by Hazel Gower
Holy shit. Remy fell back on the sofa. “How do we get to it? How do we save them?”
Pet turned to Ava. “We will need your sister Eve’s help. The traitor will be hashed out when this is all over. All I can say for sure is the traitor is a woman.”
“Oh my God,” Remy and Lexie gasped.
“The problem is...the way I saw this work, you three need to go out without guards and be willing to get taken by demons.”
“Why all of us?” Remy was willing to do it if it helped people and she got saved in the end.
“Because together you are a bundle the demons will not be able to resist.”
“I really don’t want to be caught again, Pet. I don’t want to put my babies in danger.” Ava nibbled on her lip and cradled her stomach.
Pet frowned and nodded. “I understand. If it helps, I saw you get rescued if all goes according to plan.”
Ava sighed. “Fine, let’s figure this out.”
* * * *
Remy glanced at Lexie and Ava. Lexie was an earth element. Her mate was a British wolf, and he was just as ultra-possessive as Arden. They had all lied through their teeth to get there. For over a week now Ava had been tutoring them about how to lie to a wolf so they didn’t smell the lie. The trick was to tell the truth...mostly. So Remy had told Arden she was going to work and then would be visiting with Lexie and Ava. All true...she’d gone to work for a couple of hours and she was now visiting with Ava and Lexie. They just weren’t at either of their houses.
“This better work, or I don’t think I’ll be forgiven this time.” Remy knew she shouldn’t have left but when Pet said that the demons had her family Remy knew she had to help.
“We’re going to be in deep shit already, and we’ll be in even more if this works.” Ava nibbled on her lips.
“How long do we wait to be taken? Or do we move soon before our family finds us? Do we pretend to fight or go easy with the demons, zombies, or whoever comes?” Lexie mumbled.
Ava shrugged. “I have no idea. I have never intentionally tried to get caught. Eve has promised she has the tracking devices deep in our skin and she’ll find us.”
Remy placed her hand over her stomach and looked at Ava’s rounded bump, and she saw Lexie doing the same. “We’re doing this for them too.” Remy looked into both women’s eyes.
“Yes. This will work. It has to.” Ava ran her fingers through her hair and looked at Remy and Lexie. “Did you tell all the women?”
“I told Stacy and a couple of the other girls,” Lexie said.
“I told Sara to get word out. If the traitor is among them we will know.”
Remy, Ava, and Lexie had tried to pick a café that wasn’t very crowded so not many people would get hurt, but it wasn’t easy. They were a ten minute walk to the nightclubs, but still a good distance away. They pretended to eat their cake and drink their milkshakes.
They’d been at the café for almost twenty minutes, time enough for the men to find them, when Lexie groaned, “They’re coming, and it’s bad. The ground is telling me there are many and they came prepared.”
Remy stood and threw fire to a visible place. “Fire. Everyone out,” she yelled at the top of her lungs. She built the blaze and the small amount of people almost trampled each other to get out. When they were alone she put the fire out.
“Get ready,” Lexie whispered.
The ground shook as a ton of zombies poured in and at least twenty minions flew in front of five demons.
“Oh, fuck. This was a bad idea.” Remy didn’t even need to look at Ava or Lexie to know she was right.
To fit into the café the demons hunched and squished themselves in. Remy knew that didn’t hinder them. She remembered from the bowling alley.
A demon came forward and he cackled. “We will give you a choice—come with us willingly and you won’t get hurt…much...or fight us and risk death. You will never win against this many of us. So give up now.”
Remy bit her tongue. She had so many awesome comebacks she wanted to say, but she knew she had to keep them to herself…for now.
Ava stepped forward. “If you promise not to hurt us, we will come with you.”
“You ask a lot, wolf, when you are in no position to bargain.”
“If you don’t agree, I will kill my friends and then myself before you even get to us.”
The demon snarled and spat. “Fine. Come now before I change my mind.”
They walked to the scary bunch and were grabbed by zombies. Remy tried hard not to turn the heat up on her body and burn them to death. She needed to keep her body neutral for as long as possible so the guys could find them.
Chapter 11
Duke was pulling his hair out, and Logan paced back and forth, threatening to tie Ava up and never let her go for putting herself and their babies in danger. Arden was not going to be so nice to Remy. He was going to spank her arse and tie her to a ball and chain, if he didn’t kill her first.
“Do we have any leads were they might be? They can’t have been out for long, we only left them fifteen or so minutes ago.” Logan was the calmest of the lot. Arden was fighting to keep his feral wolf caged, and if he spoke out loud it would be to snarl and howl.
“I just finished calling her friends, but they didn’t tell me a thing.” Duke stopped running his fingers through his hair. “Stacy. She said they went to a café. She said they were having cravings.”
Arden yanked out his phone and concentrated on not smashing it as he called Rane. “Ava, Lexie, and Remy are gone. Gather everyone. We’re at my house.” As he hung up his phone it rang again. “Hello,” he growled out.
“Get your arse here now, Arden. Our sisters and your mate have done something big.” Kane sounded pissed.
“Change, and get to Kane’s house. He has info.” Arden changed to wolf, not bothering to see if the others followed, and he left out the back wolf door. He ran as fast as he could ever remember running in his life.
He went through the wolf door at Kane’s and changed back, walking into chaos. Eve was surrounded by machines and stood yelling at Kane. “The tracking devices are in all three. They’re going to take us to another demon hideout.”
“We’re not ready.”
“You did it last time and you weren’t ready.”
“Eve, use your brain. You were with us. We lost men, and we didn’t kill hardly any demons because we got in and out. For all we know we could have left more people behind and the demons took them. The last operation took us months to organize. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“We think the traitor is one of the paranormal people, a woman. We think demons have some hold over her and she’s giving them information about what’s going on. It’s why they knew about the bridal fitting, and now that I think about it, other things too, like the vans we took on mine and Ava’s birthday were fine until the drive home. They were tampered with. Fuck, fuck. Why didn’t I see it before? It was one of the women who were with us. So there was Kirby, Faith, Sandra, Lexie, Stacy, and Sara. Remy didn’t join us until we were at the bar and she was only close by because she was on her way home. Besides me, the only woman without a mate is Stacy.”
“Stacy told me when I rang they were at a café,” Duke said.
“Holy shit. She’s the traitor. Stacy was told not to tell any of you where they were. I bet none of the other women did.”
Duke shook his head. “No, the others said they had no idea where Lexie was.”
Logan burst into the room. “What did I miss? I hate that I have to drive while you guys run, taking all kinds of shortcuts.”
Eve went to hug Logan, but he dodged her. “Don’t. I know you had something to do with this.”
“I have tracking devices in them and a plane to take us where we need to go. We also think we may know who the traitor is…Stacy.”
A buzzing went off and Eve ran to her computers. “They’re on the move and heading out of the city. The demons have them.” She turned to Kane with bright e
yes filled with excitement. “Start to get ready. You shifters are going to have to suck it up and get in a plane. I have two.” Eve gazed at Logan with a huge grin on her face. “I looked into your files. You know how to fly. So does your brother Hayden.”
Logan advanced on Eve with death in his eyes, but Arden beat him to it, throwing himself at Eve and wrapping his hands around her throat. “You put my pregnant mate in demon hands? You put your own pregnant sister in demon hands. You put a friend’s pregnant mate in demon hands. You have risked everyone.” He lifted her off the ground by her throat. “You’re no sister of mine. I, Arden Wolfen, disown you, woman formally known as Eve Wolfen to me. I let you live now only to find my mate.” He threw his sister across the room and glared at Kane, daring him to say or do anything.
“I’ll fly a plane, and I know Hayden will help. But know this, Eve, I agree with Arden. You are dead to me. Get your arse up and find my wife,” Logan snarled.
Arden watched as his sister stood up on shaky feet and wiped the tears falling down her cheeks. She glanced at Kane and saw no support there.
Eve sat behind her computer and typed. “Kane, I was just trying to help.”
“Don’t, Eve. If you had done this with Faith you wouldn’t even be alive.”
Two hours later, the dots had stopped moving and the tracking devices were beeping in the one spot. Faith had come home with Bengie and his parents. Faith had gone nuts. Yelling that she would never forgive Eve, and if anything happened to her friends she’d kill Eve.
Arden’s parents were shocked and tried to help Eve, but everyone was so angry. They had a plan based on what they’d done at the big demon lair where Bengie came from. The army was flying in more planes to help carry all the shifters and the human men to the destination. They would be going to the base and leaving from there. Arden had been on planes for the military, and he could handle it when necessary, but most shifters weren’t fond of flying.
Faith came out of the bedroom in her fighting gear. It was a lot tighter than before and her breasts barely looked like they fit.
Kane’s eyes widened as he saw his mate. “Hell no. Faith, you’re not coming.”
“Don’t you dare tell me I can’t come, Kane. They have my best friends.”
“Princess, you have to stay. Who will look after Braydon?”
“I’m sure your mothe—”
“Look down at yourself, you’re falling out. Think about Braydon crying for you when he doesn’t get his food.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed, and she cupped her breasts. “That was a low blow. You bloody well knew all you had to do was say Braydon will cry for food and it would flow.”
Arden watched as Kane winked at Faith and walked to her, pulling the vest up, but it didn’t hide the overflowing bosom. “I love you. I want you and my child safe. I promise I will come back with all your friends.”
“Just this once. I will remember what you did though.” She rose on tiptoes and kissed his lips. “I’m going to go find my baby boy now.” She rolled her eyes. “I need to feed him.”
As Faith walked down the hall, Kane watched her with a smug looking grin on his face. Arden wondered if he’d ever get to have something like that happen to him. He hoped so. He wanted what Kane had...a family of his own.
Kane faced him. “Let’s go. I’ve told Logan I’ll be on the plane he’s flying with Hayden. Griffen is staying behind with some of the elders, and the women have been told to be on guard. We have some of the not-so-trained military men staying behind. If worst comes to worst, they’ll come and help. I don’t think they will attack as we’re too close to the water.”
Arden followed his brother and prayed everything went right everywhere.
* * * *
They were underground like she’d been last time. They were split up though, not in the same room. Remy was in a room with six other women. This time the demons hadn’t chained her up. They didn’t know what she could do. Remy was sure if they knew they would have bound her hands.
The six other women in the room were huddled in the corner, hugging each other for warmth. Remy knew without the fire element she would be cold. It wasn’t freezing, just cold.
Slowly, she walked over to the terrified women. “Hi. My name is Remy.” A woman with strawberry blonde hair gasped, and Remy continued. “Remy Wolfen. I’m a fire element. What are you all?”
The strawberry blonde pushed out of the huddled women and Remy got her first good look at her only to stumble back. Her mother stood on shaky legs before her. She looked sickly malnourished and in need of a good shower. Remy felt like she looked into a mirror...well, if the woman was clean and wasn’t sickly thin.
“How the fuck did you get here?” Remy was angry. This was the woman who’d dumped Remy at her grandmother’s and left, without ever even phoning.
Her mum flinched. “You were supposed to be safe. Mum lives so close to the water.”
“Well, I wasn’t. You just left me.”
“I tried to keep you safe. You were so powerful, even when you were little. You kept drawing demons to us. I left you so I could be safe.”
“You have no idea the power I have now. I don’t have time for a mother-daughter reunion. I need to know what powers these women have and any information I can get.” Remy fiddled with her hair and grinned as the small iced knife slide out. The demons had checked them for weapons but not very thoroughly. Slipping off her shoes, she undid the chucky heel to reveal iced daggers. She gave one to each woman and held on to the three left over in case Ava or Lexie needed one.
“What are you doing?” her mother asked. “There are too many of them to escape. I have tried. We all have.”
“Ah, but I have a secret weapon. I expect them to arrive in an hour or so. They won’t want to risk the demons moving us.”
“Remy, what are you talking about?”
“Answer my question first and I’ll answer yours. What powers do these women have?”
Her mother glared at her, but Remy didn’t know the woman in front of her and didn’t owe her anything. Eventually, her mother sighed. “Fine. I am like you—a fire element. Debra is an air element. Renee is a witch. Greta is a telekinesis. Helen is a healer, and your sister Nara is a mind reader.”
“Say what? Did you just say sister?”
Her mother nodded and looked over at the very young girl, with long strawberry blonde hair and warm brown eyes. She looked just like someone…
“She looks like Dad.”
“Yes, she does. She’s nineteen.”
Remy started to go to her sister, but her mother stopped her. “She’s deaf. It’s one of the reasons why she’s in here still with me. They think she’s faulty, and that’s why they haven’t tried to breed with her.” Tears rolled down her mother’s cheek. “You have a brother. He is half-monster. I will not give them any more children. I am too old.” She spat on the floor.
Oh God. How long had they had her mother and sister? She had a brother like Bengie. She grabbed her mum and almost shook her. “Have you seen the child? How old is he?”
“I think he would be six. It’s hard to tell for sure how long we’ve been in here.”
Remy felt sick. She clutched her stomach and sobbed. “Have you seen him?”
Her eyes softened, and Remy sighed in relief. “Yes. They let me have him for the first year of his life. He isn’t like them, Remy.”
Remy nodded and wiped her eyes. “He’s not the only one. I have seen one out of here. He’s the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet. He protected me with his life. Mother, do you know where they keep him?”
“Yes. I have tried to escape and I found him.”
“We will get him. I promise. I have friends coming to help. I expect them to be here soon. I need you all to use your power to help. The knives I gave you all are special. They are all iced. Demons don’t like water. If you stab their heart and cut off their head they die.”
Her mother stared at her. “How do you know this, Remy?”
Her mother studied her for a while before she nodded. “I need to make sure Nara got all that. She reads lips, but you talk fast.” Her mother used her hands to sign to her sister, who was staring at her with wide, innocent eyes.
Nara’s hands were fast as she signed back at her mother, and Remy wished she knew sign language. She wondered how long her mother and sister had been down there, and where was her father? “Where is Dad?”
Her mother signed to her sister and said one word. “Dead.”
No, no, she’d just found her family. He couldn’t be dead. She slumped to the ground and the woman her mother had called Helen came over. “You need to be more careful in your condition.”
Remy gave the healer a grim smile. “Yeah, I know. My mate, boyfriend, baby daddy, is going to be furious I put myself and the baby in danger.”
“Your mum is upset too. She didn’t contact you and gave you to your grandmother for safe keeping so this wouldn’t happen. So you wouldn’t end up here.”
“Trust me when I say I won’t be staying long.”
“I hope you’re right. Because you have just given hope to six women who have been without it for years.”
* * * *
Arden fucking hated planes. Logan and Hayden were good though. They flew the plane like pros. The landing was the worst part as they didn’t have concrete, only a field.
Kane, Rane, and Arden were the first out of the plane and giving orders. Time was running, and the women had already been taken now for over three hours. Tents were erected and groups assigned.
Logan scouted the area with Hayden, using his powers to help figure out what they may be up against, and returned with a surprising amount of paranormal people. “There are fifty-eight prisoners down there that I counted. There could be more. Be careful.”