“What?” they demanded.
“We can go. The distraction worked,” I managed to say.
“You want to share with the class?” Victoria prompted.
“And keep it down,” Logan added.
“Astor shifted into his wolfman thing and the guy at the door wet his pants,” I said.
George caught his breath and said, “They’re inside. Astor’s doing his thing.”
The others remained still, probably picturing what I’d described. “Let’s go,” I said.
Wes recovered first and slipped inside. George and I followed, with Victoria and Logan in the rear. The door clicked shut and I had a second of trapped panic. My neck prickled again, like we were being watched. I whirled. Nothing but empty hallway.
Logan had been right. Something was definitely off. I opened my mouth to say so, but then I heard an animal whine—barely audible through the walls—and I stopped caring about our ease of entry. All I could think about was finding what’d made the sound and freeing it.
“Did you guys hear that?” I whispered.
“Logan, you and Victoria go that way,” Wes said, pointing behind us. “George, Tara, you guys with me. Look for an unlocked door.”
As we walked, I looked up for cameras or something that would give away our presence, but the area was clear.
“I think they’re all locked,” Logan called from the other end.
“What now?” George asked.
Wes looked back and forth between the two doors we stood between. “We need to pick one and break the lock.”
“That’ll bring them running,” I said.
“Let’s choose wisely then.”
“Got one,” Victoria called.
We hurried toward her. The door made a sticking sound as she cracked the door and peeked through. I winced at the noise, expecting any moment to hear some shrill alarm or running feet, some indication we’d been discovered. But the creak of the door faded into only the sounds of our careful breathing.
We all hovered in the open doorway, listening.
I opened my mouth, ready to tell them to keep moving, when another whine sounded. This time louder. “Go,” I said, waving a frantic hand to urge Victoria through. She took a step forward, but Logan pulled her back.
“I’ll go first,” he said.
Victoria opened her mouth to argue, but Logan pushed her aside and stepped through. Again, I waited for a yell or some form of assault, but none came.
“This is way too easy,” George said, his words lost underneath a buzzing sound.
I ignored him and stared around the space before me. It was a warehouse, like the sign advertised. And I supposed it was full of meat, if you counted the jackpot of fresh, heart-still-beating, hybrid-Werewolf kind.
Metal cages had been placed along the walls and down the center, creating wide rows. They weren’t like any cages I’d ever seen. These were elaborate in their ability to contain. The bars along the walls and ceilings all had spikes protruding, their gleaming points a constant threat if the occupant moved wrong or inched too close.
The buzz in the air seemed to lead back to a giant green box in one corner. Posted above and below it, on the chain-link enclosure that guarded it, were signs that read “Danger: High Voltage” and “Keep Out” in large lettering.
“What is that?” Victoria asked, pointing to the green box in question.
“The cages are electric,” Wes said.
I barely heard him.
Without waiting for the others, I took off down the center aisle of cages. All of them contained Werewolves, some of the normal variety, but most with eyes shaded neon yellow. I scanned faces and fur coloring, looking for something familiar. Six cages in, I stopped.
“Rafe?”
The wolf stirred slowly, as if being woken from a deep sleep. The metal of its cage buzzed ominously and I didn’t dare go any closer. “Rafe,” I called again, crouching to eye level. “It’s Tara.”
Rafe opened his eyes. “Tara,” he said without raising his head. His eyelids drooped low. Underneath, the yellow in his eyes seemed brighter than I remembered.
“I’m here. Are you all right?” I was still too worried to be truly excited. What happened to him? What had Steppe done? I searched for wounds but found none. He seemed exhausted. “Are the others here?”
He nodded. I assumed the one answer covered both questions.
“I’ll be right back,” I said.
He didn’t respond and I moved on, calling out to pack members as I went. My excitement grew as I found more and more of them. At my voice, they woke. Some sat up, calling back to me. Most seemed lethargic and dazed. But they were here. And alive.
Breathless, I ran back to where Wes and Victoria waited. In the corner, George was currently helping Logan break into the electrical box.
“They’re all here,” I said.
“No kidding.” Victoria rubbed her arms, which were covered in goosebumps. Every few seconds, she shivered. Her eyes swept the room, canvassing. I knew she hated being this close to so many Werewolves at once.
“Tara, look,” Wes said.
I followed him to the cage on the end of the left row and stared inside. Instead of a wolf, this one contained the body of a man, curled up and fully nude. Even from here, I could see he’d been badly beaten.
I looked closer. “Chris?”
The man stirred and I caught a glimpse of his battered face.
“Chris!” I knelt at the cage, careful not to touch. Chris tried to move and groaned. He managed to twist his torso so his shoulders leaned against the back of his cage—the only smooth surface available. He cracked the eye that wasn’t swollen shut.
George walked up and knelt beside me. “What happened to you, man?”
Chris struggled to sit up. “Tara,” he said, his voice cracking.
“Don’t talk,” I said, wincing at the gash under his left eye. It was still open and oozing so I knew it was fresh. Even without the bond, empathy washed over me. “We’re getting you out of here.”
He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. “He knows … you’re here.”
I looked around. “What? How?”
My eyes strayed upward at the same moment Wes pointed above us and said, “Guys.”
At regular intervals along the ceiling, mounted cameras pointed directly at us. My breath caught. Any second, the doors would open and Steppe’s men would come crashing in. Why hadn’t they already?
Wes wandered closer to the wall, staring at the camera directly above us. “Huh.”
“What is ‘huh’?” George asked.
Logan joined Wes, also staring. “The wires have been cut,” Logan said.
“But who would’ve done that?” Victoria asked.
Wes turned back to me. “What’s your reading on Emma and Astor?”
“Um.” I tried to push aside my urgency to get Chris out of this contraption and focus on Emma. “She’s calm. Talking to Astor and someone else. They’re still in the building.”
“Anything else?” George asked.
“That’s all I got. They’re safe,” I answered. “Now, can we address the problem at hand?”
“Which problem is that?” Victoria asked, hand on her hip. “The problem of our sneaking in here being way too easy, the fact that the cameras have been disabled and we didn’t do it, or the fact that all of your mutts are locked in electrified metal cages that we don’t have a hope of opening?”
I scowled at her. “Yes.”
“Oh, I forgot. One more.”
“What now?”
“Even if we do figure out a way to get them out, what are we doing with them?” She gestured to the far row of cages where I spotted more hybrids—none of which had been a part of my pack. I recognized a couple from our encounter in the woods the day Steppe took my pack.
I hesitated. A huge part of me—mostly the wolf—wanted to leave them here. I wouldn’t be hurting them directly, though I wanted to for what they�
��d done, and they deserved whatever fate Steppe eventually delivered them. But—
“If you do that, you’re no better than Steppe,” George said.
I sighed. “I wasn’t really going to. But they won’t come willingly.”
His brows rose in a challenge. “How do you know?”
“Fine. We give them a choice. If they want to come, we let them.”
“And if they don’t,” Wes began, pausing to breathe deeply, “… want to come?” he finished.
I studied him. His cheeks were flushed. “Are you okay?”
“Fantastic.”
“Is it warm in here?” George asked. He ran a hand through his hair, peeling it off his forehead where it’d become matted with perspiration.
“Not really.” I gave him a once-over. “You don’t look so good, either of you.”
“Don’t feel so good, either,” George said.
Logan rejoined the group, brushing something off his hands onto his jeans. “I can get the power turned off but it won’t last. We’ll have sixty seconds at the most.”
“That’s it?” I looked at all of the pointy cages. There were too many for sixty seconds.
“I could make it longer if I had the code.”
“What happened to this being too easy?” Victoria grumbled. She scratched at her arms. They were lined with red where her fingernails had dug in against the goosebumps.
“My advice is—” Logan’s words cut off with the door being wrenched open. It squeaked on its hinges even louder than it had for us, a testament to the force behind the motion. Whoever it was wanted to be heard.
Gordon Steppe strode through, a bright smile on his otherwise emotionally dead face. “Oh, I think it’s all been quite easy.”
I turned wildly left and right, searching for somewhere to take cover. I had no doubt Steppe would be backed by an army. Chris had been right. It was an ambush and we’d walked right into it. But only one man and one woman followed Steppe inside.
And out of all the faces I could’ve imagined, these were the last two I expected.
“Mom?” Only Victoria seemed more surprised than me. “Dad?”
“Shit.” Logan didn’t even seem to notice he’d spoken aloud. I tried to remember if I’d ever heard him curse before.
“Hello, Victoria,” Mrs. Lexington said.
Victoria took a step forward, but Logan grabbed her arm and pulled her back. My lungs contracted as I waited to see if she’d shake him off. These were her parents. I’d seen the pain she’d gone through when they’d disappeared. I half expected her to join them, even if it meant standing next to Steppe.
But Logan yanked and Victoria halted, her expression a mixture of longing and resignation.
I exhaled.
At the sight of Steppe, Chris let loose a growl I was surprised his scratchy throat was capable of. He lurched forward in the cage on hands and knees, stopping short centimeters from the spikes protruding from the front bars. A few other wolves did the same and Steppe laughed.
“Feisty today, I see,” he said.
More growls from the cages. I edged forward, automatically falling into a crouch. My wolf rose, my muscles tightening. If Steppe wasn’t going to bring an army to protect himself, I’d take the opening.
“I don’t think you want to do that,” Steppe said, his eyes narrowing sharply at me.
“But I do,” I said. “You have no idea how much I do.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lexington stepped forward, a barrier between Steppe and me. One I would remove if needed. I took a step.
“What are you doing?” Victoria demanded, blocking my path.
I tried to shake her off. “Whatever I have to. That’s what you told me, remember?”
“I know I said that before but… you can’t. Just … hold on.”
Mr. Lexington took a step toward me. The wolves in the cages—my pack—growled. Claws scraped against metal flooring.
“Dad!” Victoria’s head swiveled as she looked back and forth between us. “Stop, both of you!”
“I’m afraid stopping is exactly what’s going to happen,” Steppe said. He glared at me. “This ends now.”
“One way or another,” I agreed. Victoria looked back at me, her eyes pleading, but I ignored her. Steppe was right. It had to end. Just not his way.
“Let them go,” I said.
“Why would I do that? I am completely within my legal rights to capture or otherwise detain any and all Werewolves. Haven’t you read the new law? Or have you been a little busy, what with housing a fugitive and becoming one yourself?”
“I’m not a fugitive,” I said.
“You’ve been summoned for questioning and failed to surrender. In our world, that makes you a fugitive.”
“I’m not coming in. It’s a setup. You’ve already made up your mind. You and whatever crooked council you’re leading.”
“My council is made up of nothing but the most respected Hunters.” He gestured to Mr. and Mrs. Lexington. “Upstanding members of our society, every single one.”
“Mom? Dad?” Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “You guys are on the council? But how?”
“Not possible,” I said. “They’re hybrids. Werewolves. And not even you, Mr. Rule Follower, can get around that.”
“Again, you’ve failed to keep up with the law, Miss Godfrey. Section three, bullet seven states that you are, by definition, a Werewolf if you shift out of your human form into that of a wolf. Mr. and Mrs. Lexington no longer shift. Therefore, they are not Werewolves. They are Hunters. They’ve made their choice.”
“Can they decide that?” Logan whispered, leaning close to my ear.
“No,” I said loud enough for Steppe’s benefit. Mr. Lexington frowned. “If you won’t let them go, I’ll take them by force,” I said. “The three of you aren’t enough to stop us.” I still couldn’t believe he’d brought the Lexingtons as his only backup.
“You might want to take another look at your ranks,” Steppe said.
I glanced left and right. On the other side of Logan, Wes and George both looked green.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Wes opened his mouth to answer but no sound came. Instead, he shook his head, his hand clutching his stomach. There was discomfort, aching pain with no origin or center, but the bond had gone foggy. Like before. Maybe he was keeping me out?
“George?” I said, uncertainly.
“Try Emma,” he mumbled.
I tried—and immediately hit a mental blank space.
Steppe watched me, a satisfied smile on his lips. “Problems with your bond?”
I didn’t answer.
I continued trying to search for Emma. When had I lost her? And what the hell could Steppe be doing to remove the bond when he hadn’t moved from that spot since he’d walked in?
“Your bond won’t work in here,” he said, “for the same reasons your two leading men can’t help you.”
Wes and George were still on their feet but they looked unsteady. Neither one even looked capable of shifting right now. George’s shoulders heaved with each breath.
“You’re not keeping them here because of the law,” I said. “Or you would’ve killed them already. What do you really want?”
The lines around his eyes tightened by the smallest degree and I knew I’d hit the mark. “I suggest you heed Miss Lexington and stop this. Before it’s too late,” Steppe said.
I tensed at the threat contained in those last words—and gave up trying to contain my wolf. I didn’t care if he was within the law. He’d manipulated it to fit his crooked agenda. He needed to be stopped. So far, a political takedown hadn’t worked. Maybe it was time for a more physical effort.
My clothes shredded as I shifted form. The ripping sound had become familiar to me but Victoria yelled and jumped back, flicking pieces of my shirt from her arm and hair in a panic.
In the in-between from human to animal, I forgot why I’d held back at all. Why I’d even tried to reason with Steppe. At the sig
ht of my pack in cages, my temper flared and the animal in me took over. As soon as my four paws hit the ground, I ran straight for Steppe’s throat.
Mr. Lexington jumped in front of me and Victoria screamed. The shrillness of it made me wince and I lurched sideways as Mr. Lexington produced a sharp stake. It stabbed the space where I’d stood a second ago, making a whistling sound as it arced through the air.
The weapon surprised me. He really was back to being a Hunter.
I came around from the other side, but Mrs. Lexington was there with a stake of her own. I dodged it as well but I had to retreat toward the wall, boxing myself in. I needed help. Backup. I knew better than to expect Victoria, but Logan—
“Logan!” I growled.
I couldn’t spare a glance. I hoped he heard me. And chose me. Not a guarantee when his own girlfriend’s parents were trying to kill me while she watched.
Another stake whipped through the air. I twisted away and snapped my teeth at the slender wrist that held it. Victoria yelled again.
In the distance, I heard another high-pitched wail. At first, I thought it was someone else yelling, or maybe Victoria freaking out again. As it got louder, I recognized it was a police siren. Or maybe three.
In the haze of the fight and my wolf’s temper, I couldn’t understand why Steppe would call civilians.
And then I remembered.
“Wes, get out of here,” I yelled. It came out broken and mumbled as I dodged left and came around from behind Mrs. Lexington. My teeth nipped her in the back of her thigh. I didn’t know whether I’d drawn blood or not. Or if it’d hurt her. I hoped it burned like hell and she’d back off.
She didn’t. If anything, when she faced me again, her expression was more grave, more determined.
“Logan!” I called again.
“Right here,” he said, startling me when the sound of it came from close behind me. I glanced back and found him engaged with Mr. Lexington, blocking a jab that would’ve no doubt done damage to my rear end had he not been there to stop it.
Across the room, Victoria had gone quiet. I wasn’t sure what that meant; I couldn’t afford to look. I faced Mrs. Lexington again, both of us lashing out and dancing back in tandem. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Steppe. I didn’t want him slipping out while I was preoccupied. But he stood back, feet planted, arms crossed, looking completely unconcerned.
Blood Rule (Book 4, Dirty Blood series) Page 22