Yeah well, that’s why I called. We need a wolf to sort that shit out. Can you come out here?”

Brock glanced at Titan. “Go on,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”

Brock nodded, but said to Remy, “I’m coming out, but send somebody else in to cover Titan while he does his mojo.”

“On my way,” Jaeda said.

While Mari waited in the bedroom, Titan checked out the walk-in closet. There were only a few stray bits and pieces in there. As an obvious hiding place, it looked like it had been ransacked—even to the point of the floor being hacked at.

Except… they’d never finished taking up the floorboards, and there were scorch marks around where they’d tried.

The protection spell?

Titan squatted and put his hand on the floorboards. Immediately, tingles ran up his arm. The artifacts were here, and one of them had been used to create a very nasty protection spell.

Too bad for Raines—Titan knew the counterspell.

As he prepared to do it, he heard gunfire from out in the courtyard, and the howl of a wolf. Remy came on the comms system. “We’re under attack. Panthers—animals and armed soldiers. Can’t tell how many. Pull back to the courtyard!”