by Jade Alters
I'd been a white alpha all along. I was having a hard time communicating back. I had so many questions and he told me they were coming too fast for him to process them, so I was working on slowing my thought flow down...but it was hard.
I'd been afraid at first that the man could hear everything that was going on in my head. I was afraid he'd know my fear...or my guilt for being attracted to all four men and not choosing just one. But he didn't seem to be able to read my thoughts, unless it was a specific thought that I concentrated hard to send his way.
It made my head hurt and my ears buzz, but I got enough of them through that it convinced me he was real and not just a figment of my imagination. I looked out at the men. Manny and Clay were squat down on one knee and Manny was drawing a diagram in the dirt.
Titan and Will looked on.
They were talking about the cages underground and what they remembered about the lab...and the “breeding” room. I was not about to let any “breeding” happen, unless I was the one picking the breeder. I'd be willing to fight, and kill any man or wolf that tried otherwise. I meant what I said to Clay about not wanting to leave all those poor souls behind, but I had a strong feeling all of a sudden that it was my responsibility to protect my pack. I also had a deep, driving need to find out what my father had to do with all of this.
Grover's “voice” told me that I had been set-up and my father had been a part of that, but I had to know why. It was a need, like air or water. I felt like I couldn't go on with my life, I wouldn't survive without knowing.
“Grover...are you there?” I called to him in my head. This was so new, I wasn't sure how any of it worked.
“I'm here my alpha. How is your pack?”
“Alive and healthy. If we come in there Grover...what is going to happen to my pack?”
“They have traps at the doors. As soon as you walk in, the cages will descend on you, silver cages, too small to turn around in, much less shift.”
“So how do we get in, without going through the door?”
“Tunnels,” he said. His voice sounded like it was fading.
“Tunnels? What tunnels, Grover? Where are they?”
“Underground. No cameras. No sound.”
“Where Grover? How do we get to them?” Silence greeted me. I tried to be patient but after only a few seconds I said, “Grover? Grover please tell me where the tunnels are.” He was gone and I didn't know if he'd be back. I went out to where the men were and said, “Do any of you know anything about tunnels?” The four of them looked up at me and a surge of something so strong hit me ...a wave of protectiveness, respect, and even love. I was beginning to realize that these men were my family now.
Even when or if I chose one to be my mate...they would all, always be family. “We need to figure out how to get to the tunnels. It's the only way we'll be able to get inside, without being put in a cage.”
11
Courtney
“Tunnels. Of course they have tunnels. They're probably some of the tunnels that the Afghani's used during the war,” Manny said. “They're all over this mountain.”
“So how do we find them?” Will asked.
“Well,” Titan, the walking computer said, “A tunnel couldn't be dug just anywhere, especially not with the ancient tools these people use.”
“So where would they be dug?” Clay asked.
“There are a few places. There's the cut and cover which would be just a trench that's been covered up. The trench could be a dry creek bed, or canal. The thing about a cut and cover tunnel is that they're close to the surface. With the unpredictable weather up here, those tunnels probably wouldn't last long. They'd be likely to collapse in on themselves.”
Manny sighed. “Do we have to get a whole lesson on tunnels? Can you just get to the type you think they would use?” Titan rolled his eyes at his teammate and said,
“My best educated guess is that they used a “meet in the middle” technique. In other words, laborers would start on either end and meet underneath the primary entrance or exit. In this case, it would be the tower. So what we have to do is work with parallel lines. Two parallel lines never meet. An error of more than 2 meters horizontally would make them miss the meeting point...so instead of digging parallel, they would dig left to right to ensure a meeting point in the middle.”
Manny growled and looked at Will who shrugged. He looked at Clay then and said, “What the hell did he just say?”
Clay shrugged. It was me who said, “He's saying that we need to start out diagonally to the right of the tower on one side, and to the left on the other...and we'll either find an entrance, or well meet in the middle.” I was no genius, but for some reason I could see what he was trying to say in my head.
“And the middle is the tower? Well shit,” Manny said. “That might be a good idea if we had a way to communicate during the process. What if half of us find an entrance and the other half are still on the other side looking for it. We have to go in strong, together.”
“And how do we know where to start looking?” Will asked. “Like how far back?”
“We don't,” Titan said. “I didn't say this was going to be easy, or even that I'm right. It's a starting point.”
Clay stood up first and said, “Then let's get started. If one of us finds a way in, we'll stay and mark it while our partner goes to get the rest of the team. Nobody goes in alone. We all go in or no one, got it?” They all nodded and I said,
“I'll be the runner.”
“No,” Clay said. “It's too dangerous...if they spot you out there alone...”
“I'll fight, just like I did last night. I'm a wolf too, Clay and this makes sense. I'm the smallest and my fur will blend with this landscape the best. I'm not trying to be pushy, or be a hero or any other bullshit. It just makes sense.”
“She's right,” Titan said. “Let's do this.” The men checked their weapons and as they were splitting up, they did some weird handshake thing. I was feeling left out until Clay came over and kissed me on the cheek and whispered,
“Be safe.”
I smiled and then I was shocked when Titan kissed my other cheek, and then Will. Clay was giving them both dirty looks and Manny looked like he was trying to decide if he wanted to piss him off or not.
Finally I said, “We're a pack guys, a family.” Manny leaned in then and placed a kiss on my cheek where it was still warm from Clay's. I put a hand against each one of their faces, one at a time and said, “All of you be safe. We have a species to perpetuate.” I winked at them and they split up, Clay and Titan going one way,
Manny and Will the other. I was still more shy about stripping in front of them than I was shifting. I waited until all their backs were turned, took off my clothes and changed, just like that. It was easier the second time, and not as painful by far. I felt good, powerful...alive.
The day dragged and the heat bore down on us as we walked the mountain, checking out every cave, alcove and crevice that might offer us a way into the tunnels we were only assuming were there at this point. Nerves were getting frazzled and tempers short. I tried my hand at hunting and found out that just because I was a predator now, it wasn't something that would just come naturally. I would need plenty of practice.
Finally after chasing several rabbits and a few prairie dogs and even a snake with no luck, I shifted back, got dressed and switched places with Will for a while, walking the trail alongside Manny while Will went in search of food.
As we walked and searched, I asked Manny about his life...before all of this. “Where did you grow up?”
“In a small town in Texas, along the border.”
“Is your family still there?” His eyes grew sad as he nodded.
“Yes, my parents and my two brothers and two sisters. I haven't seen any of them for several years. I doubt that I'll be able to see them ever again.”
“When this is all over, why couldn't you go visit them?”
He looked thoughtful for a minute and then he s
aid, “Maybe I could. I've just gotten so accustomed to being given orders. If we make it through this and I'm not taking orders any longer, I guess I won't know what to do with myself.”
I smiled at him. “Maybe it's time we all learn to live without taking orders.”
“You know, even as a pack, someone has to be in charge.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But I've been watching the four of you for days now, and for the most part you seem to do well with the team work and compromise. You each have your strong points and your weak points. Just because something has been done a certain way for years doesn't mean it can't be done differently. We could create our own kind of pack.”
He smiled at me. I liked when he genuinely smiled, no sarcasm or cynicism, just a warm, sexy smile. “And where would you fit, in this new-fangled pack?”
I winked at him and said, “Well, since I'm the only one who can make the pups, I think I'll fit in quite nicely.”
He chuckled. “I guess I can't argue with that. Do you...” he stopped walking and talking so abruptly that I took a few more steps before I realized it. When I turned around, his dark eyes were looking downward, into a narrow canyon that was about six or seven feet deep. Tumbleweeds and different forms of desert foliage was grown up around and down inside of it.
Whispering, I said, “What do you see?”
“Look at the rock, there to the left.”
I saw the rock. It was jagged and gray, similar if not identical to hundreds of rocks I'd seen since I was on the mountain. I studied it for several seconds before finally saying, “I'm sorry, what about it?”
“It's flat across the bottom, but look at the marks against the ravine.” The ravine was smooth rock for the most part but on either side there were marks that looked like something had been scraped against it. The grooves were dusty and the foliage had grown across them in places. But...
“It's been moved back and forth, more than once. It's a door!”
“Maybe. We have to get down there to check.”
The canyon was deep, but it was so narrow that I couldn't imagine any of the guys being able to fit down into it, in either of their life forms. “I'll have to do it,” I said.
Manny frowned.
I expected him to just flat tell me no, the way that Clay would. But after thinking it over he said, “If it's a door, and you're able to open it, we might be able to drop down inside.” It would be a tight fit, but dropping down wouldn't require us to do any moving around like I would need to do in order to open it. “But, if it is an opening to a tunnel, we don't know what's in there. It could be wired with explosives. It could be manned and guarded...”
“It could be a passageway to hell,” I said, with a nervous smile. “I get it, Manny. I never thought any of this would be easy. But like I said before, we're a family now, and I intend to do my part.”
He took a deep breath and said, “Okay, but please don't let anything happen to you, Clay will rip my throat out.”
I laughed. “Deal.” Like a gentleman, Manny turned his back while I undressed and shifted again, to make my climb down easier. I slipped down into the narrow little ravine and began my descent into what could very well be an opening into hell.
Manny
By the time Courtney reached the bottom, Will was back, a rabbit in each hand and a snake thrown over one shoulder.
“What's going on?” he asked.
I told him what we were thinking and pointed out the grooves. I felt helpless just watching her and I could tell that Will did too. When she was close enough, she used her snout to push against the rock. It didn't budge. She didn't have much room, but she used what room she had and turned her body sideways, trying to push against it with her flank. From where I stood, it still looked like it hadn't budged.
“I've got a grenade,” Will said.
“We'd be risking caving the whole thing in...and them hearing us,” I told him.
“I don't think she'll be able to move it. Should I try to get down in there?”
“No. There wouldn't be any room for you to move at all.” I was looking at the rock from the top down. It started about three feet from the top of the ravine.
“What if I lay down on my stomach and grasp it from the top and push at the same time she's pushing from the bottom?” I said.
“It's worth a shot,” Will said. “I'll get your legs so hopefully you don't go sliding down in there on your head.” He chuckled but I didn't see the humor. I took the gun off my shoulder and sat my small pack that I carried my pistol and ammo in aside. Going as close to the edge as I could get, I dropped down to my knees and lay down on my belly. The white wolf was watching me and I made eye contact with her.
“I'm going to push with you,” I told her I knew from experience that English sounded like Chinese to a Wolf, but her eyes registered understanding and as soon as Will grasped my legs I said, “Okay Courtney, push.”
She used her flank again and I used all the strength in my arms. At first I thought it was still not going to budge, but Courtney seemed to have one last big burst of strength in her and I felt the rock actually slip out of my grasp as it slid to the right.
“Is it open enough?” Courtney re-set in answer to my question and working together again we both pushed. I estimated that it moved at least two feet from start to finish. That would allow Courtney enough room to pass through, but I wasn't sure about the rest of us.
As soon as we had our opening, and after the white wolf stuck her head inside and had a look, she climbed back up to the top. I was sitting up in the dirt and Will was standing behind me. The wolf whined at us and I nodded. She was asking me a question, and I could understand her, without words.
“Yeah, go get Clay and Titan.” We watched her lope away and when she was out of range Will said,
“That first day that we met her, I wouldn't have thought she had any of this in her.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess it's a good lesson in not judging a book by its cover, huh?”
12
Courtney
It took some time and quite a bit of ingenuity, but after about an hour, all five of the “pack” were inside the narrow tunnel, heavily armed and hoping we weren't crawling into a dead end, or a trap.
Clay took the front, in human form, crawling on his belly with his rifle in one arm and pistol in the other. I was also in my human form, crawling behind him. I'd never shot a gun before, so when Clay offered me one, I'd declined.
Behind me was Titan, more heavily armed than Clay, and Will was next with Manny bringing up the rear.
If we thought the mountainside was hot, it was nothing compared to the tunnel. We were all covered in sweat and I had to keep telling myself not to panic over what I was afraid was a lack of oxygen. We moved slowly, and carefully in the dark, brushing away vermin and bugs and Clay even used his knife to kill a snake along the way. I had no concept of time in the dark tunnel, but over an hour must have passed before Clay stopped moving. He didn't have to say a word, we could all hear what he was listening to. The sound of voices came from just up ahead which meant we were at least underneath the tower.
Clay lay still for several seconds, listening, I assumed he was trying to get a read on how many people were there and how far ahead of us they were. When he had as much information as he needed, he began moving again. The voices sounded like echoes to me and when we came to a fork in the tunnel, I was glad that Clay was in the lead and not me. He didn't hesitate before going right and within fifteen to twenty minutes, we came to the end of that tunnel. The door on the end was made of steel, and there was a good chance that it was locked.
Clay whispered, “Ready?”
All answers from the team were in the affirmative. After all, at that point, what choice did we really have? Clay tucked his pistol under his chin and I felt Titan rest his rifle across my shoulder so that if the door moved in front of Clay, he'd have a clear shot into the room. Using both of his hands, Clay pushed against the door. I was disappointed,
but not surprised when it didn't budge. I saw Clay turn his hands to the side and push again and my breath caught in my throat as the door slid to the side.
The sound of metal on metal was like nails on a chalkboard, but it was nothing compared to the deafening sound of Titan's rifle as it went off right next to my ear. Just like the day at the airstrip, my hearing was suddenly impaired. That was the least of my worries however as I watched Clay plunge out into the room and I was pushed out from behind. Clay was already engaged in gunfire. I landed on my belly and stayed there as the other men came out of the tunnel shooting. I had no idea how any of them even knew who they were shooting at, but thankfully it only lasted about a minute before silence once again reigned and the smoke began to clear. Once it did I felt Clay's hand on my arm. I let him help me to my feet and as I looked around the room, I began to wish it was my eyesight that had been affected...and my sense of smell, rather than my hearing.
Silver cages lined both sides of the room. They were small like kennels and stacked one on top of the other. The smell was coming from those cages where people...and animals in various states of change lay naked in their own waste with bowls of rotting food on top of it all.
Some of them looked like they had passed some time ago, and the smell in the room reflected that as well.
The ones that were obviously alive were staring at us out of emaciated faces. I had never seen a sight so pitiful in all of my life. The four men whose bodies now littered the floor were all fat and I was tempted to change so that I could chew them to bits...even though they were already dead.
I was sure that “polite society” would be the first to call the people in the cages monsters if they knew what they were...but the real monsters were the animals that caged them and suddenly I wished I knew how to use a gun, so I could send as many of them to hell today as possible.