"Hello, Janie, it's so nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you," Trevor said shaking my hand. It gave me chills all the way to my bones. He couldn't have been much older than me, but the vibes coming off him were pure evil.
"You as well," I said quietly, not making eye contact with him.
"We'll talk soon, Trevor. Janie, come on in. I'm so happy you could make it."
It sounded like a perfectly normal conversation for a perfectly normal visit, but as soon as I stepped into the office and the door closed behind me, I let out the breath I had been holding.
"Be strong, Jane, it's almost over," Jacob reassured me.
I presented him with a box of fried chicken with all the fixings I had picked up at the drive-through. He cleared his desk and I laid out the spread. We both were well aware of the camera in the room watching us. We didn’t talk much, just ate, or at least pretended to in amicable silence.
At exactly 11:20, his phone rang. I jumped a little, thankful that these people wouldn't think anything of it. We both knew it was the call telling us Raina was dead. Martin would have already administered the necessary dosage to make it appear so.
"Yes . . . okay . . . which one?" He sighed sadly. "Not Raina . . . Okay, I'll be right down." Hanging up, he addressed me next. "I'm so sorry, dear, one of my patients has just passed away and I need to go and tend to a few things. Please eat. I won't be long."
"Are you sure?" I asked him.
"Of course. I'll make it as fast as possible." He left and I stared at the food ahead and pretended to eat, despite the fact that my nerves had my stomach rolling. I took out my phone and opened a game. I wasn't sure if the cameras could see me or not, but it allowed me an excuse to watch the time.
Eleven-thirty rolled over and I knew Larry was kicking off patching. I waited, trying not to look around for the camera to check the light. At 11:37 a text came through, causing me to jump.
“Now or never,” was all it said.
I looked around the room. Spotting the camera in the corner, confirming the light was off, I hit the four-minute countdown on my phone, pulled out the access badge Patrick had given me earlier, and I headed out the door. Seeing that no one was around, I ran to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. Finding it clear also, I ran to the end of the hall and used my badge to get in. Even with the systems down, the access panels worked; they just didn't log any data of who and when they were accessed.
I entered the room and came to a shocking halt. I knew I didn't have much time, but I was not prepared at all to see shifters in human form crammed into four foot cages stacked five across and two high. There were seven rows in all and they were all full but one.
"Help me," a lady cried hoarsely.
That was enough to spur me back into action. Checking my phone, we only had two minutes remaining. I quickly hit the emergency release button that opened all the cages at once.
"You never saw me. This is your chance to escape, but the rest is up to you," I told the room, loudly enough for all to hear.
I quickly scrambled for the door, checking that the hallway was clear, and let myself out. The shifters didn't hesitate even a moment. A few practically plowed me over as I made my way back to Jacob's office, letting myself in and sitting in the exact spot I had been when the cameras went down. Before the door fully closed behind me, I saw several shift into various animals as they ran through the hall in search of freedom.
The noise and the chaos resumed. A few gunshots were fired and I prayed no one got hurt. It made me cringe, and I cowered behind Jacob's desk. When the door finally opened Jacob entered, pale as a ghost.
"What's going on? I heard a gunshot," I said, bordering on hysterics. It wasn't exactly a show just for Jacob. I hadn't predicted the humans would fight back with weapons. I was scared for both sides and questioned if what I had done was the right thing.
Sensing I was going into a panic attack, Jacob began soothing me and speaking in calming tones. His phone rang and I jumped.
"My daughter's here," he finally said. "I need backup to ensure she gets out of the building safely." He hung up and to me he said, "I'm so sorry, Janie. There's been a breech in the facility. Security is on its way to escort you out."
"Aren't you coming?" I asked.
"No, I'm afraid I have to stay and clean up the mess. We're not sure what happened."
"Is it safe?" I demanded.
"I'll be fine, dear. Go home and tell Annie and Oscar I'm okay, and I love them."
I nodded and when the security guys came for me they were fully armed. Three of them surrounded me and escorted me to my car, never suspecting once that I harbored two shifters in my trunk. We didn't see a single animal or shifter anywhere. I wondered what happened to them all. There had been so many.
The second I was away from the last security tower I started crying. By the time I reached the old abandoned gas station we had stopped at on the way in, I could barely see the road and I was shaking all over. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't heard anything from Patrick. Terrified he didn't make it, I started screaming.
"Patrick?!"
"I'm here, Maddie. I have Raina, we're both okay."
I slammed on the brakes and jumped out. Opening the trunk and seeing Raina's wide, shocked eyes as she was nestled against Patrick was my breaking point. I sat on the ground and just cried.
Raina got out, still looking confused. Patrick followed and tried to comfort me, but I was inconsolable and quickly losing my internal battle as panic rose within.
"Come on, it's not safe out here. We need to keep moving. I'll drive," Patrick said as he tucked Raina into the backseat before helping me into the front.
Just before the door closed, a smell so memorable and strong hit me, crippling me in panic. I looked around and just at the edge of the woods I saw them . . . all six of them. They smiled and nodded at me in appreciation and my entire body began to shake violently. Tigers!
"What's wrong?" Patrick asked, sounding very concerned the moment he got into the car.
"Drive. Quickly, just drive," was as much as I could say before the full realization of what I'd done began to sink in. I had freed the shifters. I had freed the six men that had raped me so violently. What had I done?
In a fog, like I wasn't really myself, just watching myself, I picked up my phone and I called Jacob.
"Janie, are you okay?" he asked, sounding very distracted.
"No," I said in a far too calm and eerie voice. "The six men that raped me. I just saw them by an abandoned gas station, approximately three miles from your office."
I heard him inhale sharply, knowing I had never once confessed to being raped to him or Annie, before covering the receiver and yelling out some orders.
"We'll get them, Jane. I promise you, they won't be allowed to wonder free for long. If it's the last thing I do, I'll get them. I'm so sorry. I don't know how this happened."
Guilt. That's what I felt, sheer guilt. I had done this.
"Shit. You fecking let them all out, didn't you?" Patrick asked.
I was still in that daze outside of myself. "You didn't see them, Patrick. They were in cages like animals, stacked two high and five deep. Seven rows, all filled but one."
"That would have been mine," Raina said softly. "They'll come for me now, too."
"They won't," Patrick assured her. "We went to great lengths to ensure they all believed you were dead. They think you were already cremated. No one will be looking for you, especially with all the others on the run now."
"Wow! Who are you people? And is that why I can't remember anything? How did I even get here? Where are we going?"
I supposed Raina's fear and questions helped distract me from my own. I was still very shaken up, but I had something to do as I tried to tend to her.
"Relax, Raina," I started.
"See, how do you even know my name? We've never met. I've smelled him before, but I can't place where, but you, I've never even seen you before.
Why did you do this?" she interrupted me.
I smiled in spite of it all. "Kelsey sends her love."
"Elena? She did this?" Raina asked, using Kelsey's given name that she hadn't gone by since she was four years old.
"Perhaps more like Kyle, on Kelsey's behalf. He's been working hard to keep this entire mission from her. Not so easy for a fully bonded couple, but I don't believe she knows, yet," Patrick filled her in.
"You're Westin then?" Raina asked, looking confused.
"Patrick O'Connell. Originally from the Irish Clan, but I'm been a Westin for a while now. I'm mated to Elise Westin. This is Maddie. She's mated to Liam Westin and was our inside connection to the facility."
Raina fell quiet with her questions as she tried to take it all in. I was grateful Patrick hadn't told her exactly what my connection was. I didn't think I could handle hearing Jacob portrayed as the bad guy. I prayed that wasn't the case, but I had seen them with my own eyes. Did my rapists even deserve such treatment? I wanted to say yes, but I had been so horrified by the conditions I had found, that I hadn't hit the yellow button that would have only opened the cages for those deemed safe. I had hit the green button that unlocked every cage in the room at once.
The hours spent driving home were largely in comfortable silence as each of us internalized the events in our own way.
When we arrived back at the house I went straight to my room to see Liam. I needed him and I knew he would need me, too. He wasn't there.
I knocked on Kyle's office next, and he answered.
"Have you seen Liam?" I asked without even a hello, still feeling distraught and upset at what I had done.
"Hey, I didn't know you guys were back already. Did everything go okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Raina's in the living room with Mary, doting over Zander. They just called Kelsey to come over, but didn't tell her why. You may want to be there when she arrives."
He let out a breath of release and hugged me. "Thank God! I'll never be able to repay you for this, MC."
I just looked at him sadly. Where was my mate?
"Why do I get the feeling something more is going on?" he asked.
"I may have done something terrible," I confessed.
"Come on in," he said, opening the door wider and closing it after I passed. "You know you can talk freely in here. What happened?"
I told him about my and Patrick's plans and how I couldn't leave any of them behind, but I didn’t realize until too late that even included some very bad and dangerous ones. I told him about seeing the tigers.
"Shit! So it's true then? Oscar really is half tiger?"
I nodded with tears streaming down my face. "It's been a really long and hard day, Kyle. Please just tell me where my mate is."
He grinned. "You know, today's the first time I've heard you call him that." Then his face fell. "He's not well, Maddie. I won't even try to sugarcoat it. He asked me to chain him up, knowing his wolf would overpower him and come after you."
"What?! How could you? He's your brother, not some animal!" I yelled, very near hysterics at that point.
"Don't you think I know that? And you haven't seen what this has done to him. He's barely hanging on. You should have completed the bond first. It would have made things so much easier."
"Don't you think I know that? Don’t you think I would, if I could?" He was making me angry and pointing out my biggest failures on what was already an enormously emotional day.
"What do you mean, ‘if you could?’" Kyle asked.
"I'm not a shifter, Kyle. They- they killed my wolf the night they tried to kill me. I physically can't seal the bond. My human canines aren't enough." I sobbed.
He consoled me as he would one of his sisters. I was family already. I was pack and he was my Alpha.
"Shit. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"It's not exactly something I'm proud of and want to talk about, Kyle. Please, just take me to him. It'll still calm his wolf. I've told him since the beginning it would never work. If he's as bad as you're making him out to be, maybe I should just walk away. It would be best for everyone."
He snorted. "MC, that wouldn't be best for anyone. It's been a long day. Just promise me you won't make any decisions right now. I don't know if a wolf spirit can be killed without killing the human host. I've never heard of such a thing, but let me do some research and see what I can find out about that, okay?"
I nodded sadly.
"Come on. Let's go calm your mate, and you."
We walked out of the back of the house after stopping long enough for him to welcome Raina back. I didn't know where he was leading me. We headed into the thick of the forest behind the Alpha house. He peppered me with questions about my wolf. He didn't seem convinced about what I had told him. How I wished I was wrong!
As we came to a rocky section filled with caves, he headed into one. It was dark and moist inside, smelling earthy, and a lot like Liam. My stomach twisted as we headed deeper in and I saw signs of manmade things inside. Some looked like torture devices. There were chains attached to the walls.
"What is this place?" I whispered.
"It was once something of a jail for our kind. It hasn't been used in close to a hundred years, but when our pack first settled in this area there were humans everywhere. It took several decades to run the humans out. Our ancestors had traveled across the country, mostly in wolf form as it was a young, wild territory at the time. Readjusting to civilization for some of the shifters had been a struggle. This place was used to contain those that needed, um, a little more time to adjust. It's not a part of our heritage we're exactly proud of. Liam and I stumbled across this place when we were just pups. Scared the shit out of us."
"So, what are we doing here?" I asked.
He gave me an apologetic look just as an aggressive growl echoed through the chamber. Kyle picked up the pace, heading towards the noise. We came to an iron gate that was locked. He took out a key and unlocked it and we stepped inside.
"No!" I screamed as I saw Liam chained to other end of the room. He was human, but there was something feral about him. His eyes darted around the room and he growled and snarled at Kyle, showing all his canines despite being in human form. "Kyle, unlock him now!" I demanded.
"I'm sorry, MC. He's not right. His wolf is in control. He knew this would happen and begged me to do it. He'll change and tear me to bits the second he's free as man and beast fight for dominance. I'm going to give you the key and then I'm going to back out and shut the gate. He could never hurt you, not as man or wolf. You're safe, but I'm not. You need to calm him down and help Liam regain control."
I took the keys with shaky hands. He was little more than a feral animal before me. Kyle backed out of the room quickly and I waited until I heard the chains on the gate lock and Kyle gave the go-ahead.
Suddenly, I wasn't afraid anymore. My mate was hurting and he needed me more than ever. I ran to Liam and quickly unlocked the shackles holding him down. Strong arms wrapped around me, far stronger than Liam's human arms. He was generating all the power of his wolf but still in human form. I knew it was possible, but I had never actually seen it.
Crushed to him I breathed in his scent and kissed his exposed neck right in the place I desperately wished to mark him. I felt his sharp teeth press into my own flesh in the exact same place on me. Tears streamed down my face as I was unable to follow his lead. He pulled back and softened. I was crying and it drew Liam out quickly. He kissed the mark he had left on my skin, tracing light, feathery kisses up my neck and across my cheek till he found my mouth.
His body trembled in my arms as I returned his kiss and I could feel him coming back to me. Finally pulling back and leaving me breathless, he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Just tell me you're okay."
"I'm okay," I said honestly. I knew it wasn't the time to tell him what I had done. He needed to get control of himself more before we had that conversation, but I was going to be okay, and I knew he would too.
/>
"I'm sorry I bit you. My wolf doesn't understand and is angry you haven't completed the bond."
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm going to be now that you're back. Just promise me the mission is over and you'll never do anything like that again," he begged.
"I can't promise that, but for now, it's over." I hoped beyond all hopes that what I was telling him was the truth.
Liam
Chapter 27
The calm that came over me just from Maddie's presence scared me almost as much as my wolf as he battled for dominance. To think one person had that much control over me was overwhelming, but if it had to be someone, I was glad it was her.
I hadn't meant to bite her, to mark her in that way. It wasn't right. My wolf had surged, insisting she was ours and calling out to her wolf. I couldn't help but think that if her wolf were truly gone, mine wouldn't continue calling her out. I imagined he'd be in mourning, not so insistent and impatient. Still, to mark her when she couldn't return it was wrong. Anyone who saw it on her now would know that I had marked her, but she hadn't marked me back. It was a sign of the ultimate rejection to our kind. Though I tried not to take it personally, it hurt on a deep level.
I wanted to kiss her again and a whole lot more, but not there. The place had always given me the creeps and before then I had only spent enough time in that place to satisfy a dare, since the first time Kyle and I had stumbled across it and asked Dad what it was. I knew it had been the right thing to do, but I was ready to take her home, shower, and claim my mate over and over again until my wolf was again at peace. So I did.
For the first week or two afterward, I could barely let Maddie out of my sight. I still didn't know all the details of what had happened, and wasn't sure I ever would, or wanted to, but something had scared her. I could tell, because she clung to me, too.
She asked if she could enroll in some online classes, saying that with Oscar she had never had the opportunity. Annie had insisted on her graduating high school, but college had never really been an option. Of course I encouraged her, and set up a second desk in my office for her to work and stay nearby. With the construction of the house wrapping up, I didn't expect her to work side by side with me much longer, but for the time I was grateful. It was exactly what my wolf and I needed.
Forever Mine (Westin Pack Book 3) Page 24