"When he wakes up, they sure as hell will." Kevin didn't even want to think about what Jaynell's avatar was going to do.

"We've become too complacent in our own homes,"

James said. "When we get Jaynell back, we'll have him place a blocking spell so others can't teleport in here.

"Go get Edward Senn and bring him back to us,"

James ordered the gnome.

"My pleasure."

Only seconds passed before the gnomes vanished and then returned, dropping Kevin's fellow student onto the floor.

Edward scowled at the three of them.

"I demand you take me back to my dorm."

Thomas let out a low growl. "You're not in a position to be demanding anything. You know where they took my mate, and you can either tell me and live or I rip you apart."

Edward frowned. "They took Jay? I didn't think the Senate would take him. I thought they'd question him on campus so we could all see his trial."

"I don't care what you thought," Thomas growled.

81.

"What I care about is he's gone and I want to know where they took him."

"I thought you wolves could sense your mates."

Thomas punched Edward in the face. A loud crunching noise echoed in the room. Edward screamed.

"You bwoke my nose," his said, his voice slurred around the spurting blood.

"That isn't the only thing I'm going to break if you don't tell me where they took my mate. I can't sense him if he's unconscious."

"He must pay for his crimes." Edward sulked.

James grabbed his brother as Thomas lunged for the student. "I'd rethink your approach. My brother has nothing to lose if his mate is injured. Your life means little to him."

For the first time, the kid appeared to realize the danger he was in as he looked around the room.

Kevin murmured a healing spell, and Edward's nose stopped bleeding on the carpet.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Where would they take Jaynell if he was going to go before the Senate?" James asked.

"The Senate rented a house on Phelps Street. The big yellow one on the corner, I'm not sure of the address.

My father takes me."

82.

"Take him to the library and set some gnomes to guard him. He's not allowed to leave until we get Jay back."

Thomas yanked the student to his feet and dragged him up the stairs.

"Did you ever date him?"

In the middle of everything, the wolf still cared about people he might have slept with in his past. Kevin laughed. "Edward? No. He wanted me to, but I don't like spoiled brats."

"Good. If he dated you, that punch would've been the least of his injuries."

83.

Chapter Six.

Kevin followed James into his office, worry eating away at his stomach like acid. "I wish I'd been there."

"What?" James sat down at his desk and booted up his computer.

"If I'd been there, maybe I could've recognized somebody."

"Or maybe you could've been kidnapped too. We don't know for certain why Jay was taken."

"True. But they're idiots if they think they can contain him."

"Maybe, or maybe they'll keep him drugged until they do whatever they plan on doing with him."

Kevin's stomach sank. He didn't want to think of his friend alone, drugged, and at the whim of dangerous wizards. "We have to get to him."

The phone on James's desk rang. Kevin watched as the alpha answered. He could hear the person yelling on the other line, but James's expression didn't change. "You can have your gnomes back when you return our wizard." More yelling. "I don't care if you didn't take him. Wizards took him; find out who."

James hung up the phone. He met Kevin's eyes.

"Vreel is peeved we shut down the university."

84.

"Huh. You'd think he'd be more concerned about what happened to Jay." Now that he thought about it, the headmaster should've asked about Jay.

Before he could discuss this development with James, his roommates burst into the room.

"We heard Jay's been taken," Dean said. "We want to help." The other two nodded their agreement.

"Did you see if your gargoyle can track Jay?" Dan offered.

"They teleported him. You can't track through dimensional holes."

Dan gave him a pitying look. "You really were sleeping through avatar studies weren't you? I haven't even taken them yet, and I know more about gargoyles than you do. Crag might not be able to track Jay here, but if you put him on the street, maybe he can get Jay's scent. If they teleported, they can't have traveled far."

"We think the Senate might have him," James said from his desk.

Kevin actually hoped the Senate had his friend. At least they could barter to get him back from the Senate.

You couldn't barter with a homicidal maniac who drained wizards of their life force.

James stood up. "Let's go and visit the Senate."

An enormous wolf stomped into the room its teeth 85 *

bared in an evil snarl.

"I think Thomas agrees with my plan."

"We're coming too," the triplets said in unison.

"Me too," Kevin said, oddly reluctant to let James out of his sight.

The alpha looked them over for a long moment.

"Fine, but I'm in charge, and I won't be responsible if Thomas eats rogue wizards."

There were mutterings of assent.

The group left the building and climbed into the limo waiting outside. Kevin knew James had anticipated a lot of people because this wasn't the car they usually took.

Silence filled the limo like a physical body, stifling in its presence. Kevin hoped they found Jaynell sitting at the Senate house bored and creating a new pill to solve world pollution in one easy capsule.

Driving to the house where the Senate was purported to live took little time. A brief conversation between the driver and the guard at the gate earned them disturbingly easy access, but maybe the elite who ran the world didn't need to worry about tight security.

They were greeted at the front door by a human butler with a dour expression. "The Senators will meet you in the parlor. Would you like me to put your dog in the 86

garden?" The man sneered at Thomas.

"Not unless you want him to rip off your arm and eat it."

The butler paled, but at least he lost his sneer as he looked at Thomas's fangs with new respect. James had run across this type of person before. The kind who thought werekin were lesser because they turned into a beast. He'd never let it bother him before. He wasn't going to let it now.

Nine men sat around the large room they were escorted into. They all stood when James and his group entered. He guessed they hadn't gotten around to replacing Dragonspawn's position yet.

"Alpha James, greetings."

One of the nine stepped forward, holding out his hand. "I'm Adalberto Jones."