Redeem Me (Crimson Pack Trilogy Book 2)

by A Lonergan

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I didn’t know why I asked it. I could smell it in the air that his words were honest.

  “Because I care about those children there. Before I was the warden to Jade Rivers, I was the warden at that school. They wiped my memories on how to get there, but I remember the faces. There are many things I have done wrong and…” He paused to swallow. “I want to redeem myself.”

  I knew all about that feeling so I leaned forward, clapped him on the shoulder, and led him to our witch, Granny.

  A world map was laid out on the table when we entered her cottage. Granny shook her head and called Tracey forward before she took the vial from the man named, Micah. “I am not a blood witch, but I have a feeling that Tracey is.”

  She shook her head as panic flashed across her face. “I am no such thing. I don’t know anything about being a witch.”

  “Witches know how to identify other witches. You will need to say these words,” she held a book out to Tracey. “Then spill the contents on the map. We don’t have much time. The magic around the vial is already starting to wear off.”

  Tracey took a deep breath and read the words out loud. “Vala chosa velum treka brumiam.” The blood turned black as it was poured on the map. I expected it to stick to the parchment, but instead it slithered across the paper like oil. I pressed my fist to my mouth as the black blood started to circle one area.

  Granny looked up at Carden. The pissant was still hanging around. I raked my fingers through my hair and shook my head. This just kept getting better and better. “Get the pack directory in the Manor. We are going to need to know if there is a pack in the middle of Cedar Springs. I’m going to look into my resources and see if there are any covens in the area. We will have to be really careful about this.”

  Tracey hadn’t moved from the spot she was in. Her eyes hadn’t left the paper either. Knox and the rest of the Guardians were standing outside. I patted Knox on the shoulder. “Stay with Tracey.”

  I nodded to Mav. “Meet me at the War Room with your fighting leathers. We are rescuing some kids tonight, boys.”

  Chapter 35

  Rafe

  Micah was on my heels from the war room. He was our best asset at the moment. He knew what we were facing when we got there and he knew how to beat the man keeping Jade hostage. I didn’t know a man named Damian, though he apparently knew me well. I scratched my head as I went over any possible enemies and the only ones I could think of were the dads of the girls I had thought could be my mate.

  I winced. I knew damn well that none of those girls had been my mate but it was the right thing to say at the time when I thought sex was the only thing that mattered in my life.

  Micah had filled us in on everything there was to know about him, or rather, everything there was to know that he knew. He was young and handsome but ruthlessly cunning. There were zero last names that Micah could think of. The guy kept to himself for the most part, except when he spoke to Jade. He had taken a liking to her.

  Tracey met me at the front of the manor. Her face was grim but she was still wearing her battle leathers. I was afraid for her to go on this mission but I wasn’t going to make her stay behind either. “Are you sure you want to go?”

  “I’ve trained beside all of you my entire life. I will not miss this.” She grinned but it was anything but friendly.

  “Your dad is going to have my head,” I muttered darkly.

  She shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”

  I doubted that very much.

  “This is small potatoes,” Micah finally said as all the Guardians stretched. “There won’t be as many guards in place but once we break out the kids, they will tighten up security for where Jade is. She will also have less protection.”

  “She’ll know we’ve gotten the kids out, right?” Knox rolled his shoulders. He preferred fighting in his wolf form but it made it harder to maneuver in small buildings. He was going to be grouchy tonight. He had trained to partial shift, which was going to be his method tonight. I hoped. The last thing I needed-

  I stopped my thoughts there. I had zero doubts when it came to the men who swore to protect me. The men who had been by my side since I was a child. I knew that if anyone could do it, it was them. I looked into each of their faces before I nodded.

  Micah’s face went grim. “No, I doubt she will know. I won’t be returning either. As soon as I do, Damian will know that I had something to do with it and he’ll punish Jade in front of me as my punishment. It’s better that she knows nothing about this operation or my involvement.”

  “Wait, you didn’t fill her in?” Tracey asked as she tucked a knife in her boot. Her claws were lethal enough but if wolfsbane was involved like last time, she would be defenseless.

  Micah pinched his lips together. “No, we didn’t. We didn’t want there to be suspicion in case Damian decided to take his wrath out on her and she couldn’t handle the thought of knowing someone would die in order to do this. It was the only way.”

  Anger flashed through me. I understood why they kept her in the dark but I didn’t like it. “Is she okay?”

  Micah nodded. “The explosion was minor and we made sure she was far enough from the blast when it went off. We wouldn’t put her in danger. We knew that if something happened to her you wouldn’t care about the children.”

  “That isn’t true,” Tracey argued.

  I held my hand up. “No, it is true. If you had harmed her intentionally, I wouldn’t be helping you right now. Your body would be floating downriver.”

  Micah’s face paled. “She’s your mate, I don’t blame you.”

  I lifted my chin. “That’s why she was targeted, isn’t it?”

  Micah licked his bottom lip. “Yes.”

  “This Damian character knows a lot more about you than even we do. We had no idea she was your mate when they kidnapped her.” Archer grimaced.

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Speak for yourself. The signs were all there. You’re all dumb.”

  Knox snorted. “We are not dumb, we just sometimes miss the obvious clues but Mav and I definitely knew.”

  That explained how they tried to bait me several times when it came to her. He shrugged like it was no big deal while Mav paled too. “I had my suspicions but I wasn’t going to do anything disrespectful. Knox was the one that made all the naughty plans.”

  I lifted a brow as my eyes rested on my best friend. “Oh?”

  Tracey growled. “You are all pig-headed idiots.” She clapped her hands together. “Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s go get these kids then go get our girl. You all talk a lot for men.”

  We took several different vehicles until we were about five miles from the area they were holding the children. Knox rolled his shoulders before he grinned at me in the dark. “I love a good fight.”

  I chuckled. “Yes, I know. You pick them with everyone.”

  Knox shrugged as he got out of the car. “They just can’t handle the heat I’m packing.”

  Tracey grumbled something under her breath as she joined us. Micah had stayed behind and I had only permitted that because Mav had stayed with him. Taking all of the Guardians and the Alpha off of the Pack Lands wasn’t smart. They needed to have defenses still. Mav and Granny would protect my people until we returned.

  “If that wolf led us to a trap, I’m going to be the first to rip his throat out,” Archer whispered.

  I ignored all of them. There was no point in getting worked up over how aggravating they were. I had known how they were when they swore to live and die by my side. I just had no idea how much worse it could get.

  I blinked and my night vision took over. It was time.

  Knox took up the front of our party and Gabriel took up the back. I walked beside Tracey but not because I felt like I needed to protect her. We walked side by side because we worked the best together. When my friends had left for Guardian training, Tracey had stayed behind. Not because she didn’t want t
o be a Guardian, no, she wanted that more than anything. She stayed behind because she was a woman and women weren’t permitted to be Guardians. They were too valuable. To give her empowerment back, I asked her to train with me. Every day we had woken up before dawn and trained as wolves and as humans. She fought just as well as the Guardians did. I had seen her challenge them when she thought I wasn’t around. I watched as she bested almost every single one of them. The only one she couldn’t get down was Knox and he loved to gloat about it.

  We lost count of the time it took to get to the building the children were in. As we got closer to the perimeter, Gabriel broke free and went to take out the guards waiting. He was back just as quickly as he had left with just a slight scent of blood on him. He grinned in the dark before he gave me a thumbs up. He was usually the calmest of the group but tonight, he was living for the fight.

  Tracey shivered beside me as we continued forward.

  Gabriel spoke through my Alpha link. I could mind speak to anyone in the pack in or out of my wolf form. My Guardians could communicate with me and with each other through a special bond. Six down.

  I communicated with Tracey down the Alpha link and she nodded. She was ready. I could see it in her fluid stance. Knox ran ahead of us and spoke down our bond. Three more down.

  This was our first mission together since they had returned and I was excited but also nervous. There should have been more guards, magic, something. But so far it was too easy. Was this Damian guy this stupid? He was using these kids as leverage but he wasn’t protecting them better than this?

  When we made it onto the main grounds and I could see the building in the distance, my heart rate picked up. I didn’t usually get nervous. I hardly ever had much to lose, but now? It was all different. My mate was involved.

  Shots blasted through the night and my first instinct was to run toward it. Knox ran backward for a second as he grinned at me.

  Tracey spoke down our bond. Show off.

  All I could do was snicker in response. The guns stopped shooting a second later and then Archer was beside me. He tossed one of the guns in the air and Tracey rolled her eyes.

  Chapter 36

  Rafe

  The element of surprise was gone. We had to act quickly or Damian would probably send backup. That was the last thing we needed. Yes, we were technically outnumbered and didn’t know the layout of this building at all. But Guardians were the elite of the elite. They were the best fighters and the best trackers. They were some of the most dangerous wolves around unless there were wolves enhanced with magic. At the thought, I looked over at Tracey. She had been grumpier than usual since using magic but it was all so new and I couldn’t blame her for that. I would have been just as grumpy. All of our worlds had been turned upside down.

  I had been pretty grumpy after I had found out Jade was my mate. A human. I had only gotten grumpier from there.

  The guard at the front of the castle-like building was knocked out cold already, thanks to Archer. The door was unlocked but as soon as it swung open, men in ski masks filed down the stairs while their guns went off. We managed to work around the bullets and the Guardians were practically dancing with glee as they took each man down. This was like child’s play. They had trained for far more than this. Tracey didn’t even have to lift a finger.

  Each man was down and dead. We couldn’t risk one of them coming to and contacting Damian, if they hadn’t done so already.

  I put my hand on Tracey’s shoulder. “You’re going to have to help with the kids. I don’t think they’re going to trust the blood-covered idiots.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded her head. She was great with kids. If anyone could do this, it was her. “We have to hurry.”

  Up the stairs, we went two at a time until we came across one door. Tracey gritted her teeth together as she swiped her hand over the door. There was something there I couldn’t see. The door opened a second later and a little girl around the age of four stumbled out. Her purple hair was piled up on her head and her little fists were raised, ready to fight.

  “Which one of you is the witch?” Her courage was inspiring. Her voice didn’t shake or waiver either.

  Tracey took a step forward. “Hello, little one, one of your mothers sent us. We are here to get you out.”

  “Which mother?” A few little children popped out behind the one with purple hair.

  “Her name is Sheeva,” Tracey’s voice was calm and collected. It also helped that she wasn’t covered in blood and gore like the men below.

  The little girl lowered her hands. “That’s my mother.”

  Tracey grinned. “You’re powerful, ya know that?” Tracey held up her hand to show that the leather had been melted away at the little girl’s magic she had swiped through. I hadn’t noticed it.

  “We have to hurry,” I whispered. There was no telling what was waiting for us outside.

  The little girl nodded her head and all of the children followed out behind her. She grabbed Tracey’s hand and we ran down the stairs. It was a long chain of children. My mother was going to have the best time with this. She loved children and I was bringing her an entire school of them.

  Gabriel met us outside. “Good thing you’re moving into your own home. The manor is going to need every bed and every room.”

  There was no way we were going to get all of these kids into the cars. I looked at Tracey out of the corner of my eye. “How are we going to transport all of them?”

  There had to be at least fifty kids, maybe more following behind us into the woods. Tracey shrugged as she held two children’s hands. “I’m going to have to figure out how much magic these kids know.”

  Sheeva’s daughter grinned. “We know a lot more than you do, blood witch.”

  Tracey cocked her head in surprise but laughed all the same. “You know how to fit all of you into my SUV like a clown car?”

  The little girl grinned. “I would love to.”

  The drive back to the Pack Lands was a cramped one. Somehow their magic had gotten all of them into each of our vehicles. We drove for hours too, just in case someone was following our trail. It didn’t matter though. Unless the children could help Tracey figure out how to put a cloaking spell over the Pack Lands, they would know exactly where all the children went.

  Getting all the children out of the vehicles was a different kind of difficult as they adjusted to being outside of the magic. One of the kids bent over at the waist to barf into the bushes. Another fell over complaining he was dizzy and a few others said their heads hurt.

  Archer clapped me on the back and grinned. Tracey wrinkled her nose. “Why do you smell like a dumpster fire?”

  Archer wrinkled his nose at her. “First, you always have to destroy evidence. I burned the building and the surveillance room. Most of the video cameras in the building were extremely outdated. They weren’t being fed over wifi. I would imagine it was done that way so the kids couldn’t be tracked over an IP address. But all the same, super stupid and overly confident on Damian’s part. He will never know who took the kids.”

  Tracey shook her head. “I managed to mask our scents on the way out, thankfully.”

  Sheeva’s daughter looked up at us. She was sitting on the front porch of the house. “We have been waiting for someone to rescue us. I’ve been sending out magical beacons for the last few months.” Her shoulders fell. “I can help you cloak the entire property. I’ll need a few ingredients and then we can walk the perimeter.” As she spoke, I got the distinct impression she wasn’t under the age of six. She had to be small for her age. She was entirely too smart. Tracey put her hand in the little girls and they walked toward Granny’s.

  What the hell was I supposed to do with all of these kids? They all watched me with their bright hair and wide eyes. No pressure.

  “Hi, kids,” I waved awkwardly. “What do you know about the place you were staying?”

  A little boy in the front answered with a slight oriental accent. “We know ev
erything about why we were there and taken from our families. We know we were being held to get our parents to obey an evil dick.”

  A few of the kids snickered in response. I pressed my palms into my eyes. “Uh, yes, to all of that.”

  My mom rolled her eyes from the doorway of the manor. Knox slapped me on the back with a “way to go” and Tracey shook her head from where I could see her disappearing into the woods. My mom took that opportunity to come out in her bathrobe and slippers. She looked like the perfect grandma besides the fact that she was flawless and hardly had any wrinkles. Being immortal was the best skincare regimen. “I’ll take it from here. I’m Alice Crimson and I’m the Alpha’s mother. We are doing our best to accommodate all of you and we are going to encourage that you don’t use magic to try to contact your families. Things still aren’t safe and we don’t want to risk anything. Magic will be permitted because we know what it’s like to trap a part of ourselves. Please only do it under supervision. I don’t know how it was before but these are our rules to keep everyone safe. Especially the wolf pups that don’t have magic.”

  A little girl raised her hand.

  “Wolves have magic.”

  My mother raised her eyebrows. “What have they taught you about the wolves?”

  She little girl grinned and her brown eyes shone. “Wolves are their own kind of magic. Magic from the goddess.”

  Knox nodded his head in appreciation. “I like these witches. We are blessed by the gods.”

  “This transition isn’t going to be easy for our pack or for you. Bear with us as we try to make all of you as comfortable as we can.”

  I met my mom halfway and wrapped my arms around her. She was the glue that kept the pack together and I couldn’t help but hope that one day, Jade would be the same for us.

  Chapter 37

  Jade

  We had moved to the main house, where Damian was staying. Somehow the rest of the compound we had been living in had been set on fire too. I wondered if it was Micah’s farewell gift. I knew he was gone for good as soon as he left. It hurt but I knew he had to get out. The plan had gone horribly wrong and I couldn’t imagine living with that guilt.