by Maddy Barone
Sky didn’t argue, but he figured it would be first come, first served, and he intended to get to Askup first. “Yes. Follow me.”
The unrest in the streets had built even more since he’d come this way earlier. Groups of men walked in irregular formations down streets, apparently intent on finding something or someone to fight. Mounted City Guardsmen patrolled, offering targets to the braver—or more fool-hardy—city men. The scent of smoke lay heavy in the air, testifying that buildings were burning downwind. Sky hoped desperately that he had left enough men behind with Taye to guard The Limit. Several people in the street recognized him and tried to catch his attention. He lifted his hand in greeting a few times, but didn’t stop except when he saw Dean Erikson, and then only long enough to inform the captain that Rye Thomas was on his way to his parents’ house. The captain nodded thanks, saying he would head over there as soon as he could.
The men of Omaha must have guessed Sky was on urgent business, or maybe the sight of five wolf warriors running with grim purpose dissuaded them from trying to stop him. He was glad. He wanted to give them all the support he could, but nothing was more important than finding Rose. Just thinking her name wrapped ropes of horror around his heart. She was in danger. He and his wolf were in complete agreement: they had to find her.
Terry’s house was on the same block as the mayor’s, but on the opposite side. Their backyards shared a fence. Even running full out, it took almost an hour to get there. If the streets had been empty and if they hadn’t had to detour around some fighting, it would have taken less.
Sky thrust his hands through his hair to straighten it, and took a moment to tighten his tie before ringing the bell at the gate.
Shadow gave him a shove. “Why are we ringing? Idiot, we can jump the fence.”
Yes, why was he ringing? But the guard came out then and, standing behind the bars of the gate, politely asked their business.
“Sky Wolfe and family to see Terry Askup,” he answered crisply.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Askup is out until tomorrow.”
“Hog wash,” Shadow roared. “Open the gate or I’ll twist your head off.”
The guard swung his rifle up, but Shadow grabbed two iron bars and pulled them wide enough for Sky to reach in and grab the weapon away. It was easy to do, since the guard was gaping, bug-eyed, at Shadow.
“Open the gate,” Shadow snarled. The guard visibly debated. “Open the gate or I’ll tear it down. Then I’ll rip your head off and stuff it up your ass.”
The guard opened the gate.
“Ask him if he’s seen a wagon,” Tracker suggested mildly, when they had gone through.
The guard didn’t hesitate. “One came in a little over an hour ago.”
Paint pushed forward, his face a mask of rage made even more frightening by the patch that hid his empty eye socket. “Did you see the women?”
“No.” The man seemed just as intimidated by Paint as by Shadow. “I only saw two men in the wagon. I didn’t check the back.”
“Fool,” said Sand. “How did you know enemies weren’t hiding in there?”
Tracker’s voice was cool. “Because he already knew what was back there. I reckon this isn’t the first time a wagon with a stolen woman has come through this gate.”
“Oh, God.” Something in their faces or posture terrified the man so much he lost control of his bladder. “Oh, please, I need this job.”
“We’re wasting time,” Sky snapped. “Come on, let’s find Rose and Katelyn.”
Shadow made quick work of tying the man up and tossing him into his little guardhouse by the gate. They all took off at a dead run for the house at the top of a slight rise. A wagon wouldn’t stop at the front door, so Sky led the way around back and was rewarded. Tracker stopped near the back door and sniffed.
“Here,” he said in his light, terse voice. “Katelyn’s scent is here.”
Paint quivered and froze like a setter when it sees a pheasant. They paused while Tracker followed the scent to the back door. They didn’t bother ringing this time. A blow from Shadow’s fist broke the door off its hinges. He lifted it and threw it into the yard.
Askup’s house had a floor plan similar to that of The Limit. The back door opened immediately to a mudroom, with a door to a basement on the opposite wall. Tracker ran to the door, opened it, and sniffed before shaking his head. He continued inhaling deeply, following a scent deeper into the house. They hadn’t gone very far when two men charged out of the kitchen, each armed with a knife.
The pitiful fools thought two knives would prevail against five wolf warriors searching for their stolen women? Tracker, who was in the lead, easily dodged a slash at his face and shot out a hand to fist in the taller man’s shirt. He slammed the man’s head into the edge of the door and grabbed the knife away. Shadow picked the other man up by the throat and shook him like a rat. Sand neatly caught the knife the moron dropped. Dazed and disarmed, the men slumped against the wall.
Shadow bent to put his face in front of the shorter one. “Where’s my brother’s mate?” he snarled.
The men exchanged glances. A fierce and bloody desire to kill them choked Sky, but he forced it back. “My wife,” he clarified. His wolf was so close to the surface, his voice almost didn’t form words.
“Where’s Askup?” Sand demanded.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Both of ’em carry the ladies’ scents.” Tracker flipped one of the confiscated knives over and over in his hand. “Reckon we can cut the answers out of ’em.”
Paint lost patience altogether and let his wolf out with a scream of rage. Sand followed suit. They tore into the men. A very slight smile lifted one corner of Tracker’s mouth. The two wolves, still wearing remnants of their jeans and T-shirts, might have appeared comical if they weren’t killing two cowardly woman stealers. The men tried to run, but there was no outrunning an enraged wolf, especially in the confined space of a house.
Tracker watched the execution coolly before remarking, “We don’t need them to find our women. Scent’s going that way.”
Sky leaped after him, and Shadow followed, calling to Sand and Paint to hurry up. The house was silent. Was Rose even here? What if Askup had taken her somewhere else? She had to be all right. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t.
Tracker wandered briefly in the living room, circling to find the scent, and then headed down the hall and through a parlor. Sky strained to catch whatever scent his older cousin followed. Shadow laid a large, heavy hand over his shoulder in a quick moment of brotherly understanding. The comfort of the touch made Sky realize what he had missed by staying in Omaha all this time. No more, he vowed. Once he had Rose safe, they would leave Omaha for the sanity and safety of the Clan.
But first he had to find her.
They passed through a sitting room, three men and two blood-coated wolves, all intent on finding Rose and Katelyn. Tracker led the way through a series of rooms. He paused at the staircase that led upstairs. A slight frown on his face showed his confusion. He went up a few steps, sniffing the air and the carpet on the steps, and then came back down.
“I don’t smell them on the stairs,” he said.
“Let’s try the basement then,” Shadow suggested. “It makes sense to take them downstairs. A visitor wouldn’t see them down there.”
Tracker nodded. “I didn’t smell them by the basement door, but let’s try it.”
They searched every inch of the basement and found nothing. It was a small basement, smaller than expected with such a large house. The rooms were empty, and Tracker found no trace of the women’s scent. Sky’s heart was so full of fear that he wanted to scream. It was all he could do to maintain the pretense of calmness as they went back up the stairs. Tracker’s face was grimmer than usual as he re-traced his steps, inhaling deeply all the way.
“I smell them most strongly here,” he said, standing in a spare bedroom near the back of the house. He looked aro
und. It was small, and plainly furnished with a child-sized bed under a yellow and blue quilt that swept the floor, a chest of drawers, and a rocking chair on a worn throw rug. Tracker dragged in a long breath. “Yeah, they were here, but they ain’t here now.”
Sky turned and punched his fist through the wall. The pain was nothing compared to his terror. “We haven’t checked the out buildings.”
Tracker raised a hand. There was an almost imperceptible stir in the air. With a move so abrupt only a wolf could follow it, Tracker bent and flung the quilt back. He reached under the bed and pulled out a blanket. He sniffed, and then lifted a stony face to Sky.
“Blood,” he said, holding it out to Sky. “Rose’s.”
Sky snatched it, seeing a tiny smear of brownish red. His wolf howled his fury. His mate had been injured. She needed him now, but they couldn’t find her. She needed him!
For the first time in six years, the wolf tore control away from Sky and forced the change. It was glorious, horrifying, and freeing all at once. Sky, shoved into the background of his wolf’s mind, was content to stay there, at least for now. It had been so long since Sky and his wolf had agreed on anything, that having both of them focused on the same goal was exhilarating. The wolf writhed and thrashed to release himself from Sky’s business suit. The man felt a momentary pang over the ruin of the expensive suit, but the wolf wanted only to be rid of the constricting clothing so he could more easily move to pursue his mate. Propelled by the wolf’s struggles, the rocking chair crashed against the wall. The rug slid in the other direction, leaving the bare hardwood floor exposed.
Tracker grunted, staring at the floor. “Trap door.”
The wolf thought he sounded urgent, but he didn’t understand the significance. Sky tried to make him see the edge of a section of floor that was different from the rest. It had been hidden by the rug. Paint’s and Sand’s wolves were prowling around the room, and Sky saw that Shadow had let his wolf out too. The four of them growled anxiously as Tracker, still human, lifted the section of floor.
Sky’s wolf poked his head forward to peer down the dark hole. There was a ladder. And he could clearly scent his mate.
Then he heard a sound that swelled his heart with hope and chilled his blood with fear: his mate screamed. Katelyn screamed too. Behind him, Shadow, Sand, and Paint howled. His wolf danced with frustration. He had to get to his mate! She was calling for him! But a wolf couldn’t climb down a ladder. He stuck his head even deeper into the hole, and the reek of fresh blood clogged his nostrils. Inside the wolf, Sky screamed, “Rose!” even as the wolf, caring only for getting to his mate, made the leap into the hole.
His landing was hard, made harder by his brother’s bigger wolf nearly crushing him. He scrambled away to make room for the others. Looking through the wolf’s frantic eyes, Sky tried to figure out where they were. A basement, yes, but not the same basement they’d searched a few minutes earlier. This was a long, unlit cement corridor, like a taller version of the escape tunnel from The Limit.
The other wolves bunched up behind him now, and Tracker was coming rapidly down the ladder. The wolf didn’t wait for them. He had Rose’s scent now. Running full speed, he raced down the corridor.
Wait. The wolf plunged to a skittering stop outside a door, the first door they’d come across down in this basement. The stench of blood was strongest here, almost drowning out Rose’s sweet scent. Rose and blood. Blood and Rose. The wolf hated the combination. He pawed at the door, desperate to get inside.
Tracker pushed his way to the door using his knees to make room for himself amid the wolves. Sky’s wolf watched, panting, while Tracker did some human thing with the door to open it. Sky’s wolf was the first one in the room. The electric light hurt his eyes but he could see a man lying face down on a bed, the mattress saturated with rich, copper-scented blood. There was no spark of life left there. The wolves growled as they shoved the man over with their heads. The ugly tear in his throat pleased them. On the other side of the room, a man sat propped against the gray wall with his crimson-stained hands clasped over his lower abdomen.
“That bitch,” he moaned. “She cut me. That bitch. She cut me. That bitch, that bitch.”
The wolf had no immediate interest in the man. He would die slowly in agony from his wound. The wolf approved. Who had cut him? Could it have been Rose? Rose! The need to find his mate was a living thing clawing at his heart and mind, and she was no longer here. Once Rose was safe, he would return. Sand was on the bed, all four paws braced and his head lifted in a howl of rage. Sky’s wolf stilled, listening for the screams of the women, but they were silent.
Sky’s wolf yipped. It was a commanding sound, demanding the other wolves follow him as he raced out the door and down the hallway. Even with the stench of blood lingering in his nose, he could follow Rose’s scent. She and Katelyn had been here, and he followed their scent around corners, into dead ends, and back out again. If the women were trying to find a way out they weren’t having much luck. Dimly, Sky wondered where exactly this basement was. It was too spread out to be under Askup’s house. The wolf didn’t care about that. He just wanted to find Rose and the other woman. Why couldn’t he hear them anymore? Why weren’t they calling his name, or telling him where they were?
He rounded another corner at full speed and saw the glimmer of light ahead. An oil lantern sat on the cement floor. What he saw in the light slammed his heart into his belly.
Side by side against one wall of the corridor stood Rose and Katelyn, both stained with blood. Rose had her face turned away, looking at Katelyn. Against the opposite wall, only a few feet away, stood a man the wolf didn’t know but Sky recognized as Andy Askup, Terry’s nephew. He was pointing a gun at the women, and his smiling face didn’t look nearly as frightened as it should, considering he was about to die.
“Well, fuck me,” the man said, taking only quick peeks at the wolves crowded into the hallway so he wouldn’t take his gaze off the women for too long. “There really are werewolves. Don’t come any closer, ass wipes, or I’ll kill the bitches.”
Ignoring the gun pointed at her, Rose turned her head and smiled. “Hello, Sky, I knew you’d be along.”
“Shut up, bitch!”
The man’s thumb clicked the hammer back and the wolf saw his finger tighten around the trigger. Time slowed until each breath took an hour to exhale. Inside the wolf, Sky wept with terror and screamed with rage. At this range, the man couldn’t miss. The wolf gathered himself for a spring at Andy, knowing with sick helplessness he would be too late. At the same moment, a small ball of glowing eyes, extended claws, and bristling fur launched itself at the man’s face.
Chapter 24
Thank you, God, Rose thought. The men from the den were here, and Katelyn had understood the message she had mouthed to her. As soon as Mitzi attacked, Katelyn and she scooted away from each other along the wall as quickly as they could. Pulled off balance by the cat clinging to his face, Andy fired at the space where they had been a split second earlier. Chips of cement stung Rose’s neck and cheek as the bullet ricocheted back and forth across the hall. The noise of the shot was deafening, but it didn’t quite obliterate the furious howls of the wolves or Mitzi’s ferocious feline screams. The careening bullet didn’t stop the wolves’ attack. Rose hadn’t expected it would. She sheathed the knife she’d been holding hidden by her leg and sagged briefly against the wall.
Tracker picked up the lamp and fiddled with the wick until the light grew and steadied. She was pretty sure which wolf was which. She recognized Paint easily because that wolf was missing an eye. The biggest wolf was Shadow, and the wolf gnawing off their attacker’s arm was probably either White Horse or Sand. Although she hadn’t seen Sky’s wolf in eight years, she had no doubt which wolf he was. What other wolf would wear a silk necktie?
That necktie was adorable! Her quick smile turned into a giggle. The giggle bounced off the walls like the bullet had, blending in with the screams of the man who’d made t
he mistake of trying to kill women claimed by wolves. Rose realized she sounded absolutely demented. She tried to stop. She really did try to stop. The wolf with the necktie left the others to bound over to her. He pushed his snout into the front of her jeans and sniffed deeply before standing on his hind legs and putting his paws on her shoulders. He proceeded to give her a frantic, thorough investigation with his nose.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I’m not hurt. I wasn’t raped.”
In mid-giggle, she switched to wrenching sobs. The wolf whined and leaned forward so his weight shoved her back against the wall. She dug her fingers into the thick ruff of fur around his neck. The necktie caught on her thumb, reviving the giggles so they tumbled through the sobs in a manic dance of hysteria. She had to get control of herself.
“Sky, I need you.” She hiccupped into the coarse gray fur.
A shimmer of heat warmed her hands, and then the fur disappeared, and she clutched bare shoulders. Sky’s arms wrapped around her. “Oh, God, Rose. I was afraid you were dead. Never in my life have I been so afraid.”
“Join the club.” She meant it to be flippant, but it came out fervent instead. She pulled her head back to look up at him. “I knew you would find me. I just wasn’t sure when.”
The thick black lashes outlining his blue eyes were spiky with tears. It made him look boyishly sweet. For one moment. The next moment, his eyes were hard, blue slits. “What were you thinking?” he yelled. “Making your stupid cat attack when he had a gun pointed at you? He was only two feet away. I thought you’d be killed by the ricochet!”
Rose jerked back, hurt and indignant. “You think Mitzi takes orders from me? We were lucky she was here. You needed a distraction. You wouldn’t have dared to attack him otherwise.”
“But you scared ten years off my life,” he shouted.
“Well, excuse me,” she bellowed back.
Before she could say more, he pulled her back into his arms and crushed her against his chest. The knot in the tie hung over his breastbone, grinding into her breast. “I love you, Rose. Not only are you are the most beautiful woman I know, you’re the bravest. That’s not why I love you so much, though. If you had died, my heart would keep on beating, but it would be dead because you are my heart. I don’t think I could bear to live without you.”