by Mandy Rosko
Katie got a few slaps on the back from the betas as she walked through the halls, collecting the weapons that either needed cleaning, reloading, or just put away now that the immediate threat was taken care of.
“You sure you’re not a beta?” Flynn asked.
Katie smiled at him. “Maybe I am and I’m just putting you into a false sense of security.”
He laughed at that and shook his head. “Well, anyway, I don’t have any weapons for you.” He wiggled his fingers. “I like my claws.”
She shrugged. “To each their own.”
“Did Jax come out of the basement yet?”
Ah, so now they were to the crux of what Flynn really wanted.
“Not that I know of. He was pretty mad earlier.”
She didn’t mention that Jax’s hurt and anger was mainly directed at her. She didn’t need to because Flynn took it to mean Jax was angry at the man they’d captured.
“Don’t blame him for wanting to take a piece out of the guy. I couldn’t even get downstairs to see him. Dylan was being a dick.”
A twinge of pity fluttered in her chest. “Would you have left the guy with any teeth if they did let you downstairs?”
Flynn had a not so secret crush on Anna. With her gone, and Garret rushing off to save her, not to mention the following attack that had left everyone tense, Flynn seemed to be radiating with that tension.
Still, he smiled wryly at her question. “He would’ve had enough to talk with.”
Somehow, Katie doubted that. She jumped a little when a door upstairs slammed open. Feet pounded dully on the carpet upstairs before coming down.
Miranda. Garret’s new mate was rushing through the halls. Lois was hot on her heels. They both ran to the front doors. A few of the betas followed after them, as if they were in on what Miranda and Lois knew.
That could only mean one thing.
The alphas had returned.
Katie put the unloaded rifles carefully down on one of the side table. Not the safest place for them, and she usually wouldn’t leave them out in the open like that, but she needed to see for herself that they were back.
Flynn went with her to the front doors.
Enough hours had passed that morning light was highlighting the horizon in the distance, breaking the night sky, but the lights were still glowing over the bloody lawn as Miranda and Lois threw themselves into the arms of their mates.
Lois curled her legs easily around Dane’s waist when she kissed him, but Miranda stayed planted on her feet while she held onto her lover. Garret’s face was more closed off, his expression reserved even as he smiled down at Miranda.
Guess that meant he hadn’t found Anna.
Katie’s heart sank. “Maybe you should’ve knocked a couple of his teeth out.”
Flynn blinked. “Who? The prisoner? Yeah, I know that. The stupid prick would deserve it.”
He didn’t just deserve it, but it might be necessary to helping find Anna at this point if Garret couldn’t sniff her out, or leave the pack long enough to even put up a proper search.
Garret stared into Miranda’s eyes while she told him of the goings on of the pack. She trembled as she spoke to him, though she was clearly trying to hold it back, if the angry expression on her face was anything to go by.
Lois seemed equally stunned as she held onto Dane, on her feet now at least. They both looked so tiny standing in front of the alphas, even Miranda, who was now a shifter, was small compared to Garret.
They weren’t made for this sort of life. Miranda wasn’t human anymore, and she was mated to the alpha, but she was going to have to get used to this real quick if she was going to survive pack life.
Lois should probably run far from here, mated to Dane or not. She was a human. She didn’t have to be here if she didn’t want to be. She didn’t have to put herself in danger by being here, so she especially had no reason to look so afraid. They hadn’t even been doing any of the fighting.
Garret’s eyes suddenly snapped up, looking right in Katie’s direction. His red eyes bore through her, and Katie tensed.
Had he sensed the direction of her thoughts? She wasn’t going to apologize for them, that was for damned sure. Still, she had to admit she was a little nervous when Garret approached her. She straightened her spine and waited for him to speak.
“Is Jax all right?”
Oh, right. Katie exhaled a hard breath. Of course he would be curious, and worried, for one of his best friends.
“He’s mostly recovered by now.”
“He is?” Garret lifted a brow at her.
Katie refused to look away from those inquiring eyes. It was none of his business how she’d managed to speed up Jax’s recovery. “He is. He’s downstairs with the prisoner right now.”
“Any sign of Anna?” Flynn asked.
Garret looked at the beta. There wasn’t much pity in those blue eyes, but that was likely because he didn’t have much to spare for anyone after not being able to find his sister.
“We’re still looking. I want to speak with this prisoner.”
Katie thought as much, especially when Garret’s eyes turned red.
Hopefully, Jax left enough of the man in one piece to do some talking.
Chapter 6
Getting close to Dennis like that had been difficult, and strange. Anna’s stomach had gone all fluttery, probably because of the fear. She was still trapped in what looked like an old meat locker, but she’d done it.
She used to pick Garret’s pockets like this. She’d say some smart-mouthed thing that made him get close, give her the stare down for having a potty mouth or whatever, and meanwhile, she’d use the closeness to pick his pocket and snag a couple of twenties out of his wallet so she could sneak away and go shopping.
Because he’d been the one to get close, her scent on him hadn’t tipped him off to what she’d done until it was too late.
He’d fallen for that trick several times when she’d been a bratty tween, and it seemed like Dennis was the same type, because he fell for it, too.
Which was why she had his keys.
It was terrifying holding them. She’d unlocked the shackle around her ankle, which felt amazing to finally have the silver off her skin, but she couldn’t get out of the meat locker.
Well, she could, but not yet. There were too many people awake and arguing, and even a couple of fights when Dennis’ pack came back. He did a lot of yelling, and it sounded like several heavy things crashed into the walls a couple of times.
She had to wait. Wait and hope that he wouldn’t notice his keys were missing and come storming back in here.
It didn’t happen. He didn’t come storming back into the room she was locked up in, and no one else came in either.
God, she had to pee. That bastard could have at least let her go to the bathroom before he stormed out.
Still, the risk of peeing the only pair of jeans she had on her in this place was almost worth it when she got to listen to Dennis yell at his evil minions. Some were dead, and others were missing, and that seemed to make him lose his mind.
Good. She doubted he would make them cry or anything, but she was petty, and a prisoner, so Anna was definitely going to take pleasure in listening to that. Let Dennis be in pain. She hoped he had friends that died, too.
Something sank within her chest at the thought.
No, she didn’t hope for that. That was a cruel thing to hope for, and listening to Dennis rage and scream at his men was enough for her to take it back.
The people who were missing were obviously people he cared about.
Then it sounded as though a fight might have broken out. Anna tensed. She strained her ears, but couldn’t make sense of the words that were yelled at each other. There was too much of a commotion, too many growls and voices overlapping each other.
One thing for sure was that Dennis was losing his damned mind out there.
Shit. What if they decided to come in here? They had to be fighting over her, r
ight? Dennis had left, because he was an asshole, then they had harassed her and left, and now Dennis was giving them hell for it.
This wasn’t a real pack. These were rogue wolves. Anna knew how that worked. Rogue shifters were kicked out of their packs because they had broken pack laws, or they had chosen to willingly leave their packs because they didn’t like living like decent people.
That was why rogues were dangerous. Because they started fights. They harassed and intimidated the omegas, or they were just violent pricks.
Which was why Anna wasn’t shocked they were fighting, but she was worried they might come in here to take their bullshit aggression out on her.
They didn’t. Anna didn’t relax until long after the fighting died down. She didn’t relax until the voices stopped completely.
It was quiet, but the rogues were still in the building. She could hear their breathing. They were probably sleeping. She thought she heard enough snoring through the walls.
An hour or so after the intense snoring came, Anna unlocked her chains.
She was careful when she let them fall to the floor, not wanting them to make too much noise. The loud clinking of the chains was bad enough.
All the same, it was a relief to be able to pull her hands away from the silver. She sighed when she didn’t have it on her skin anymore. God, that had felt so bad. Anna backed away from the chain, putting as much distance between herself and the silver as possible. She shivered, rubbing the feeling off her skin.
Fuck, she was going to be feeling that for a long while. When she got home, she was going to climb into bed and read some of her favorite mangas with chocolate, chips, and soda, get fat and never be seen by anyone ever again because she wasn’t going to leave the house.
Not after this.
Anna still had to get out of here. She went to the door, her hand finding the cold metal of the handle. She hesitated before trying to open it, terrified that someone might be out there, and sweating at the possibility that it was locked.
It had to be locked. She wasn’t that lucky. There was no way Dennis would have forgotten to lock the door, right?
She tried the handle. The door opened. It actually opened.
With a heavy metallic shriek, sure, but it still opened.
And right in front of the door, Dennis was sitting in a lawn chair, half turned, and eyes wide, as though shocked by the sudden noise behind him.
They stared at each other for a few tense seconds. Anna swore everything happened in slow motion when she finally worked up the will to act, pushing her hands into his shoulder and face, knocking him over.
He yelled. She ran.
She heard the commotion behind her, the hard growling sounds and scratches against the floor right before something big and heavy slammed into her lower back and Anna was tackled to the floor.
She screamed as Dennis tried to yank her hands behind her back. She thrashed and managed to flip herself around, letting her claws out. She slashed furiously, blindly, catching him down his face.
The cuts she left started to bleed immediately. His face twisted, angry, bloody, and he looked so much scarier than Anna would have thought.
“What the hell? How the fuck did she get out?”
Anna blinked, and in a heartbeat, there were many men surrounding her and Dennis. Laurence’s dark, greasy hair was all over the place from sleep, and when he looked at Dennis’ face, his dark eyes turned blood red. “You little bitch.”
He stepped toward her and reached down. Dennis shoved at his chest hard enough that he fell on his ass. “Back the fuck off!”
Laurence blinked, his eyes wide for a brief second before he snarled at Dennis, too.
“Don’t you fucking touch her! None of you will touch her!”
Anna didn’t understand, but she was going to take Dennis, looming and scary as he was, over a mob of angry rogue males any day.
The thing that shocked her, and frightened her all the more, was the way the rest of the pack seemed to group around Laurence. Someone reached down, offering the man his hand. Laurence ignored it, pushing himself to his feet on his own. He wouldn’t stop glaring at Dennis, however.
Dennis growled back at him, a deep animal noise that made Anna tense.
Was he going to shift on top of her? Was he going to start a fight with his own pack?
If they were even his pack anymore. It looked like the rogues were choosing a brand new leader.
Still, they backed off. Laurence walked away, an aura of rage stirring around him. Most of the other rogues followed after him, but not all. A few stayed behind.
“Want us to help you get her back to the cell?”
“Do I look like I need help, you idiots?”
Dennis’ face was still dripping with blood. He looked like he needed his face washed, but he definitely didn’t need help.
Still, the rogues didn’t back off. They didn’t walk away like the others. Did Dennis realize they were here to watch over him as much as they were here to watch her?
If he did realize it, he ignored it as he took Anna by the hands and yanked her to her feet. He pulled hard enough that the sudden yank on her arms hurt, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to complain right about now.
Except for when he started to forcefully pull at her pockets.
“Hey!”
Dennis yanked out the key Anna had used to escape. He looked at it, then glared at her.
Anna glared back at him. Did he really think she wouldn’t have at least made an attempt to escape?
Dennis pocketed his key, then grabbed her by the forearm. “Come on. We’re going back, and will you idiots back off? I don’t need you hovering!”
The other rogues glared at him, but they did as they were told.
After some hesitation.
He was definitely losing control.
Dennis pulled her back to her cell in that horrible room, but Anna pulled against him just enough to get his attention. “I still have to use the bathroom.”
Dennis stopped and looked at her incredulously.
Anna puffed out her chest. “You’re lucky I didn’t pee on you when you tackled me! I have to go!” Her bladder was seriously about to explode.
Dennis looked up at the rogues. They’d backed off a bit, and were keeping their distance, but were still watching them.
“All right, come with me.”
His voice was surprisingly soft as he led her in the other direction. Anna stopped when he seemed as if he was about to follow her inside.
Dennis glared at her. “Don’t get any weird ideas. I need to wash all this blood off my face, and there are stalls anyway.”
“Oh, all right.” Anna still wasn’t thrilled about the idea of him following her in there, but oddly, it seemed more because she didn’t want him to hear any of the noises that came with doing her business. Not because she thought he was going to attack her.
At least when they did get into the bathroom, Dennis was able to chase out the two men who were smoking their joints inside it, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone else.
Dennis sighed as he bent over the sink, turning the water on. The mirror in front of him was heavily cracked, making his reflection appear that much more grotesque.
Anna winced in sympathy when Dennis did as he touched the water to his face.
She pushed away the feeling. Whatever. It was his own damned fault, and she was a prisoner here. Of course she was going to fight back and try to get away. That was just the way things worked. She didn’t have anything to feel guilty over.
Anna stepped into the stall, locking the door, knowing it wouldn’t do anything to keep him out if he really wanted to get in. Still, if he was going to offer her any sort of protection at all, maybe she should stay on his good side.
He was mean and she hated him for kidnapping her, but if he was going to keep the rest of the rogues away from her while he still had control of them, she would behave herself.
All the same, what the hell was
she supposed to do if he lost all control while she was still here? What would happen to her then?
Chapter 7
Katie woke up the next morning feeling something was different. It wasn’t just the fact that she’d only managed to get three and a half hours of sleep, or that Garret had come back empty-handed last night either.
She was different. That thing that had been sleeping inside her for so many years was finally awake. It was awake and roaring at her.
This was different from the wolf inside her. The wolf was docile. It never did this.
But somehow…
Katie got up. She was buzzing with energy. She went to the bathroom, splashed cold water over her face. Then did it again and again before deciding ultimately how she needed a cold shower.
She still felt Jax’s mouth on her lips. Not just that, but the touch of his hands on her body, as though they were still there, ghosting over her flesh, making pleasurable goosebumps rise up.
Katie was overheating, the shower helping, but she still needed to run. She itched to do it. Her legs twitched and she could already feel the air flying through her fur.
This wasn’t going to go well.
Katie’s heart slammed as she pushed the shower curtain open, growling. She nearly slipped as she exited the shower, but she didn’t care. She just went for the door.
Run. Run. A good run and this would be out of her system. She wouldn’t feel Jax’s touch on her anymore, heating her up. The problem was how the urge to run was followed by the need to run back to Jax, to make him give her more of what they’d had last night.
Yeah, that wasn’t likely to be an option, considering he was mad at her.
Heads turned and a few eyes widened when Katie stormed through the house, naked and dripping on the carpet. Even the people who were already naked looked twice at her.
Not because it was uncommon for a shifter to walk around the house with everything showing, but everyone knew Katie just didn’t do that.