by Reese Morgan
Thinking of the sheer force it must have required was nauseating.
“Asher…”
“Asher has always been a distracted mind,” Falco replied resolutely. “It was his downfall. He will be missed. He was a good kid.”
A good kid.
She shook her head and placed a hand on her face, hating that they thought so little. Nevertheless, a part of her knew that Asher was skilled with the sword, but poorly prepared for battle. Eric shouldn’t have sent him.
Falco’s presence suddenly left, and in his place was familiarity.
A strong, leather-clad hand grabbed the back of her neck and squeezed.
“Look at me,” he commanded firmly.
There was no room to disobey.
Hayden opened her eyes, staring into cold blue. Nicolas pressed his forehead against hers, keeping his hand a firm shackle around the base of her neck.
“Can you pull yourself together?” Both his tone and his expression were rather impassive, yet his eyes were alive with intensity. “Or should I have Falco escort you back to the truck? You can wait there while we gather your father.”
“I’m coming with,” she whispered.
“Mourn him when it’s appropriate.” His expression softened. “We need to move quickly. There were only two attackers, but we assume it’s the first line of defense. If Elizabeth becomes aware of our presence, she may call for backup. We must avoid that.”
Hayden nodded.
She could say nothing else.
Nicolas observed her for another moment in silence. Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead before releasing her. His hand traveled down her arm before wrapping around her fingers. He pulled her, forcing her away from the tree and back out into the open.
Hayden wiggled her hand out from his, wanting to stand alone.
Nicolas gave her a knowing look, though he kept close as they started out again. They left behind the three fallen males. It would be impossible to carry them. On their way back, perhaps they could gather their bodies.
In pieces.
Hayden tried not to think about Asher.
It was just like Addie.
But her adrenaline was still high; the situation demanded her full attention. They were still in danger and her grief could not rule her actions.
The last thing she wanted was the others to see her weakened. Though she all but single-handedly destroyed the puppet on her own, she couldn’t weep and crumble over the fallen. Such behavior would make both her and the others of her team vulnerable.
Hayden channeled a great deal of grief into her movements.
She vaulted over the snow, easily keeping up with Nicolas and Kieran.
If she thought the mood before the attack was grim and solemn, it was nothing compared to the present weight of disquiet. The group remained extremely silent, listening to their surroundings and on guard for the slightest change of atmosphere.
They remained together, all pushing themselves harder to keep close.
“There, up ahead,” Julian exclaimed, motioning toward a cabin.
Said cabin nestled amongst the trees, very secluded and dark. If it wasn’t for the single light lit in one of the windows, and the steady, fluid smoke from a chimney, Hayden would have overlooked it.
With her focus on the cabin, she did not pay much attention to her surroundings
Her foot suddenly dropped and her whole body plummeted without the ground to support her. A muffled, surprised gasp escaped her lungs as she flailed, feeling herself go weightless.
Hands reached out, lightning quick, grabbing her under her arms and holding her up. A flash of naked concern crossed Nicolas’ expression before he expertly veiled it as if it were never there in the first place.
“Hayden,” Nicolas breathed with frustration, his expression morphing into grim exasperation. “What am I going to do with you?”
After safely depositing her on the ground, they examined the hole.
“It’s the tunnel.” Julian crouched down and examined it. “I used to live here with my mother for a few years. I thought they would have gotten rid of it, but apparently not.”
“Where does it lead?” Kieran inquired. “It’s small.”
“It leads to the basement underneath the cabin. It’s far too small for a male,” Julian quipped as he looked pointedly at Hayden. “A perfect size for her.”
“Absolutely not,” Nicolas argued, his tone biting.
“It will most likely lead to Logan,” Julian countered calmly, his attention averted anywhere but at Nicolas. He looked at Kieran and Falco. “Hayden is a capable fighter. She can plug this escape while we go through the main level. No male is going to go underground. They will be too large to clear the escape.”
Hayden considered the cabin in the distance, her mind rather blank.
Empty.
“Well…” Falco trailed off and looked at the tunnel. “Fortunately, it looks as if it also accommodates male werewolves who have yet to reach full maturity.” His features brightened into sly delight as he looked at Julian. “Looks like you will accompany her.”
Julian exhaled and shook his head.
“Fine.” He stood up and winked at Hayden. “See you in the tunnel, sis.”
Dropping to his knees, Julian went headfirst into the tunnel. His broad shoulders took a bit of effort to wiggle through, but once they did, his entire body disappeared.
She looked at Nicolas.
The last time she’d gone into a tunnel heaps of corpses had surrounded and embraced her. She’d lost Cole. She’d come out a different person.
The eldest Slayter watched her steadily. “You will be fine. I will be on the other side.”
Hayden deliberated the tunnel.
As much as she wanted to argue, she had no energy to do so.
Without another word or further contemplation, she fell to her knees and followed Julian. She slipped in easily, immediately contained within the darkness. The earthy walls on either side of her squeezed and closed in around her.
She tried to steady her breathing and not panic at the closure.
Up ahead, Julian dragged himself on his forearms. “Talk about quality bonding time, eh?” he asked. “Nothing says sibling bonding quite like claustrophobia.”
“Shut up.”
Julian suddenly stopped and made a grunting noise. “I’m stuck.”
Hayden stopped crawling at the admission, her panic rising. “You’re joking.”
“Yes.”
He laughed and started moving again.
Her gaze narrowed on his ass. She wanted to say something scathing, but nothing came out. Her mind was still heavy, nearly foggy with the loss and the shock. Desperately, she tried shaking it away.
Now was not the time.
“I just….” Julian huffed as he pulled himself through the tunnel. “What do you think would happen when you heard Logan and Celeste were lifemates? You clearly thought dad would survive the war against Celeste.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Hayden snapped.
“Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to talk about.” Julian hit a narrow patch up ahead and struggled to angle his shoulders to fit. “Dad isn’t innocent in all this, you know. Both Logan and Xavier Slayter had a hand in creating the puppets.”
“Logan and Xavier created a disease that would transfer through a bite,” she countered. “They wanted to instantly kill the newborns who were Sired by rogues.”
“And Celeste took that and warped it to fit her own purposes. Xavier and Logan still created the base for the injections—”
“Troy Arnold.”
“Whatever. Whoever.” Julian paused in his attempts of fitting through the narrow earth. “Dad is not innocent.”
“I know that!” Hayden tried to smother her rising fury. “You act like I consider him a god. I don’t. I saw all the bodies he discarded like trash, I heard of the experiments he was involved with, and I lived through the charade he put my mother through.”<
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He was silent for a long moment. “Then why are we doing this?”
“Because he’s still our father. He can still atone for the mistakes he’s made.”
Julian finally squeezed through the narrow dugout. “Assuming he’s willing to help, I will work with you to figure out a way to stop Celeste and keep her alive simultaneously.”
It sounded as if it were a large burden to him.
Hayden was immediately suspicious.
“She’s your mother.” Her fingers scraped the earth as she pulled her body forward. The air in the tunnel was stale and constricting, making it hard to breathe. “You shouldn’t make it sound as if sparing her life is an unbearable thing to consider.”
“That’s because I promised someone else I would find a way to destroy her.”
Hayden paused. “Who?”
“Sophia.”
“Sophia?” she exclaimed, her mind racing. “Celeste’s beta?”
Sophia was the ambidextrous warrior Hayden hadn’t thought of for quite some time. She remembered the dark-haired, dark-eyed female who’d climbed the ranks of Celeste’s all-female pack to claim the position as beta.
More importantly, she remembered Sophia passionately telling Hayden to ‘stay out of it’, that she’d handle Celeste, and she’d gladly kill Hayden if she got in the way.
It hadn’t made any sense to Hayden at the time, but now the pieces fell into place.
“She’s your reason for allying yourself with the traditional wolves.” She frowned dubiously. “You promised her you would find a way to eliminate Celeste, but you also promised me you’d work with me to spare her. How does that work?”
“It’s contingent upon Logan’s decisions,” Julian informed stiffly. “I think we can come up with a plan that would make all parties satisfied.” He stopped suddenly. “We’re close. I can see the door.”
Quieting, Hayden moved along the tunnel, though it was more like a mole hole than a passageway. It allowed females a quick escape and prevented males from following.
Clearly, Elizabeth and Celeste had proper safeguards.
She focused on the path ahead, noticing the tunnel widening and the ceiling rising. Julian scrambled to his feet, his joints cracking as he stood tall. Across from him, an old, cellar-like door remained closed.
Being this close to her father made her anticipation heighten.
She was nervous, afraid, excited… leery. She did not know the real Logan Crow. So many things hinged on what he’d be like when he was away from Celeste’s clutches. Would he help them? Would he apologize? Alternatively, would he run and try to make a life for himself, away from the war, away from his family?
Pulling herself up, she stood next to Julian, looking at him imploringly.
“Open it,” she urged, refusing to do it herself.
If this were a trap made up by Julian, she’d rather have him enter first.
He gave her a frustrated look before opening the door. The hinges whined, but otherwise, it gave no resistance.
Julian peeked around the corner, drawing his sword deliberately.
For a long moment, he stared inside the room before turning to look at Hayden. He didn’t need to say anything. His expression was that of revulsion. Silently, he shook his head and opened the door wider, revealing white.
Sterile, bright white.
Blinking past the sudden onslaught of bright light, Hayden squinted inside the room. Polished, white tile floors stretched across the entirety of the basement. Though, Hayden hesitated to call it a basement simply because it looked as if she’d walked into a clinic.
The concrete block walls were painted white and the halogen lights were blinding.
Only one room stood separate from the rest of the basement with three, glass walls encompassing it. There, inside the glass room, was a body occupying a medical bed. Machines connected to the prone figure, feeding him liquids and other medicines Hayden could not distinguish.
As the door opened wider, she smelt the unmistakable scent of silver.
Her wolf reared and she moaned, stepping away.
Throwing her arm up, she covered her mouth and nose. “It’s nauseating,” she declared. “She’s poisoning him.”
The figure on the bed finally compelled her to look. She stared at the man, recognizing him, but still considering him a stranger. His blond locks were trimmed and slicked back, properly groomed and cleaned.
His face was gaunt, yet the handsome features remained smooth and ageless.
It was as if he were asleep.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Hayden declared, staring at him.
After all this time, after hunting his ghosts—his past demons— he lay there peacefully. Not a care in the world around him, a world he’d shrouded in complete and utter chaos.
No. His face may be familiar, but he was unrecognizable.
“You can’t turn back after being irritatingly persistent about it.” Julian continued gripping his sword, looking past Logan and around the room. “No one is down here. I imagine they’re all upstairs or outside where the others are.”
“There can’t be that many.”
“No…” Trailing off, Julian stepped into the room, his muddy boots immediately marked the polished floors. “No one knew about this place except for Elizabeth, Celeste, and myself. Elizabeth wouldn’t expect a betrayal.”
“Your mother might have.”
He did not confirm or rebuke her comment.
They both entered the sterile room, shutting the door behind them. The old cellar door was white-paneled on the opposite side, blending with the basement walls and making it an inconspicuous passageway.
Julian opened the door to Logan’s glass room, effectively releasing a heavy cloud of noxious silver. Bypassing the toxic aroma, he walked to their father’s bedside, staring at the array of tubes.
“What do we do?” He turned and looked imploringly at Hayden. “I have no idea.”
She wondered if he was aware of asking and answering his own question.
Hayden adjusted her sword, at a complete loss.
Unexpectedly, she found her spine stiffening with unease. Cocking her head to the side, she listened to her surroundings, hearing nothing but the rising and falling of her father’s chest and the rhythmic beeping of his machines.
They were alone in the basement, yet the disquiet was unmistakably palpable.
It took her only a moment to put her finger on the sensation.
Nicolas.
Without hesitating, Hayden turned her heel and ran up the steps of the basement.
For a moment, she’d forgotten her surroundings in wake of seeing her father again. It was easy to forget the danger they were in when he slept so peacefully.
Now, nothing else mattered but Nicolas. She was a fool for being so distracted.
If anything happened to him…
The basement stairs were steep, though they hardly hindered her as she raced to the top. Forcing herself to stop at the landing, she listened to the other side of the door. Other than Julian coming up behind her, Hayden could hear nothing.
Slowly, but with purpose, she opened the door and looked around the corner.
A mundane kitchen and dining room stood across from her, utterly unassuming in their normalcy. However, just as the thought occurred to her, glass shattered loudly throughout the home, abruptly obliterating the sense of normalcy.
Hayden darted out of the basement and around the corner, stumbling into the living room. From the broken bay window, tiny glass shards sprinkled the carpet and furniture, appearing like a layer of glitter.
The same small shards of glass currently plagued and coated Nicolas’ clothes and hair. Clearly, the three puppets he was sparring against had thrown him through the window.
He’d recovered well enough, as he was now on his feet, but he didn’t stand a chance against three of Celeste’s mindless warriors.
Just outside, she could see the other werewolves fighting their
own enemies.
Nicolas appeared coolly capable. Despite his situation, his movements weren’t overly desperate, yet Hayden knew him well enough to know he needed help. Even against one puppet, an ordinary male werewolf struggled.
She lunged.
Her sword was an arc of flashing silver as it sliced open a puppet’s calves.
The puppet, who reached for Nicolas’ turned back, buckled, but managed to stay on his feet. His blind obedience—or perhaps muffled nerve endings—allowed him to ignore the pain and turn fully towards Hayden.
He was tall, sickly pale, and very scrawny, reminding her instantly of Fergus.
If it weren’t for Celeste’s altered venom, the man wouldn’t stand a chance against Hayden or any other seasoned warrior. Nevertheless, his strength was enormous and his reflexes fast. She had trouble maintaining her defenses against his opposition.
Ducking underneath a well-aimed fist, she angled her sword expertly and swiped it across the man’s stomach.
The blade cut through the thin material of his shirt and under to his vulnerable skin. Blood from the deep wound poured to the floor, but the young man kept moving. For a moment, Hayden’s attention wavered. She looked up into the dilated pupils and the blank expression. She couldn’t help but think of Cole.
What if she found herself gutting Cole like this?
What if he came after them with the single-minded intention of destruction?
In the woods, when she’d last seen him, she’d been fortunate that Evan had been present. If the blond-haired Carrier hadn’t been there, Hayden would have needed to defend herself against the very same man she vowed to save.
A hand caught her across the face, instantly paralyzing both her mind and body.
She fell into the wall, shaken from the brutal force. She couldn’t breathe. A hand curled around her throat and prevented her from receiving the necessary oxygen.
The puppet squeezed and Hayden gagged.
Over his shoulder, another one of Celeste’s specimen backed Nicolas into the corner, delivering a sharp blow to his ribs. Julian didn’t fare much better. He danced more than he struck, forced to act on the defensive.
She whined as something in her neck cracked from his harsh treatment.
Shakily, weakly, her arms rose and she pressed her sword into the back of the puppet’s neck. She started sawing into him, her eyes watering crazily from both desperation and anguish.