“Thanks, druid.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, flushing pink.
“Uh…” Shaun stretched out his arms and looked around the room, blinking. “Did I miss something?”
I shook my head, smothering a laugh.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle. Let’s get this lot down to the labs and fix the next ward.”
None of the other Bittens objected to the cuffs being put on them, but honestly they all looked so shellshocked I didn’t think they’d object to anything short of their own executions.
“What do we do with those?” Leo said, jerking his head at the three prisoners. “We can’t leave them here where the rest of Brad’s men might find them. They know too much.”
“We’ll take them with us,” Mei said. I opened my mouth to object – I didn’t trust them running loose round Dean’s old pack lands – but she carried on. “We’ll put them in the cages in the shifting lab. They won’t be able to get out with the cuffs on.”
Everyone was looking to me again, so I nodded. Shaun opened a portal and we helped Mei, Leo, and Kelsey get everyone through until it was just me, Cam, and Shaun left in the deserted med wing.
“Alright,” I said. “Where’s the next ward?”
“Alpha Blake’s office.”
“I… excuse me?”
Shaun gave me a tight smile. “He had one installed in his office to disrupt invading forces in the event of a coup.”
“Well, that worked. Can you open a portal there?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t think so. The room has a secondary ward preventing anyone portalling in or out. An added security measure with all the visits Alpha Draeven has been paying us. I doubt Brad’s men knew anything about it.”
“Feel like trying anyway?”
He extended his hand and focused on a spot in front of us.
“Eachlais!”
Nothing happened.
“That’s just great.”
Cam cracked a smile and clicked his neck.
“Guess we’re getting there the old-fashioned way.”
“Fine for you,” I grumbled, rubbing at my shoulder. “You didn’t smash yourself up on a walking man-mountain.”
Cam’s expression switched from anticipation to concern in a heartbeat.
“Are ye okay, lass?” he asked, lowering his voice. “Do ye need to sit this one out?”
“Try to make me,” I said, baring my teeth. He held his hands up and flashed his teeth in a grin.
“Would I?”
“Alright, you two,” Shaun said. “Let’s get moving. Stay behind–”
“Not a chance,” I told him. “You’re still this season’s MVP. You stay behind me. Cam will bring up the rear. The first sign of danger, you portal down to the shifting labs. We’ll cover your retreat.”
“I’m not going to leave–”
“Argue about it later,” I cut him off again, towing him to the door, and knowing that I wouldn’t give him the chance. Those wards were going back up, period.
I cracked the door an inch and took a few quick sniffs of the air, grateful for the first time since I’d arrived here for the constant draughts that no-one had bothered to block. The air was crisscrossed with scent, but nothing within the last few minutes, as far as I could tell. I nodded over my shoulder to the others and stepped into the hallway.
It wasn’t as far from here to Blake’s office as it was to the dungeon, but in a castle full of feral Bittens, it was far enough to get us killed.
I clamped my jaw shut and shook the thought from my head. That attitude was exactly what would get us killed. The office was only on the next floor. Five minutes, ten at the outside. If we were lucky, we might not even pass any of Brad’s men.
I knew the thought was a mistake the second it came to mind.
We rounded the next corner and the scent and sound hit me at the same time. I doubled back, crashing into Shaun, and shoving him against the wall. Cam stepped quickly in front of him and raised an eyebrow at me.
I held up three fingers. I’d caught at least three scents. Then I shook my head and held up a fourth finger. Four scents. Cam glanced back the way we’d come and cocked his head, making it a question.
No. We couldn’t go back. It would take twice as long to get to the office using the back staircase, and who knew how many of the Bittens we might meet going that way? We had to keep going.
Cam saw it, too. He dipped his chin, then stepped with me. Shaun made to follow us and Cam turned, planting one hand on his chest and pressing him back to the wall, warning him back. Shaun batted his hand aside and glared at him. Shit. The last thing we needed was to fight amongst ourselves.
I grabbed Cam’s arm and shook my head. Shaun nodded to me, and I gave him a look that I hope conveyed exactly how unhappy I was about this, and how pissed I was going to be if he got himself killed and I had to try to get those wards up. He nodded again. He got it.
I eased round the corner again, the two men following behind me. The scent flooded the corridor. They were close. And… I frowned. Wait. Was that scent…? I turned my frown to Cam and mimed sniffing the air. I mouthed the word. Human.
Cam nodded, and I saw the question in his eyes. What the hell were mundanes doing here?
The better question was, could we get past them without them noticing us? I liked our odds. I started forward when Shaun grabbed my shoulder and hauled me back. I glared at him, and he frowned right back. I sniffed again, and this time caught it. The mundanes weren’t alone. They had a shifter escort. I raised one finger and cocked my head. Shaun nodded. One shifter. Well, he was the tracking instructor for a reason. If he said there was just one shifter, then there was just one shifter.
I shrugged and sauntered down the hall. One shifter I could handle. Shaun grabbed at me, but I was already rounding the next corner.
Another hand grabbed me and slammed me against the wall. I gasped, the air bursting from my lungs, and stared at the hand pinning me to the wall, then followed it to its owner.
“Caleb!”
“Jade,” he said, his lips twisting around my name like it left a bad taste in his mouth. “If you and your friends were any louder, the mundanes would have heard you coming.”
Cam and Shaun drew up short, taking in the enforcer and his three mundane companions. I shoved his hand off me and tried to stop my head spinning.
“You’re alive?”
He glanced down at himself. “Last time I checked.”
“But Dra- I mean, Alpha Draeven said you were injured in the ambush that…” The words stuck in my throat. I swallowed, and forced them out, past the burning guilt obstructing them. “That killed your men.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“I was. But I survived. Disappointed?”
“What? No, of course not.” How could he even think that? I mean, sure, I thought he was a dick, but that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. “I swear, Caleb, I didn’t know what he was planning.”
Caleb cocked his head, scrutinising my face and weighing my words for what seemed like a long time. Then, to my surprise, he nodded.
“I believe you.”
“You do?”
“You’ve always been a shit liar, Jade. I doubt you’ve suddenly developed the skill.”
“Uh… thanks?”
“That wasn’t a compliment,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Complacent is as bad as complicit.”
“You know what?” I snapped. “I’m just about sick of being everyone’s scapegoat. I didn’t mean for that to happen, and if I could take it back, I would. But I’m not the only damned shifter in this castle, and I sure as shit am not the most experienced. You led your men into a trap? Maybe you should have been paying more attention. Quit trying to blame your mistakes on me.”
He grabbed hold of me again and slammed me back into the wall, choking the air from my lungs. I struggled against his grip but he didn’t budge. Cam and Shaun started forward, but before they could reac
h him, he slackened his grip, then dropped his arm and turned abruptly away. I sagged, sucking in a deep breath. Cam locked his eyes onto Caleb’s turned back, but I grabbed his arm and shook my head. We had more important things to worry about.
I turned my attention to Caleb’s mundanes, then my eyes narrowed. I recognised them. Jim, Hayley, and Lester. Draeven’s guests. The ones who came in for the meeting.
“What’s going on?” I asked Caleb. “Where are you taking them? And where’s Draeven?”
“Alpha Draeven,” Caleb snarled, turning back to me, “doesn’t have time for me to answer your questions.”
“Answer them anyway,” I demanded, planting my hands on my hips and glaring at him. For a moment I thought he would argue, then he seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it.
“I was with Alphas Draeven and Blake and the mundanes when the attack started. Our priority was to get the mundanes to safety. We pulled back and made a push for the rear exit with the rest of the enforcer team assigned to Alpha Draeven’s security detail, but we were attacked. Alpha Draeven ordered me to fall back and get the mundanes out of here at any cost. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Where’s Dra– Alpha Draeven now?”
Caleb shook his head in frustration and jerked his thumb towards the office. “Pinned down back that way. I need to get the mundanes out of here and back him up.”
“Dean is portalling the students to safety from down in the shifting lab. If you can get them far enough away from the ward in Blake’s office, you can portal them down to him.”
“How far?”
I glanced at Shaun and he shrugged. “End of this corridor, maybe.”
“Good,” Caleb grunted. “I’m assigning you that duty. Portal them to your friend. I’m going back to help Alpha Draeven.”
I grabbed his arm as he started to march off, only to withdraw my hand rapidly when he turned his glare on me.
“I don’t work for you,” I told him, then took a breath and forced the confrontation from my voice. There were plenty of shifters to fight who weren’t on our side. “Look, we can’t. We have to get the wards back up to stop Brad bringing in any more Bittens.”
And stop him escaping again. I left the words unsaid, but Caleb seemed to hear them, anyway. Brad had to be stopped. Permanently.
“Alpha Draeven needs backup,” he insisted.
I thought rapidly.
“Me and Cam will go,” I said. “Get the mundanes to safety, then guard Shaun while he gets the last two wards up.”
“I don’t take orders–”
“From Bitten curs. Yeah, I know. It’s not an order. But it is our best chance of stopping this attack before the druids bust in here and do it for us.”
The big enforcer looked around warily. “The druids?”
“Yeah. We need those wards up. Shaun is the only one of us who can do it, and you’re the best person to protect him while he does. You’re stronger than me, and faster than Cam. But we can put two more bodies between Draeven and Brad.”
All six of us, mundanes included, looked at Caleb, waiting for his response. After a long moment, he dipped his chin.
“Alright. And for the record, Jade, I don’t care that you’re Bitten, or a cur. My problem with you is that you’re selfish, and you think you’re above the rules.” He cocked his head. “But maybe you’ll prove me wrong.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I didn’t stick around long enough for anyone else to take a turn at character assassination. Instead, I turned on my heel and pelted down the corridor towards where Caleb had indicated. I could hear Cam pounding along behind me, both of our steps echoing together as we raced through the otherwise deserted hallway – unless you counted the bodies we passed with gaping wounds and no heartbeat. I was trying not to. How much had any of them known about what Brad was leading them into?
I set my jaw and shoved the thought aside. Now wasn’t the time to worry about who was or wasn’t playing fair. If the Bittens killed Draeven, Brad would seize power as the Alpha of Alphas, and we’d all be fucked.
“Jade, wait!” Cam hissed from several paces behind. I skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding tangling myself in a corpse with its head at an odd angle.
“What?”
“We’re close.”
“Gee, what gave it away?”
I could already make out the sounds of snarling coming from round the next corner. Draeven may have been battling his way through the hoard of feral Bittens, but he hadn’t made it far.
“You want tae go charging into that ruckus in your human form?” he countered.
Shit, he was right. Human, we were cannon fodder. The wolves were bigger, faster, and stronger, and their teeth were a damned sight sharper. I nodded, hoping I didn’t look as shaky as I felt, and yanked my hoodie over my head. If he hadn’t stopped me, I’d have gotten us both killed. I needed to be smarter.
I threw my hoodie aside, and my breath caught in my throat as I looked at Cam, already half undressed, with a fiercely protective scowl on his face. Who knew if we were both going to survive whatever was waiting for us round that corner? I reached up, wrapping a hand round the back of his neck, and drew him closer, capturing his lips with mine. He backed me up, pressing me against the wall without breaking the kiss, and we allowed ourselves a long moment to be human, wrapped up in each other and all the fear and desperation of what we might be losing.
And then, reluctantly, I broke the kiss.
“Don’t do anything stupid, you hear me?” I growled at him. There were some things I couldn’t stand to lose.
“Right back at ya, lass.”
I nodded, swallowed, and finished yanking my clothes off. We moved apart, giving each other space, and I reached deep inside myself for the primal beast trapped within my human cage. I threw my head back with a feral howl, and pain ripped through every inch of me, pulling my joints apart and snapping my bones. I fell onto all fours, letting the heat and the pain have me, feeling my limbs lengthen and my face change shape, until there was nothing human about the sounds coming from me.
I twisted my head to one side and dipped it in a curt nod to Cam. His wolf-form stood a full six inches taller than mine, covered in slabs of heavy muscle, but my strength had never been about power. My frame was light, my muscles lean, and every inch of me was designed for speed and agility.
He grunted a sound of determination, and I broke into a run, leaping the downed bodies of Bittens and enforcers alike, and skidded round the corner.
My eyes were sharper in this form, and it took them only a split second to make out the six wolves locked in combat. Draeven was recognisable immediately, standing taller and broader than the other wolves, with a wide skull and powerful jaws – and more old battle scars than the rest of them put together.
Blood stained his yellow sable pelt, but he moved with a brutal efficiency that was pure aggression and dominance. Beside him, a wolf I didn’t recognise fought on three legs, the fourth – his back left – hanging uselessly, broken below the knee. The two of them faced down four wolves, each smaller in size but carrying several injuries of their own. Teeth clashed and claws swiped as the pack tried to overwhelm the alpha and the enforcer with their sheer numbers.
Around them were the broken bodies of several other wolves – casualties in what must have been a long and drawn-out battle. As my eyes swept the scene, one of the wolves twitched, catching my attention. I snorted in surprise. Blake! He was hurt, but alive.
But not for much longer if we didn’t do something. As I watched, my legs still powering me towards the scene, one of the four wolves broke off and lunged towards the downed alpha.
I dug deep and kicked harder from the ground, propelling myself forward faster. Draeven spun round, alerted by the sounds of my paws as I charged up behind him. His lips curled back, and he pinned his ears flat as he rounded on me. I tried to shout, to warn him I was on his side, but my lupine lips couldn’t form the sounds and it came out as a growl
. And all he could see was the condemned prisoner charging at him.
Crap.
I crouched down and leapt as high as I could, straight over his head. He turned his teeth on me, scoring a gash along my back leg, and then I was over him. I landed hard, sending a jolt through my shoulder that hadn’t healed from my last fight, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that. I smashed straight into the wolf towering over Blake and sent the pair of us tumbling down the hallway in a tangle of limbs, fur, and teeth.
I snapped frantically at his face, trying to keep him from biting mine as we found our feet. A furious snarl ripped along the corridor, and then Cam was amongst the remaining trio, laying into them with fang and claw.
Yelps and squeals surrounded us, and I couldn’t help a flinging a glance in his direction, anxious that the sounds of pain were coming from him, but his maw was clamped around a sable wolf, and he was thrashing it in his powerful jaws.
My rival wasted no time punishing my distraction, slashing his teeth at me and scoring the flesh under the fur of my shoulder. I snarled in fury – at him, at myself, at this whole damned situation – and threw myself into him, driving my teeth through the thick fur of his neck. I could feel his pulse under the rubbery skin, and he squealed in panic as my teeth tore a path to it. He threw himself back, powerful with his desperation, and wrenched free from my jaws.
I shook my heavy head, dislodging his fur from my throat as I advanced on him again. He cast one last look at me, and Blake, then turned tail and ran.
I didn’t waste time celebrating my victory. Cam was surrounded by the three wolves, but Draeven was attacking the flank of one red-furred beast, and the injured enforcer was trying to draw one of the others away from the brawl, snapping at his heels each time he presented a target.
I skulked back to the fray, hackles raised as I stared at one of the beasts who dared to snap at my mate. I roared pure rage at him and clamped my jaws over his hindquarter, tossing him aside like he was made of feather. He smashed into the wall and hit the ground hard, unmoving.
Cam dipped his shoulder and slammed it into the red wolf. I felt the collision through the floor under my feet and bared my teeth in savage delight as the beast thudded back into the wall behind him. Cam stalked towards it, but Draeven cut him a look that halted him mid-stride.
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