Remi laughs louder than necessary at something the bald security guard says, and I roll my eyes when she tosses her hair over her shoulder. The man is so enthralled with my sister. I motion to my brothers and dad to make their way to the elevators off to the right. I hang back a couple seconds, and once they’re out of sight of the front desk, I follow them.
“I’m actually here to see William—he lives in the penthouse. Is he in?” I hear Remi ask him, her voice huskier than usual. I walk toward them. I’m about halfway there when the guard sees me over Remi’s shoulder.
“He just got back in actually—Hey!” the guard yells. “All visitors have to check-in at the desk!”
“I’m just visiting an old friend,” I calmly explain, even though I have a feeling it’s not going to work. “He knows I’m here.”
“Are you on the approved visitors' list?”
“He said he was going to add me to it.” I move closer to the desk. The short, slightly pudgy guard scans my large frame, and I notice he takes a step back as I near.
“What’s your name? I’ll see if you were added to the list,” he offers, shooting Remington a friendly smile before rifling through some paperwork.
“Oh, it’s—”
Remi moves so fast he doesn’t have time to react when she reaches out for him and grabs hold of the back of his head. She slams his face into the desk so hard I hear the glass chandelier above us rattle. The man slides off the surface and falls into a heap behind the desk. Blood pours from his broken nose and a gash on his forehead.
“He’s going to have a massive headache when he wakes up.” Remi purses her lips before she shrugs casually. “Help me drag him into the utility closet over there.”
I grab his security card and his keys off his belt before helping Remington push him into the closet with a mop bucket and a couple of brooms. I shake my head at Remi when she pats his chubby cheek and whispers, “Sleep well, dude.”
We break the door handle from the closet door, so he isn’t able to escape or phone for help. And if anyone were to find him in there, it’ll take a while to get the door open again.
We join the rest of our family in the elevator, and I swipe the security card to grant us access to the penthouse floor. No one speaks as we quickly pass each level. The only sound is the ding the elevator makes after each floor. We know nothing about William, so we have to be prepared for anything. Genevieve was a strong wolf, so we have to assume her older brother would also be.
The elevator doors open right into William’s Penthouse. Two of the four exterior walls are all windows, giving us a pristine view of downtown Vancouver. The interior design is masculine, with pops of navy-blue thrown in here and there.
“Damn!” Ransom lets out a low whistle, obviously impressed with the apartment. “How much do you think a place like this goes for?”
“You could never live somewhere like this!” Remi snickers. “It’s way too fancy for you. You’d litter it with beer cans and pizza boxes within a week.”
“A week is being generous,” Dad adds in. “I’ve seen what his room looks like.”
“I bet he breaks something before we leave,” Ranger scoffs.
“Are you guys done?” I snap at them, annoyed they aren’t focused on the task at hand. “Ransom, Ranger, take the upstairs.” I gesture to the metal spiral staircase across the room. “Dad and Remi, you guys go that way, and I’ll head down this hallway. Holler if you find him.”
I don’t wait for their replies. Instead, I turn away and move down the hall. I’m not sure what’s at the end of it, and I don’t know how many times I’ve accidentally walked into an ambush while hunting rogue wolves.
Usually, Sawyer is here to watch my back, but when we left, I wasn’t ready to have him join us. Somehow it hurts more that Sawyer went behind my back and helped Pru. Sawyer has been the one person I could really rely on for the past five years, and to have him betray me—I’m struggling to move past it.
When my ears suddenly pick up on the erratic heartbeat behind the last door, I wish I had him here as reinforcement. I pause outside the door and listen to whoever is on the other side. My wolf breathes in the air and picks up on the wolf scent that surrounds the nervous person who stands on the opposite side. I don’t hear or smell another person with them. I step back and ram my foot against the door with all my strength. The wood door splinters and flies open, slamming against the wall behind it before completely coming off its hinges.
A man with golden hair and bright green eyes that remind me of Pru’s stands in the middle of a room that looks like an office. He wears a nice dark-blue suit with a patterned tie hanging loosely around his neck. The smell of fear surrounds him.
Good.
“Are you William?”
“I—Who are you?” he stutters. “What do you want?”
“I want you to answer my fucking question. Are you William?” I growl at him while advancing farther into the room.
“Y–yes, I’m William. What do you want?” he repeats.
I grab the back of the rolling office chair and swing it around. “Take a seat, William. I have a couple questions.”
“Please don’t hurt me. I’ll give you whatever you want,” he begs as his skinny legs shake, and he drops into the chair. Watching how he cowers and trembles makes me question if he’s truly related to Genevieve and Pru. It’s almost pathetic how much stronger and braver they are than him.
“Good, because I’m not leaving here until I have the information I need.” I hear footsteps running down the hallway, and soon, my dad and brothers appear at the damaged doorway. “Found him.”
“He looks like Genevieve,” my dad comments when he looks William over.
“Genevieve? What does my sister have to do with this?” William demands. “I haven’t seen her since she was twenty—she ran off with some man. That was almost twenty-four years ago.”
“She died fourteen years ago when your employer hunted her down and slaughtered her.” I perch myself on the edge of the desk and glare down at him. William may say he doesn’t know anything about Genevieve and her death, but when I tell him she’s dead, there’s no surprise or remorse on his face. He just looks blankly back at me. “And now that same employer of yours has my mate, and you’re going to tell me where Nicolai is holding her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” William pales and shakes his head. “Yes, I work for Nicolai, but I don’t work directly with him. I haven’t seen him in months.”
“I don’t believe you,” I snarl at him. “Everything about you right now tells me you’re lying. Your pulse is fast, you refuse to make eye contact—you’re a horrible liar, frankly. So let me ask you again, where would Nicolai be keeping her?”
“I don’t know! I swear!” His voice shakes when he speaks. “I just do finance work for Mr. Volkov. I’m not involved with that side of the company.”
“That side of the company?” Dad steps forward and crosses his arms. “What exactly is Nicolai’s company?”
“It’s a medical supply company,” William explains. “I swear it’s a legit company.”
“You make sure it looks like a legit company,” Remi comments as she walks in with a tablet in her hand. “You should really password protect your tablet, anyone could pick it up and look through it.” Remi pauses and cocks her head to the side. “What is the breeding program?”
All the color drains from William’s face, and his eyes widen, but he doesn’t answer her.
I’m about to reach for his jugular and squeeze the answer out of him, but my father beats me too it. The alpha’s power that flows through my father’s body begins to radiate into the room. My siblings, being more submissive than I am, all take an instinctive step back, but I stand my ground.
“She asked you a question—what is the breeding program?” My dad bites out between clenched teeth.
“It’s a program to further our species’ advancement,” William coughs out. “We’re trying to strengt
hen the wolf shifter species.”
“What does that mean?” I question.
“It means we were tired of waiting for some prophecy about a white wolf to come true, so we took science into our own hands, and now we’ve created the first-ever crossbreeds. We weed out the genes that make each species weak and implant the strong genes into one embryo. You should see what we’ve created—they’re magnificent. They’re stronger than you’ll ever be, and every day we’re learning ways to make them stronger still.”
Some people believe the White Wolf Prophecy is pure fiction and believe it to be a fairytale more than anything. And then there are people like my mother who believe it will one day come true. I’m one of the people who have trouble believing it is real. While I think it would be great if the prophecy were true, and it could break the vicious cycle of our low fertility rates and slow down the creation of rogue wolves, I’m not holding my breath.
“That doesn’t explain why Nicolai wants Pru,” Remi growls at him.
“We need strong mothers to make strong offspring.” William shrugs like it’s obvious. And now, looking back, it all makes sense to me. Nicolai has been working on this program since he set his sight on Genevieve.
“You volunteered your own sister for his little experiments?” I accuse him. I shoot to my feet and get right down in his face. “And when he couldn’t have her, he decided he wanted my mate.”
“The stupid little bitch deserved everything she got. Genevieve never should have run away with Archer like she did. She knew the risks when she chose him over Nicolai. Unfortunately, it’s my darling niece that has to pay her debt now.” The fear that had been masking William’s face disappears, and a cold look takes its place. “But she’s useless to Nicolai as long as she can’t shift. He’s growing more impatient. None of the torture he’s inflicted has worked thus far. He’ll grow bored of waiting and just… dispose of her soon.”
“Where is she?” I roar as I replace my father’s hand on William’s neck with my own. When I extend my claws and dig them deep into his jugular, blood begins to trickle down his throat and my fingers.
William smirks and laughs, his eyes full of amusement as he stares up at me. “Why would I ever tell you?”
“Because if you don’t, I’m going to rip your arm off and feed it to you,” I threaten. I feel my fangs lengthen, and my eyes shift into their wolf form. I’m losing control of my beast; if this asshole doesn’t give me the information I want in the next few seconds, I’m going to shift in the middle of his penthouse, and then he’ll really be fucked because my wolf’s bloodlust is out of control right now. I’m barely holding him back.
“Do it.” He bares his teeth. “Nicolai is still going to fuck your mate—mentally and physically.”
“Fuck this!” Ransom barks from behind me. “Finish him, Ryker! Or at least let me!”
I dig my claws a little deeper and am about to deliver the lethal blow when Remi yells, “Wait!”
“What is it?” Dad asks.
“I have an address,” she breathes. “Well, there are two. But one of them has to be the right one.” She marches forward and thrusts the tablet into William’s face. “Which one is Pru at? Which one is Nicolai holding her in?”
William stares at the screen before his gaze slowly slides away, but then he looks back at me defiantly before finally answering. “She’s at the facility off Frontage Road. It’s two hours away from here.” His smirk returns when he looks back at the screen. “You’ll never be able to get to her. You’ll be killed the second you walk up to the building.”
“I’m willing to risk it.” I let go of his neck and kick the rolling chair with my foot as hard as I can. William flies across the hardwood before crashing against the large window.
“We’ll have the element of surprise, there’s no way Volkov knows we’re here,” Ranger says.
“No, he’ll know we’re here.” I shake my head.
“How?”
“William here is going to call and tell him we’re on our way.” I sneer down at the man. “All of us are going.”
40
Pruitt
Jax upped the hellfire dosage this time. My body is weak, and I’m barely able to keep myself upright as I shift positions on the bathroom floor. After an hour of uncontrollably screaming and thrashing, nausea had kicked in, and I was unchained from the table and allowed in the bathroom. I’ve been hugging the toilet and hurling from the pain for a while now. My hair sticks to my sweaty forehead, and I feel beads of sweat drip down my back. I haven’t showered, and I feel disgusting. And now, after throwing up multiple times, I would kill for a toothbrush.
Unable to keep myself upright any longer, I lay down on the cool floor of the bathroom. I don’t even care at this point—I’m already filthy. I groan in pain when I rest my cheek against the tile. My fangs had made an appearance this time around, and I had accidentally bitten my cheek when I was convulsing in pain.
“You look horrible,” Jax comments from the doorway of the bathroom. “I’m sorry I had to do that again.”
“We all do things we regret,” I mumble back. I feel weak, and keeping my eyes open is difficult. Breathing at this point is difficult. I’m so exhausted. On top of not showering, I also haven’t slept since my arrival here. I’m sure my lack of sleep is factoring into my weakness
“If doing this brings me closer to Sterling, then it will be all worth it.”
“Oh, okay, then.” I roll my eyes and immediately regret it when it causes excruciating pain to radiate from my sockets. “Whatever makes you sleep well at night, Jax.”
“You said you were willing to help,” Jax reminds me.
“Yeah, asshole, I meant I would try to find out more about Sterling from Nicolai,” I grunt. “Not that I was cool with the extra-strong dose of hellfire.”
“Volkov would have known if I hadn’t.” Jax slides down the doorjamb and joins me on the bathroom floor. “Your fangs and claws came out this time.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s happened before.” I remember the first time they showed up after Esme’s ritual. That was the same night I gained the ability to talk to Ryker through the pack link. “Looks like your torture tricks don’t work on me.”
God, I miss hearing his voice in my head.
“I don’t know how much more hellfire I can infuse into your body before it kills you. I’ve already done twice as much as I usually do. Your wolf must really be bound.”
“No shit.” Feeling a little bit better, I push myself off the floor and transition into a sitting position. “A high priestess cast the spell that bound my wolf and wiped my memory. Apparently, she’s the strongest witch on this side of the country or something.”
“If she’s that strong, you’d think she’d be able to reverse the spell.”
“Yeah, one would think.”
We sit in silence for a while. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. Of course, mine wander to Ryker and how I left him behind. I wish I knew what he was doing right now—if he’s okay. I want to laugh at that. How could he possibly be okay? I’m sure as hell not okay.
“One of the last things I told him was I was going to be okay,” I say aloud before I can stop myself. Jax shoots me a confused look, and I sigh. “Before I left Ryker, I promised him I would be okay, but the hellfire isn’t working, and Nicolai isn’t going to be patient much longer. I’m starting to think I’m not going end up being okay.”
“I don’t know what else to do to get your wolf out. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever used hellfire on—the amount I used on you tonight probably would have killed anyone else. But not you. It’s almost like your strength and power are working against you.”
“Of course, they are.” I lean my head back on the wall behind me. “Nothing about my life has ever been easy—so why should this be?”
Jax is quiet for a minute before finally speaking up. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, why not?” I shrug. “Not like I’m in a
position that I can tell you no.”
“Why haven’t you cried since you’ve been here?” he asks. “Every other person who is trapped here usually cries for days before finally giving up, but you haven’t.”
“I told you before I’m exactly where I need to be. As long as I’m here, the people and the man I love are safe.” I pause for a second while I really think about his question. “Both of my parents where alphas of a pack, and now I’m technically the alpha of the same pack. My parents sacrificed themselves for their pack, and now I’m doing the same thing. I never had anyone but my aunt, and now I have an entire pack of people depending on me to protect them…” I trail off.
“I’ve always been on my own—my mom died when I was young.” I notice he swallows hard when he pauses like he’s fighting back emotion. “I don’t know what it’s like to have someone other than myself to depend on or care about. Then again, that might be the demon in me speaking—we are known for our lack of humanity and empathy.”
“You’re not just demon, Jax,” I sigh. “That’s a small part of what you are, but it’s not who you are. You’re your mother’s son—and from what I’ve seen, I believe you are a lot more like her than you think.”
“I don’t remember much about her, but I remember at night she would sing me to sleep. She had such a beautiful voice…” Jax looks away, trying to hide the pain in his eyes, but it’s pointless since I hear it in his voice, although I don’t tell him that. He’s had to be strong all his life. I’m sure showing weakness is not easy for him.
He takes a minute before looking back at me, his violet eyes clear of any signs of distress. I’m actually amazed at his ability to hide it. “I bet you’re famished,” he says. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Seriously?” I sit up straighter and look at him, confused.
“I mean, I probably can’t score you a steak dinner, but I can bring you back a little something.” Jax pulls himself to his feet and offers me a hand. I reach up, and he helps me rise. My bones and muscles groan in protest, and I sway on my feet for a second before I finally find my balance again.
Wolf Bound (The White Wolf Prophecy Book 1) Page 27