Slowly, Anabel nodded. “I thought so. I know a short cut. It will help us get away from the crowd and the wounded.” She pushed herself forward, clearly hurting. “Follow me.”
Suddenly, misgivings gave Lilly pause. “Anabel, you’re hurt. Let’s go talk to the medics first. Then we’ll go and find the McGraw family.”
“I’m fine.” With a jerk of her chin, Anabel squared her shoulders. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. I’m strong. I can handle this.”
That said, she staggered off, not even looking back to see if Lilly followed.
Debating for the space of two heartbeats, Lilly hurried after the other woman. She caught up with her as Anabel grasped the door handle of what was clearly a back door leading into one of the shops. “There you are,” Anabel huffed, brushing an ash-coated strand of her jet-black hair out of her face. “Help me get this door opened.”
“Why?” Lilly hesitated. “It’s probably locked. And if it’s not, it seems a lot like breaking and entering to me.”
Anabel shook her head. “Whatever. A friend of mine owns this shop and the next four, which are being used as a warehouse now. If we cut through it, we’ll come up on the other side of where the bomb went off.”
This raised another set of questions. Chief among them, Lilly wanted to know if it was safe. Logic dictated any structures near the point of detonation would be shaky, at best.
She started to tell Anabel this, but the other woman continued to pull on the door handle. Finally, with a grunt, she managed to yank the door open. “Are you coming?” Without waiting for an answer after casting a backward glance at Lilly, she disappeared inside.
Lilly debated for half a second. She wanted to check on the wounded. If Anabel truly knew a shortcut, then she was wasting time by waiting.
She took a deep breath, grabbed the door handle, and went after her.
Chapter 17
Following his brother into the smoke brought Kane back to a mission he’d once gone on overseas in a war zone. The smoke, the chaos and the smell of charred flesh was the same. Ditto the rubble still falling and the panic.
With an explosion that size, he knew people had been hurt and killed. He could only hope his family wasn’t among them.
Ahead, Kris disappeared into a crowd of first responders. Ignoring the stitch in his side where a piece of metal had struck, Kane hurried after.
When they reached the area where the shoe store had been, Kris stopped and stared, causing Kane to nearly run into him. A huge hole had been blown in the front of the building. An emergency triage area had been hastily erected in the street, and here the people with the worst injuries were treated and made as stable as possible before transport to the hospital.
“Come on.” Kane grabbed his brother’s arm. “Let’s check over here first.”
The scope and severity of the injuries boggled the mind. Missing limbs, gaping wounds, the kind of things one expected to see in a war zone. Not at the Labor Day parade in Leaning Tree, New York.
Moving quietly, Kane and Kris searched through the victims, both relieved and worried when they didn’t see anyone they recognized. “Where are they?” Kris muttered. “We’ve got to find them.”
Once outside again, Kane stood facing the shoe store. He tried to breathe deeply, to keep his hopes high. He tried to focus on what he did know—his family wasn’t in the triage area among the wounded—rather than what he didn’t.
“Over there!” Kyle shouted, lurching toward a crowd of stunned survivors being shepherded away by uniformed police officers. “I think I saw Mom and Dad.”
Kane rushed after him. When he caught sight of his father’s shiny bald head and mother’s long gray braid, the relief that blasted through him almost sent him to his knees.
The instant his mother saw him, she cried out and opened her plump arms. Her gardenia scent brought him comfort, even as he looked past her for the rest of his family.
Kris had already located Debi and his children. A little ways beyond him, Kane spotted Kyle and Sharon, huddled together with their brood. At first glance, everyone appeared uninjured.
The police continued to move the uninjured away from the blast zone. Kane went along with them, keeping one arm around his mother’s rounded shoulders and the other around his father’s waist. “Where’s Kathy?” he asked, realizing he hadn’t seen his sister.
“Kathy and Tom already left,” she said, still sounding a bit shaky. “Tom was frantic that the shock and stress might make her lose the baby, so he hustled Kathy away.” Her smile wavered a bit, but she continued. “He says he’s going to make sure she gets an evening of pampering.”
“Good. She needs that.” Kane dragged his hand across his chin. “You should consider having one of those yourself, Mom.”
“I just might,” she said, even though they both knew good and well she wouldn’t. “This was a close call.”
“What happened?” Kane asked. “How did you all escape without being hurt? It looked like the blast went off near you.”
“I can’t imagine how we were spared,” his mother said again. “It was a last-minute series of events actually. If little Anthony hadn’t chased after that puppy, and Kyle and Sharon hadn’t gone after him, and we all hadn’t rushed over when he was nearly run over by that bicyclist, we would have been standing right next to where the bomb was detonated.”
Kane didn’t even want to think of how things might have turned out if not for blind luck. Or fate. Either way, no McGraws had been injured. Once they were outside the temporary police barricades, they stopped moving. His mother smiled at him, and then turned and watched misty-eyed as his two brothers shepherded their individual families toward the area where they’d parked their cars.
Chest tight, Kane did the same. Glancing around him at the damage and destruction, the barely organized chaos of the first responders and the numerous wounded, he struggled to understand.
“Do you think it was terrorists?” his father asked, apparently thinking the same thoughts.
“I don’t know.” Kane shook his head, his mood grim. “But what else could it have been?”
“Good thing we’ve already got Protectors on-site,” the elder McGraw continued, wiping more soot off his bald head with his hand. “Though I imagine they’ll be sending more.”
“I’m sure they will. Pretty soon, this place will be crawling with FBI and ATF, not to mention the media.” He couldn’t help but think their planned attempt to capture the cultists was now doomed.
He hugged her again. “Now that I know the family is all safe, I’ve got to go check on Lilly.”
“Lilly?” Wide-eyed, his mom did a quick search of the crowd. “What happened? How’d you two get separated?”
“It’s okay.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I left her with Bronwyn. She’s fine.”
Exhaling, she fiddled with her braid. “Thank goodness. By all means, please go and find her. And then I want you to bring her to us, so we can all see that she’s all right with our own eyes.”
Kane hugged his mother again, and then his father. “I will.” Then he turned and reversed direction, slipping past the police barricade and heading toward the ambulance area where he’d last seen Bronwyn and Lilly.
* * *
The instant she stepped inside the building, Lilly had to stop and allow her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness.
“Anabel?” she called, coughing as she choked a little on the dust. “Anabel, where are you?”
“Almost to the door.” Anabel’s voice, faint and ghostly sounding, drifted back. “When I reach it, I’ll hold it open for you so you can see the way.”
“Thanks,” Lilly croaked, coughing again to clear her throat. While the interior was dark, the dim light coming from the front room was enough to guide her steps. “But I think I can find my way to you, if you’ll only wait.”
Anabel didn’t answer.
Lilly’s wolf chose that moment to raise a ruckus inside her,
snarling and whining. She paused. Her other self felt something was amiss, and barked a warning. For the first time Lilly wondered if she’d made a mistake following Anabel. Kane and Kathy both had said the other woman wasn’t right in the head.
“Lilly?” Anabel’s voice, perfectly sweet. “I’m waiting for you. Are you lost?”
Remembering the pain in Anabel’s eyes, Lilly took a deep breath but regretted it as she doubled over coughing.
“Lilly?” Anabel sounded concerned. “Are you all right? Do you want me to come back for you?”
“No.” Lilly wiped her mouth and made up her mind. She ignored her wolf instincts and moved forward.
As she rounded a corner, someone jumped her from behind, twisting her arms behind her. Remembering Kane’s lessons, she fought back. She kicked, high and swift, hard to the groin.
It worked. Whoever had grabbed her let go.
Not waiting around to see who or what had assaulted her, Lilly hurried toward Anabel. She couldn’t leave Anabel alone, especially with this danger. She didn’t know if the other woman knew how to fight, so Lilly might have to defend her. Plus two were always better than one.
As if her thoughts had brought double danger, two shapes materialized in the dusty light. Willing herself to calm down, Lilly dropped into a battle crouch, ready to deflect and defend until she could attack.
They both rushed her at once. At the same time as the one she’d just fended off, jumped her from behind.
Lilly screamed. Not for help. No, to warn the other woman. “Run Anabel, run. I’m being attacked. Run and get help.”
The man behind held her while the other two tied up her feet and then her hands. They shoved her, still standing, into the cement wall. “No sense trying to get help from that one. She’s been paid to bring you here to us.”
As if on cue, Anabel emerged from around the corner. Her mocking laugh seemed to echo in the empty room. “I know you’re being attacked, silly. I’m the one who arranged this.”
She came closer, letting Lilly see her wide, toothy smile. She held up a shopping bag as if it was a trophy. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen and lady. I’ll be taking off now.”
“Not so fast.” One of Lilly’s captors, reached for Anabel. “You’ll be staying with us. We can’t have you leaving.” And he snatched the shopping bag out of her hands just as the other two grabbed her.
That voice. Lilly’s heart thudded in her chest as her blood turned to ice. She recognized that voice. He was one of the doctors from Sanctuary, one of the ones who’d held her prisoner and tortured her.
Anabel let out a snarl, the sound full of fury. “Don’t you touch me,” she screamed. And just like that, she began changing into her wolf self.
The instant Lilly recognized the brilliance of this, she too dropped to the ground and began to shape-shift. Her clothing ripped as her bones lengthened. As soon as the change was complete, she crossed over to stand flank to flank with the other wolf. Though Anabel had betrayed her, in this they were kin. She’d deal with the other later, if, no, when they got out of this.
The three humans, and now Lilly recognized them as Sanctuary doctors all, glanced at each other and began to slowly advance.
Both Lilly and Anabel crouched low, giving nearly identical warning growls. One of the men had rope, the same one that had earlier been used to bind Lilly’s ankles.
The lone woman stood in between the two men, as if their larger size would protect her. Lilly exchanged a glance with Anabel, communicating silently that they should attack her first. In nature, the weakest always were the initial target.
Anabel rushed forward, powerful jaws snapping. The woman went down, screaming as Anabel tore at her flesh.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Lilly jumped the shorter of the two men, aiming her teeth for his crotch. She slashed, tearing at his clothing and ripping skin. He screamed, a high-pitched, terrible sound.
The third man raised his arm and metal glinted in the faint light. Lilly recognized his weapon, the same tranquilizer gun from Sanctuary that had been used on her too many times to count.
She twisted and went for his ankles. He shot her midstride, barely pausing as he pivoted and then shot Anabel, while the other two humans continued to scream.
As Lilly felt her consciousness ebbing, she struggled against it. She only hoped that the one who had the tranquilizers didn’t remember how she’d built a gradual tolerance to the dosage, even as she prayed that was still the case.
While mentally struggling against the sedative, she let her entire body go slack and closed her eyes. Best if they thought she’d gone unconscious, like the slack-jawed Anabel on the floor close by.
As she watched through her lashes, Anabel’s body shuddered and began to change back to human form. Lilly remembered how that had always happened to her as well, and that trying to stop this occurrence was one of the doctor’s many experiments on her.
She realized she’d need to shape-shift back into a human, too, or they’d know she was faking. Taking care to keep her breathing deep and even, she initiated her own change.
The hard cement floor hurt her human skin and joints. She hated her nakedness, wishing she had a way to cover herself, but knew she could not. She thought of Kane, wondered if he even knew she was missing.
“Now we’ve just got to load them up and get them out of here,” the female cultist, a Dr. Menger, if Lilly remembered right, spoke.
“You know, that’s why we set off that bomb,” one of the men said. “Creates a hell of a diversion. No one will even notice.”
Lilly tried to swallow past the sudden lump in her throat. They’d caused the explosion, callously injuring and even killing who knew how many people, simply to create a distraction?
Worse, they’d done it because of her.
She thought of Kane and his Protectors and their now useless plan. The doctors from Sanctuary had managed to outsmart them without even trying. They’d take her somewhere and finish the experiments they’d started.
Experiments. Suddenly she remembered what had happened to Kane when she sang. Was there some way she could use that to her advantage without getting herself raped?
Since they’d used the tranquilizer on her, her captives hadn’t bothered retying her bonds. She tried to picture the scenario, feeling that if she could get a clear vision as to how she might fight her way free, she’d have a better chance.
She knew she had to try. It was better than just going meekly to her fate, which would be a fate worse than hell.
Starting out low, she began singing the same song she’d made up that night with Kane. She’d never forgotten it, because every note had come from someplace deep inside of her.
As her voice soared, she pushed slowly to her feet, testing out her balance, the strength of her limbs. She was ready. More than ready.
Her two captors paused. The woman froze. They all stared at her as if she was a demon emerging from the bowels of the earth. Which, to them, she supposed she was.
Drawing strength from this, Lilly sang with all her heart. She had a mental image of the evasive moves she would take when the men tried to rut with her, and she knew she’d need to avoid the woman at all costs. Lilly had no idea what her voice would do to a female.
But instead of lust, pain contorted their features.
“Stop it,” Dr. Menger shouted, hands over her ears. “Stop it right now!”
Ignoring her, Lilly stared at the men. One of them had dropped to his knees. He, too, had his hands covering his ears and appeared to be shaking with pain.
The other man screamed.
Seeing her opportunity, still singing, Lilly ran. Back the way she’d come, knowing once she made it into the alley, she could find help.
To her surprise, she wasn’t followed.
Only when she’d pushed into the outside air, did she stop singing. Since she was naked, she grabbed a discarded black trash bag from the ground and used it to cover herself as best s
he could. Then, gasping, she rushed away, screaming for help, her cries mingling with those of the injured and panicked.
* * *
When Kane made it over to the area where he’d left Lilly, he spotted one of Sly’s men. Hurrying up to the other Protector, he asked about Bronwyn.
“She was wounded,” the man said, his expression grim. “They took her by ambulance to some hospital in Margaretville.”
Kane cursed. “What about Lilly? She was with Bronwyn.”
“I don’t know. Maybe she rode in the ambulance with her.”
Jaw clenched, Kane considered punching the guy, but knew it wasn’t his fault. “Find Sly,” he ordered. “Tell him the asset— No,” he corrected himself, “tell him Lilly’s gone missing. He needs to mobilize the team and help me find her.”
He hurried off without waiting for an answer. He knew Sly would do his best to help, but most of the Protectors had joined the other first responders in helping the wounded. He couldn’t, in all conscience, pull his men away when they were needed to help save lives.
He had to find Lilly.
Taking off at a slow jog, he circled the area where he’d last seen her. He considered her viewpoint, asked himself what would she do? Once she realized Bronwyn had been injured and needed help, he knew she’d get the other woman to the medics.
And then what?
She’d try to find him and Kris and the rest of his family. She’d have headed in the direction of the shoe store.
Turning, he jogged in that direction.
“Kane!”
That voice. Lilly. He spun around as she came barreling out of an alley, covered in soot and dirt and wearing a filthy black plastic trash bag.
He held her while she sobbed out her story. Sly came up with three of his team, and they followed Lilly to the back door of the deserted shop.
Weapons drawn, they entered. Kane made Lilly stay behind him. He planned to get her outside at the first sign of trouble.
But once they reached the room where Lilly had told him she’d sung, their footsteps were the only sound. At first, Kane feared they’d escaped, but once they rounded the corner he and the other Protectors stopped in shock.
The Wolf Siren Page 24