Page 38 of Knotted By the Triad

As he walked away, Zian came to stand beside me.

“We'll need someone who understands magic to examine everything we found,” Zian said.

“I know.”

“The witches and warlocks of the Runeborne kingdom are our allies,” he continued. “Do you think that’s changing?”

“I’m not sure if rogue magic users are behind this. Or if this is something bigger. I’ll report it to the King and see what he thinks. But if these weren’t rogue magic users helping dragons just for money, then we would have a bigger problem on our hands. War could be coming to Ashborne. Either way, we’ll be ready.”

Zian glanced toward the trees where Daemin had disappeared. “How long do you think it’ll take him to catch the driver?”

“He's Daemin. It shouldn’t take long. I just hope he doesn’t kill him.” I nodded toward the bastard who'd shattered the pendant. “You take him. Bring four Shadow Guards with you.”

“I'll make sure he gets to the dungeon.”

“Alive.”

Zian sighed. “I thought I would be able to get my hands dirty on this mission. Instead, I fought rocks, and now I have to babysit smugglers. Do I at least get to torture them for information?”

“Torture them all you want,” I told him.

He walked away with a smile. I shook my head as I watched him go. My pack brothers were tired of sitting around our princely manor. They preferred being in the field. I had to admit, I enjoyed this better than just giving orders from the safety of my office.

Within minutes, Zian and his group were gone. The other prisoners were divided into separate groups and sent toward the capital while I remained behind with enough Iron Guards to secure the warehouse, protect the evidence, and tend to our wounded.

I surveyed the clearing. Broken stone covered the ground where the golems had fallen. Splintered wood surrounded the damaged wagon, and Iron Guards stood watch over the confiscated Dragonblight.

Beyond them stood the warehouse and the magically concealed room no ordinary person would've known was there. We'd come here expecting to capture a handful of smugglers and learn who was bringing Dragonblight into the capital.

Instead, we'd uncovered forged clan authorizations, enchanted golems, a hidden operation protected by magic, and records that might lead us straight to whoever was behind it. The men we'd captured knew something too.

Maybe they didn't know who sat at the top, but somebody had recruited them, paid them, supplied the DB, and given one of them a necklace capable of summoning ten fucking golems. Someone would talk.

And the one man who'd managed to escape wouldn't stay free for long. Daemin was hunting him. Once everything here was secured, I'd meet my pack brothers at the dungeon and start getting answers. After that, I was going home.

My thoughts immediately went to Zuri. A strange restlessness had been sitting beneath my skin for the last few minutes. I'd blamed it on the fight, but now that the danger had passed, the feeling remained.

My dragon stirred, wanting me to go to her. I frowned. I couldn't go to her yet. Besides, she was probably asleep in her bed, completely unaware of what we'd been dealing with tonight. Still, I wanted to see her. I wanted to make sure she was safe with my own eyes.

“Soon,” I told my dragon as I rubbed my chest. “We'll go home to her soon.”

CHAPTER TEN

ZURI

I couldn’t believe we’d gotten lost in this damn forest!

“This is all your fault,” I hissed.

Allie stopped walking and faced me. Her long braid swung as she turned. I could tell she was frustrated from the way she put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. Only her eyes were visible beneath the black material covering the lower half of her face.

“My fault?” she said.

“Yes. We could've left hours ago, but you decided we needed costumes.”

“They're disguises,” she corrected.

“They're costumes. My cleavage wouldn’t be showing if this was a disguise.”