Chapter 23 - Silas #2
“We must have a plan,” Rael joined them, followed by Javi and August. “We cannot risk going in blindly and simply march in there.”
“We won’t have to,” Elle took out her phone and showed them pictures that she had taken through the windows. “I’ve documented everything. Faces, cars, license numbers. We have evidence now.”
Silas shook his head. “Evidence will never save those women. We must do it now, when we still have an element of surprise.”
They developed a strategy in a short time.
They came up with mostly hand signals and a positioning strategy.
Rael would go towards the north entrance, Javi and the men towards the south side.
August would remain with Carter and watch over the boy.
And Silas would make his way through the main entrance with Elle and use the presence of an Alpha to distract the traffickers.
It wasn’t perfect. It was dangerous, hazardous, and maybe suicidal, considering that they were probably outnumbered.
But they couldn’t wait for a perfect plan. Those women could not afford to wait for a perfect plan. If they planned on rescuing them, they must do so now.
“On my signal,” Silas said.
They moved into position. Silas’s heart pounded with adrenaline, fear and determination. This was what they had been striving to achieve. It was their opportunity to terminate the trafficking ring and clear their pack’s reputation.
He stared at Elle, his eyes wandering over her features, committing it to memory. Just in case things go wrong. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Elle smiled. “Now let’s go save some lives.”
Silas kicked in the main door, walking in on the bidding and the auctioneer in charge. All the heads in the room turned to look at the interruption with confused looks on their faces.
“This sale is over,” his Alpha voice boomed through the warehouse. “Free the women and give up, or deal with the aftermath.”
For a heartbeat, nobody moved. Then chaos erupted.
Rael and Javi crashed through their doors with their weapons in hand. The purchasers dispersed, and some attempted to run away.
The handlers reached for their own weapons, trying to restore order.
And Silas moved through them like an avenging angel, his wolf fully in control now, his only goal to eliminate the threats and free the captives.
It was a battle of teeth and nails. Javi killed the handlers ruthlessly with no second thoughts.
Rael made his way to the cages in which the women were kept and broke the locks in a very short time.
Silas had gone to the head of the auction himself, who was a huge wolf shifter and who had been operating this nightmare.
They engaged in a particularly rough fight, but with Silas on top.
Elle remained standing, her magic in full play.
After a couple of minutes, which seemed like hours, bodies started hitting the floor. Women fled through the exits that Rael had left opened for them, and the buyers who had decided to struggle succumbed to the wrath of the black ops team.
“You’re done,” Silas snarled at the head of the disgusting operation. “This operation is finished.”
A horrible laugh filled with desperation and madness ripped through his throat. “You think this is all of it? You believe that one of these auctions will be closed and that then everything will be alright? We’re everywhere. In all the packs, all the cities, all of them, we are there. And you will—”
Silas didn’t let him finish. He sank his fangs into his neck and ripped out his throat. Then he let the body drop to the floor. It was finally over.
Silas stood in the center of the chaos, breathing hard, covered in blood that wasn’t his own. Around him, freed women were running out of the building, heading toward the vehicles that Rael had ready to drive them to safety.
They’d done it. They’d actually done it.
“Silas!” August yelled, panicked. Silas turned
Around and found his friend holding Elle, who was hunched over, barely able to hold on to his shoulder.
And there was blood. So much blood spreading on her shirt from a wound he couldn’t see.
Terror flooded through him.
“Elle!”
“Elle!”
Silas was beside her in a moment, his hands were frantically, but gently touching her body, trying to find the cause of the bleeding.
“I’m all right,” Elle replied weakly, her face pale. “One of the handlers was holding a knife and got me on the side. It’s not that bad.”
“You are bleeding,” Silas raised her shirt up. “You’re fucking bleeding. This isn’t not that bad. You’re bleeding way too much, Elle.”
“I’ll heal,” Elle insisted. “We must see that all the women come out safe. We need to—”
“The women are safe,” Silas interrupted, pressing his hands to her wound to slow the bleeding.
“Rael has them and is coordinating transport with Javi,” August stated. “Everything is handled. Save your strength, Elle.”
“But—”
“No buts. You’re hurt.” Silas could barely see through his now watery eyes. “You are hurt. All because of this operation, and I can’t—I can’t—Fuck!”
His words got stuck in his throat. Elle had gone out there alone, discovered this auction and save those women. But at what cost? She got stabbed in the process, putting the mission above her own health.
Silas had almost lost her. Their bond thrummed faintly with her determination to keep going even when her body was failing.
“I love you,” Silas said, the words inadequate, but they were all he had. “I love you so much. Please be okay. Please.”
Elle raised her hands and caressed his face weakly. “I’m okay. I promise. It looks worse than it is.”
“You’re bleeding all over me.”
“Just a flesh wound,” Elle said, trying to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “I’ve had worse.”
“Do not make light of this. Don’t fucking joke about this. Not right now, Elle.”
“I’m not dying,” Elle said firmly. “I’m right here. I’m alive. And we did it, Silas. We saved them. We finally saved them.”
Silas pulled her closer, careful not to make contact with her wound. He held her as the chaos continued around them—women being packed into cars. Rael calling for backup. Javi securing the building. August holding Elle’s hand silently.
His entire world had been reduced to the woman in his arms, to the slow pulse of her heart, to the feeling of her body against his.
He’d almost lost her. He nearly lost the best thing that had ever happened to him.
In this moment, with his bleeding mate in his hands, in the almost empty warehouse they just destroyed, Silas promised himself never to take Elle for granted again. He would not let a day pass without reminding her how important she was to him.
He would devote the remaining part of his life to ensuring that she was aware of the extent of his love for her. He would remind her of his love for her every day. He would continue to worship the ground she walked on.
“We are going to get you some help, okay? Your bleeding will slow down in a bit, then I can move you, and then we’re going home.”
“Home,” Elle repeated, her eyes fluttering close. “That sounds perfect.”
Two minutes later, Silas gently carried his mate out of the warehouse and into the night, his pack following him, the women safe, and the trafficking ring destroyed.
They’d won, and Silas had never been so thankful and terrified in his whole life.