Chapter 30
Diego
“Hey, hermano, time to wake up.”
Olly groans and rolls to his other side. He wore himself out with Auryn last night, but we need to go.
Time to save Emmett.
“Olly!”
I shake his shoulder, and he cracks one eye open at me. “Our other brother needs us. Put these on.”
I hand him a neatly-folded stack of tactical gear and head out of the room. Olly probably wants his privacy after that shower.
“Well?”
Gage asks as I emerge. “Is he going to sleep through the rescue?”
I chuckle and shake my head. “He’ll be up. Just give him a minute to get dressed.”
I turn to Auryn, who looks like she’s swimming in Olly’s spare tactical set. We’ve rolled up the sleeves and ankle cuffs as much as we can, and we tucked everything in, but she’s still so small … It would be comical if not for the reason we’ve got her suited up like this.
“Are you sure you want to come with us, princesa? We won’t think less of you if you want to stay back in the castle.”
“Castle?”
she says, cocking her head. “I’m not staying anywhere except with the three of you. Em needs me.”
Her bravado is commendable, if a bit misguided. I know Gage is upset that he still couldn’t talk her out of this, but a small part of me admires Auryn for being this strong, this certain, despite the uncertainty of our mission.
We don’t know what state we’ll find Em in. Auryn herself admitted that her connection to him faded yesterday, and it hasn’t come back since.
“What’s rule number one?”
I ask her as I check my own weapons to make sure everything’s secure.
“Aim the point at the bad guy,” she says.
My lips twist in a grin as Gage rubs his temple. “Rule number one is this, mi amor: Stay alive. We can’t bring Em back if we’re dead.”
“Oh.”
She watches me for a few moments, then copies my weapons check.
“Here.”
Gage helps her with a few last-minute adjustments as Olly comes trotting down the hall. Our beta is already fully armed and armored, and it looks like we’re good to go.
The four of us pile into the Jeep, which someone has cleaned of my blood since I was last in it. Olly, most likely, if the strong odor of antiseptic is any indication. I’m glad he did. Gage is likely to be on edge today, more so than usual. He doesn’t need a constant reminder of my near death in his nose.
As if he can read my thoughts, Gage mutters a thank-you to Olly as he pulls out of the garage.
“It was nothing,”
Olly says, though his cheeks show evidence of his pride at the praise from his alpha. “I just thought a clean car would be better for this mission.”
The ride to the woods outside of the Orions’ house is tense. Gage has been slowly unraveling the longer Emmett’s in their clutches, and Auryn seems a bit off, too. I can’t deny that I miss my brother-in-arms, and the guilt of him being caught coming to my rescue weighs heavily on my mind. Even Olly seems out-of-sorts with the loss of Em, and I pray we’re not too late.
Gage cuts the engine about a half mile outside of the Orion pack’s property.
“We’re on foot from here. Let’s go.”
His tone is curt, brisque, and I catch the faintest tremor in his hands as he draws his gun. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him, but the only thanks I get is in the form of a warning growl.
Hmm … Do not touch. Noted.
A few alpha scouts try to stop us, but we take them out quickly, preventing them from sounding any alarms. Auryn checks each body, but none of them are Sneed. She slices each throat after her check–vicious for an omega, but not totally unexpected, given what I’ve seen of her thus far. She has endured so much at the hands of these men; I’m honestly more surprised that she doesn’t try to castrate and gut them while they’re still alive.
Gage does nothing to halt her violence. If anything, the look on his face suggests he wishes he were the one murdering these bastards. I guess he wants to give Auryn this little bit of closure, this chance to make her peace however she sees fit.
Even if she sees fit to slaughter them all.
When we get to the edge of the woods, we see that the Orions sliced the tires of the Humvee and shattered all the windows. They also spray-painted dumb insults and fucking dicks all over it. It’s like someone set a bunch of immature teenagers loose on the thing.
Guess we’re squeezing into the Jeep to get back.
Before we left, we discussed our projected point of entry. Though Olly wanted to go in the back, Gage and I both agreed that, since I have only seen the front of the house, we should go in that way. It’ll be unexpected, we hope, and I can guide us at least partway through. Hopefully Auryn’s memory will take over at some point, or we’ll be able to scent Emmett when we’re in there and find him that way.
As we race across the front lawn, I keep my nose tuned for the scent of burnt cherries …
… Burnt cherries and blood.
I’m not so stupid as to think we’ll find him in one piece. My only certainty is that he is alive, that Auryn would know if Sneed had killed him. The main questions are: How close to death is he, and how broken will he be once we bring him home?
Fighting our way in the front door is not easy, but we manage to take out seven of theirs before incurring our first injury. Auryn snaps at Olly when he tries to bandage her cut arm–literally snaps her jaws at him, spittle flying.
“No time!”
she snarls. “Later.”
Olly stuffs the gauze back in his cargo pocket, but I can see the hurt ghosting across his features. Poor guy.
“Hey, man, good looking out,”
I say, clapping a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “We’ll triage later, okay? Let her do this first.”
Olly nods, though I suspect he’s not one hundred percent onboard with this.
As we make our way down the front hall, the faint scent of burnt cherries carries over the overwhelming stench of blood, vomit, and general filth. Sneed must not care too much about housekeeping.
We walk past a closet, and the scent starts to fade a few feet past. I sniff, turn my head, and walk back to the closet. Sniff again.
“He’s in here?”
I say, half questioning myself, because why would Sneed stuff Emmett in a closet?
Gage takes point, aiming at the door as I kick it in from the side. No one comes running out, but we’re surprised to see a long, narrow set of rickety wooden stairs leading down to an unfinished basement. Our flashlights barely illuminate far enough down to see the bottom, and in addition to Em’s scent becoming stronger, so does the stench. Whatever’s going on down there, it involves a lot of blood. Blood, sweat, tears, vomit, cum … The overlapping scents war with each other, but I take solace in the fact that Em’s scent is still present.
Auryn bristles as Gage starts down the stairs. “Bad,”
she says. Her pupils are blown, and her entire body trembles.
Oh, shit. This is not what we need right now.
“Princesa, mi amor, we have to go down there. I know that bad things have happened there, but that’s where Em is. We have to get Em.”
She grits her teeth, sets her jaw, and chambers a round in her weapon. “Right.”
Good. She’s not completely lost yet. The memories are coming back, but they don’t fully hold her in their grip.
“It’s too quiet down there,”
Gage says as we descend. “Where are the screams?”
“Maybe they’re all drugged? Or sleeping?”
Olly sounds unsure. Or maybe just cautious, given the omega in our midst.
From the smell of things, I’d wager they’re all dead.
No. Not all. Em has to be alive.
I help Auryn down the last few steps, and we circle around, back to back, all four of us facing a different direction. I try to sniff out which direction Em’s in, but the overwhelming combination of blood, rot, dirt, and other sundry unpleasant odors masks his scent almost completely. It’s a miracle we smelled him at all from upstairs.
Auryn inhales deeply. Sniffs the air. Starts running.
Fuck.
The three of us dart after her, but madre de Dios, she’s fast. Those little legs, those tiny feet in Olly’s old combat boots, propel her out of our sight in seconds. We have to push to catch up with her, and when we do, we all come face to face with a wall of armed alphas.
How the fuck did Sneed keep so many fucking men here? This house doesn’t look that big from the outside.
“Here for your new pet, five-seven-six?”
The man who speaks is maybe five six or five seven himself, barely a runt, though from the way he stands–in the center of the room, a couple steps back from the line of alphas–he’s the one in charge. Despite his short stature, he’s massive. All jacked muscles and bulging veins. That can’t just be from working out, and I wonder if he’s one of the experiments.
“Sneed.”
Auryn spits out his name like it’s something foul that she ate.
So, this is the man who hired us. Gage did all the negotiating of our contract, so I never got a look at him. I take him in once again, noting the pale, sickly skin, oily hair, the hollowed cheeks, and …
… The scars.
He’s got scars similar to Auryn’s, surgical in nature, though his have healed much better than hers ever did. Like hers were never treated or bandaged, but his were well-cared for.
What the fuck is going on in here?
Sneed chuckles, a humorless sound, and strides forward, shoving his men out of his way. “You know what, five-seven-six? I’m feeling generous. Perhaps I’ll let you have your pet, but only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
Gage asks.
Sneed’s beady black eyes swivel to Gage, locking onto him, sizing him up. “I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to five-seven-six.”
“She has a name, pendejo.”
He laughs again. “She has nothing that I didn’t give her.”
He walks up to Auryn, standing just a hair’s breadth from her, but he doesn’t attack. My instinct is to jump between them, to put myself between my omega and this threat, but Auryn moves faster than I can. She upends him with one swift kick in the nuts, reminiscent of the night we took her from the cave, and fresh blood seeps out, staining his crotch.
Did she really kick him so hard he bled?
“Where is Em?”
Auryn’s shout echoes in the basement. I expect Sneed to lash out, to order her execution, something, but he just laughs again. “That hurt less than it should have,”
he jokes from his prone position on the ground. “I’m impressed, five-seven-six. You’ve advanced since you left us.”
“Where is he?”
Sneed rolls onto his knees and stands up, though this time he stays out of Auryn’s reach. He snaps his fingers, and two of his men break out of line to run back to the room behind them. Chains rattle in the distance, and I hear a familiar groan.
Gage rushes past Sneed, barreling through the line, with Auryn hot on his heels. Two muffled gunshots ring out, and for a second, I fear the worst. Then, Gage and Auryn come back out, each with one of Em’s arms over their shoulder. It doesn’t look comfortable, especially not with how battered my comrade is, but when Sneed’s men don’t follow them out, I know what happened.
The faint wisp of smoke coming out of Auryn’s gun is a good indicator, too.
They get Em to the stairs, then Auryn transfers his arm to Olly’s shoulder. She turns back to Sneed and raises her gun. “What’s to stop me from killing you right now?”
“My one condition,”
Sneed says calmly, “is that you can only have him if I remain alive. If I die, these men will gun the five of you down without a moment’s hesitation. Even mercenaries as skilled as yours can’t take them all down before you’re dead.”
Sneed has a point. Gage, Olly, and I are good, but we’re not that good. The only way we’re getting out alive is with his permission, loathe as I am to admit it.
“Let’s go,”
Gage growls as he hoists Em up. He drapes Em’s torso across his back and starts climbing the stairs.
Auryn growls as well. “This isn’t over, Sneed,”
she says as she follows Gage.
Olly and I trail behind them, though I keep our rear guarded with my gun aimed at the armed men. If anything, my death will stall them long enough for the others to get out.
But they don’t advance. Don’t fire on us. Something is very, very wrong with this.
Back at the Jeep, Gage sets Em down on the back seat, his head in Olly’s lap. I let Auryn sit on me, and once Gage gets behind the wheel, we’re off.
Auryn keeps her eyes on Em the whole time. She barely moves, and her breathing is shallow and rapid. She’s a tiny ball of rage, but her anger won’t help Em now. He needs Olly’s medicine first. Then maybe … other forms of comfort.
Maybe.
I don’t like Em’s pallor. Don’t like the crusted blood covering him, or the angry red lines where they cut into him.
I don’t like the haphazard bandaging below his waist.
What did they do to him?